Free, Open, and Affordable Resources: Communication

Stand up, Speak out: The Practice and Ethics of Public Speakingfeatures two key themes. First it focuses on helping students become more seasoned and polished public speakers, and second is its emphasis on ethics in communication. It is this practical approach and integrated ethical coverage that setsStand up, Speak out: The Practice and Ethics of Public Speakingapart from the other texts in this market.

There is a quote that has been passed down many years and is most recently accounted to P.T. Barnum, “There is a sucker born every minute.” Are you that sucker? If you were, would you like to be “reborn?” The goal of this book is to help you through that “birthing” process. Critical thinking and standing up for your ideas and making decisions are important in both your personal and professional life. How good are we at making the decision to marry? According to the Centers for Disease Control, there is one divorce in America every 36 seconds. That is nearly 2,400 every day. And professionally, the Wall Street Journal predicts the average person will have 7 careers in their lifetime. Critical thinking skills are crucial.

Critical thinking is a series learned skills. In each chapter of this book you will find a variety of skills that will help you improve your thinking and argumentative ability. As you improve, you will grow into a more confident person being more in charge of your world and the decisions you make.

Public Speaking:
The Virtual Text is a free online public speaking textbook. Chapters appear in PDF format and may be printed in black and white or in color.

The text introduces some of the key concepts in intercultural communication as traditionally presented in (North American) courses and textbooks, namely the study of differences between cultures, as represented in the works and theories of Edward Hall and Geert Hofstede. Common to these approaches is the prominence of context, leading to a view of human interactions as dynamic and changeable, given the complexity of language and culture, as human agents interact with their environments.