SPC 1608 – Final Exam Study Guide – Questions and Solutions –
2025/2026
Rhetorical Situation - ANS✔✔ Definition: the intersection of the speaker, audience, and
occasion
-Exigence: a real or perceived specific need that a speech might help address
Example(s):
-high school senior Perry Rockwood gave a 10-minute speech at a school wide assembly urging
fellow classmates to purchase bracelets for $1, with the money to be donated to Sandy Hook.
He also asked his classmates to wear the bracelets as a visual memorial of solidarity throughout
the school. And he encouraged them to engage in 26 acts of kindness toward others in an
attempt to change the way they perceive and interact with one another.
-Sandy Hook Elementary murder massacre
Responsibilities of an ethical speaker - ANS✔✔ -Ethics: moral principles that a society, group or
individual hold that differentiate right from wrong
-Example(s): honesty, fairness, respect, integrity, responsibility
Plagiarism - ANS✔✔ -Plagiarize: presenting the ideas, words, or created works of another as
one's own by failing to credit the source
-Example(s):
-If you change a few words at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of material, but copy
much of the rest and don't cite the source of the information, you are plagiarizing.
-If you completely paraphrase the unique ideas of another person and do not credit that
person, you are plagiarizing.
-If you purchase, borrow, or use a speech or essay in part or in while that was prepared by
another and present it as original, you are plagiarizing.
Immediacy - ANS✔✔ -Nonverbal immediacy: a perception of being personable and likeable
, -Audiences respond positively to natural facial expressions that appear to spontaneously reflect
what you're saying and how you feel about it.
-Practice delivering your speech in front of a mirror or record and rehearse and evaluate facial
expressions
Speaker's Credibility - ANS✔✔ -Credibility: the perception of a speaker as knowledgeable,
trustworthy, and personable
-Example(s):
-Transnational celebrity activism; Although superstars from George Clooney to Angelina Jolie to
Madonna to Bono might be easily perceived as credible when speaking about their careers as
actors or singers, they might need to take additional measures to ensure that audiences
perceive them as credible when speaking about issues related to global politics.
-Ethos
-Experts
Psychological Noise - ANS✔✔ -Interference/noise: any stimulus that interferes with the process
of achieving shared meaning
-Refers to the thoughts and feelings we experience that compete with the sender's message for
our attention. So when we daydream about what we have to do at work today or feel offended
when a speaker uses foul language, we are being distracted by psychological noise.
Audience Adaptation - ANS✔✔ -Definition: the process of tailoring a speech to the needs,
interests, and expectations of its listeners
-Example(s):
-Organizers of benefit concerts today recognize that many audience members are tech savvy, so
they appeal for donations online and via text messages in addition to staffing toll-free phone
lines
-Consider your audience's initial level of interest in your goal, their ability to understand the
content of your speech, and their attitude toward your topic.
-Kira decided that not everyone would know what a "first-generation student" is. So she would
define it for them as "an undergraduate student whose parents never attended college."
2025/2026
Rhetorical Situation - ANS✔✔ Definition: the intersection of the speaker, audience, and
occasion
-Exigence: a real or perceived specific need that a speech might help address
Example(s):
-high school senior Perry Rockwood gave a 10-minute speech at a school wide assembly urging
fellow classmates to purchase bracelets for $1, with the money to be donated to Sandy Hook.
He also asked his classmates to wear the bracelets as a visual memorial of solidarity throughout
the school. And he encouraged them to engage in 26 acts of kindness toward others in an
attempt to change the way they perceive and interact with one another.
-Sandy Hook Elementary murder massacre
Responsibilities of an ethical speaker - ANS✔✔ -Ethics: moral principles that a society, group or
individual hold that differentiate right from wrong
-Example(s): honesty, fairness, respect, integrity, responsibility
Plagiarism - ANS✔✔ -Plagiarize: presenting the ideas, words, or created works of another as
one's own by failing to credit the source
-Example(s):
-If you change a few words at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of material, but copy
much of the rest and don't cite the source of the information, you are plagiarizing.
-If you completely paraphrase the unique ideas of another person and do not credit that
person, you are plagiarizing.
-If you purchase, borrow, or use a speech or essay in part or in while that was prepared by
another and present it as original, you are plagiarizing.
Immediacy - ANS✔✔ -Nonverbal immediacy: a perception of being personable and likeable
, -Audiences respond positively to natural facial expressions that appear to spontaneously reflect
what you're saying and how you feel about it.
-Practice delivering your speech in front of a mirror or record and rehearse and evaluate facial
expressions
Speaker's Credibility - ANS✔✔ -Credibility: the perception of a speaker as knowledgeable,
trustworthy, and personable
-Example(s):
-Transnational celebrity activism; Although superstars from George Clooney to Angelina Jolie to
Madonna to Bono might be easily perceived as credible when speaking about their careers as
actors or singers, they might need to take additional measures to ensure that audiences
perceive them as credible when speaking about issues related to global politics.
-Ethos
-Experts
Psychological Noise - ANS✔✔ -Interference/noise: any stimulus that interferes with the process
of achieving shared meaning
-Refers to the thoughts and feelings we experience that compete with the sender's message for
our attention. So when we daydream about what we have to do at work today or feel offended
when a speaker uses foul language, we are being distracted by psychological noise.
Audience Adaptation - ANS✔✔ -Definition: the process of tailoring a speech to the needs,
interests, and expectations of its listeners
-Example(s):
-Organizers of benefit concerts today recognize that many audience members are tech savvy, so
they appeal for donations online and via text messages in addition to staffing toll-free phone
lines
-Consider your audience's initial level of interest in your goal, their ability to understand the
content of your speech, and their attitude toward your topic.
-Kira decided that not everyone would know what a "first-generation student" is. So she would
define it for them as "an undergraduate student whose parents never attended college."
