Spring 2027

Introduction to Speech Composition

Introduction to Speech Composition develops written and spoken communication skills through hands-on study of audience-centered public speaking.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 No instructors listed

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Kenneth Lythgoe

The class involved four speeches and significant busy work, with students describing the writing process as brutal.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Write effective public speeches

  • Deliver effective public speeches

  • Think critically and to apply the skills of critical thinking to the analysis of written and oral texts

  • Listen effectively to public speeches

  • Utilize research skills and strategies

  • Demonstrate an awareness of diversity in audiences by using language that is attentive to people's cultural backgrounds, values, viewpoints, and experiences

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Students required to take the MSN ESLAT cannot enroll until theESL 118requirement is satisfied. Not open to students who have credit for COM ARTS 105 or 181.

    • Students required to take the MSN ESLAT cannot enroll until theESL 118requirement is satisfied.
      • have credit for COM ARTS 105 or 181
      not eligible with
    take all
COMARTS 100

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • All of
    • Students required to take the MSN ESLAT cannot enroll until theESL 118requirement is satisfied.
    • Not eligible with
      • have credit for COM ARTS 105 or 181

Professors

Spring 2027

No instructors recorded for this selection.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

ASHTON LEACH is recorded teaching in Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

CAITLIN MAYER is recorded teaching in Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2021, Spring 2023. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

DAPHNE GERSHON is recorded teaching in Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2020. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

HAMIDREZA NASSIRI is recorded teaching in Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2020. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

JENNIFER WANG is recorded teaching in Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2018. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

KATHERINE TROTTER is recorded teaching in Fall 2022. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

KENNETH LYTHGOE is recorded teaching in Fall 2011, Fall 2015, Spring 2016. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

LINWEI DING is recorded teaching in Fall 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

PERPETUA OWESE is recorded teaching in Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

SHANNON SKELTON is recorded teaching in Fall 2008, Fall 2009, Fall 2010, Fall 2011, Fall 2013, Spring 2014. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

SHAWN HANNAN is recorded teaching in Fall 2022, Spring 2023. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 011Classroom Instruction0 / 150
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 150
LEC 007Classroom Instruction0 / 150
LEC 025Classroom Instruction0 / 150
LEC 033Classroom Instruction0 / 150
LEC 006Classroom Instruction0 / 150
LEC 013Classroom Instruction0 / 150
LEC 014Classroom Instruction0 / 150
LEC 027Classroom Instruction0 / 150
LEC 017Classroom Instruction0 / 150
LEC 018Classroom Instruction0 / 150
LEC 012Classroom Instruction0 / 150
LEC 024Classroom Instruction0 / 150
LEC 002Classroom Instruction0 / 150
LEC 008Classroom Instruction0 / 150
LEC 009Classroom Instruction0 / 150
LEC 016Classroom Instruction0 / 150
LEC 021Classroom Instruction0 / 150
LEC 023Classroom Instruction0 / 150
LEC 028Classroom Instruction0 / 150
LEC 030Classroom Instruction0 / 150
LEC 031Classroom Instruction0 / 150
LEC 032Classroom Instruction0 / 150
LEC 035Classroom Instruction0 / 150
LEC 037Classroom Instruction0 / 150
LEC 038Classroom Instruction0 / 150
LEC 039Classroom Instruction0 / 150
LEC 040Classroom Instruction0 / 150

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Katherine Trotter

Students found the speech component of the class enjoyable and confidence-building, though the coursework required reading the textbook and taking notes.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.60 GPA, 82.7% A/AB (n=381 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.72 GPA, 89.0% A/AB (n=826 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.53 GPA, 77.0% A/AB (n=396 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Kenneth Lythgoe

The class involved four speeches and significant busy work, with students describing the writing process as brutal.

Past student reviews · Shawn Hannan

Shawn Hannan was described as a tough grader; one student noted they worked hard but only barely achieved an AB.

Topics

  • Audience-centered public speaking
  • Library research and digital literacy
  • Job interviews, professional presentations, and research talks

Skills

  • Written and spoken communication skills
  • Library research and digital literacy
  • Confidence in speaking and writing
  • Professional presentation and interview preparation

Grades

Historical instructor

Spring 2027 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.07 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
COMARTS 100 · Spring 2027

Introduction to Speech Composition

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:250:003760",
    "course_id": "COMARTS 100",
    "course_uid": "course_391fcb703c547d7e79b0643f",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "003760",
    "source_subject_id": "250",
    "title": "Introduction to Speech Composition",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring, Summer"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1Download part 2
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "5b047ad6744b767c99a2c63c06098ebd2d9e14f8ed281fdadb74c7657ac428fe",
  "requirements_status": "needs_review",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}