Analyzing Toulmin's Five Canons Of A Speech Class

Going into this class, I expected it to be just about writing speeches. It was that, but it was also something more. Over the course of the semester we did a lot of speech writing, but I also learned how to write speeches better than I did before entering this course. I structured my speeches better by using Toulmin’s model and learned new terms or refamiliarized myself with old ones I had previously forgotten, such as Cicero’s five canons of rhetoric. Throughout my reflection paper, I will discuss and reflect on the various things that I have taken away from this course.

As I was planning what to discuss in this paper, the first thing that came to mind on what I should talk about was Toulmin’s model. Before taking scom 242, I had no prior knowledge of what Toulmin’s model was. I believe that my first time actually utilizing it in this class was when writing the outline for my persuasive speech. Toulmin’s model is setting up each of the main points in a speech with the structure of claim, data, and warrant. When I first attempted to use it, it presented a challenge to me. This is

I believe I learned them in my introductory communications course, but I don’t remember them. So, getting a refresher of this material in this class was nice. The entire concept of the five canons is helpful, but the part of it that I feel helped me the most, or that I will think about the most when it comes to my speeches is delivery. I say this because delivery is about presenting the messages in a speech with effective gestures and vocal modulation. Delivery is something that I can improve on in my speeches because I know my gestures are often lacking or don’t have a specific meaning or direction to them. By keeping not just my delivery in mind when it comes to speeches, but all five canons, I believe I can not only develop good speeches, but also deliver good speeches as