State of the Union prediction

TO: Professor Morris

FROM: Ashleigh Hill

RE: Proposal/Assignment 5

SUBJECT: A prediction on Obama’s State of the Union address proposal (1/28/12)

SCOPE: I will be researching Obama’s past State of the Union addresses and campaign speeches to see what changes have been made over the past four years, or what changes have not been made. I will also look into other presidential State of the Union addresses to see what advancements have occurred throughout the years.

NEED: The State of the Union address is a good outlook on the president’s plan of action involving important issues that impact the entire country. It is important for readers to have a grasp on what is happening and has happened.

METHODS: I will watch and/or read the speeches from the past four years in order to compare what has changed from year to year, what has improved or regressed, what issues are touched on that have been discussed as needing change and if said issues are still issues.

SOURCES: State of the Union address videos on YouTube, transcripts on Politico, campaign speech video/transcript. I will also be using house.history.gov, which has a broad history of the State of the Union addresses. I will use asksam.com, which is a database with a complete collection of past State of the Union addresses.

PRESENTATION: The piece will be 600 words or more in the style of a New York Times Op-Ed column predicting what will be discussed at President Obama’s State of the Union address using previous speeches and current popular issues in the country. I will also tweet during the State of the Union, and blog after.

FOLLOW-UP: Since this piece will be a prediction on what Obama will discuss at the State of the Union, there will be a follow up on what was actually discussed.