After researching a person that had been deemed eminent, our task was to write a speech from the point of view of someone that knew or knows our eminent person. I chose to conduct my research on actress Hedy Lamarr. I was originally drawn to Lamarr because of her experiences in the acting industry (as I myself am interested in the performing arts), but with a closer look, I also found that she was a brilliant inventor behind the scenes. I wrote my speech from the point of view of Hedy’s friend, George Antheil.
Criteria Met:
Communication and Collaboration:
2. I tailor my work to appeal to my intended audience, and use language and visual design elements appropriate for them.
The intention for this project was to create something that demonstrated what I had learned in a way that effectively engaged an audience. I feel that I met this criteria. I spent a large amount of time reworking my speech so that it would both make sense to my class and be interesting for them. I had to make sure that there was no wording that might be confusing to my audience, because there is no reason to speak about something if people will not understand it. In the end, I created a speech that was clear, concise, and engaging to my intended audience.
3. I respond to the work or ideas of my peers in a way that is compassionate and productive.
Near the end of this project, our class had the chance to sit down in small groups and hear the speeches that others had been working on. This was a chance to give constructive feedback to my classmates about their work so that they might be able to better develop their speeches, and it was also a chance to gain helpful feedback on my own speech. This was a great experience that was beneficial to both myself and others.
Research and Information Literacy:
11. I go beyond google and use databases to find scholarly research sources.
For this assignment, I was supposed to write my speech from the point of view of someone that knew or knows my chosen eminent person. As I said, I chose to speak from the point of view of Hedy’s friend and co-inventor, George Antheil. Although there is a large amount of information on Lamarr herself and her life, I couldn’t find much about her relationship with George. Once I found out that Antheil wrote his own autobiography, I took a day to drive to the SFU library to find this book as it would be a primary source. There, I read and took notes on the sections in which he explained his relationship with Hedy. This was a huge help to me and a great example of how I went beyond Google to conduct research.
10. I identify and discuss bias in research sources.
However, although George Antheil’s autobiography was helpful in outlining his relationship with Hedy Lamarr, I also had to be aware of how his opinions may have been influenced. With everything I read, I had to be aware of bias. The use of the biography was solely to gain a sense of how George viewed Hedy as a person, rather than to learn about events that happened during their lives.