The ability to speak and write persuasively is an essential skill for everyone. Whether you are writing a plan essay, applying for a job, or running for public office, you need to be persuasive and compelling. This course is a practical workshop in rhetoric. Students will write, deliver, and critique short speeches in class. We will learn classic rhetorical terms and techniques, and apply them in our analysis of famous political speeches. At the end of the course, students will compete by delivering a five-minute speech to a distinguished panel of judges.