Lecture on "general purposes," "topics," and "specific purposes" for giving speeches, plus identifying the issues in a thesis statement.

1. The Art of
English
Speeches
Week 3

2. good job.

3. Commi t to your story

4. When should I say more?
When s hould I say less?

5. Break long thoughts int
o
smaller
parts

6. Your Introduction Checklist
Am I…
gaining the attention and interest of my audience?
influencing the audience to view me and my topic favorably?
clarifying the purpose or thesis of my speech?
previewing the development of my topic?

7. Your Introduction Checklist
Am I…
gaining the attention and interest of my audience?
influencing the audience to view me and my topic favorably?
clarifying the purpose or thesis of my speech?
previewing the development of my topic?

8. Your Introduction Checklist
Am I…
gaining the attention and interest of my audience?
influencing the audience to view me and my topic favorably?
clarifying the purpose or thesis of my speech?
previewing the development of my topic?

9. Your Introduction Checklist
Am I…
gaining the attention and interest of my audience?
influencing the audience to view me and my topic favorably?
clarifying the purpose or thesis of my speech?
previewing the development of my topic?

10. Your Introduction Checklist
Am I…
gaining the attention and interest of my audience?
influencing the audience to view me and my topic favorably?
clarifying the purpose or thesis of my speech?
previewing the development of my topic?

11. Choosing
a Topic
&
Developing
a Strategy

12. A Speaker’s Choices and Activities:
Invention
Arrangement
Style
Delivery
Memory

13. A Speaker’s Choices and Activities:
Invention
Producing materials for the speech
What could go into the speech?
Conduct research.
Select the most effective materials for purpose and audience.
Arrangement
Style
Delivery
Memory

14. A Speaker’s Choices and Activities:
Invention
Arrangement
Structuring ideas and materials in the speech
Organize materials for each main idea.
Order and connect main ideas.
Plan the overall structure of the intro, body, and conclusion.
Style
Delivery
Memory

15. A Speaker’s Choices and Activities:
Invention
Arrangement
Style
The distinctive character of the speech
This is achieved through language.
Showing: Evoke emotions
Telling: Convey descriptive meaning
(Both are useful, when appropriate)
Delivery
Memory

16. A Speaker’s Choices and Activities:
Invention
Arrangement
Style
Delivery
The presentation of the speech
Share the message with the audience.
A good speaker makes effective use of:
voice, gesture, facial expression, movement, visual aids
Memory

17. A Speaker’s Choices and Activities:
Invention
Arrangement
Style
Delivery
Memory
Memorize, make notes, read a script,
or speak extemporaneously
Keep track of main ideas.
Phrase ideas so listeners will remember them.
Precisely word the intro and conclusion.

18. INVENTION
deciding what
to talk about

19. UNDERSTAND
THE RHETORICAL
SITUATION

20. Rhetoric
the art of effective or persuasive speaking or
writing, especially the use of figures of speech
and other compositional techniques.

21. Elements of a rhetorical situation
audience
occasion
speaker
speech

22. What makes
a good topic?

23. good topic
=
one that matters to you

24. good topic
=
one that matters to you
IMPORTANCE TO THE SPEAKER
If you do not care about the subject, it will be very hard to
make it interesting or important to the audience. If you care
about it, it will be relatively easy.

25. good topic
=
one that matters to your audience

26. good topic
=
one that matters to your audience
INTEREST FOR THE AUDIENCE
Audiences will be interested if your topic…
- provides new information they can use
- offers a solution to a puzzle or problem that affects them
- connects what is unfamiliar to what they know
- reports stories or experiences similar to their own.

27. good topic
=
one that is worth hearing about

28. good topic
=
one that can be talked about
in the time allowed

29. good topic
=
one that can be talked about
in the time allowed
APPROPRIATENESS OF SCOPE
Avoid topics that include too many points and can only be
covered superficially. Likewise, too narrow topics only
deserve a short amount of time. A good speech will find a
way to engage both the breadth and depth of a topic.

30. good topic
=
one that is suited for oral delivery

31. good topic
=
one that is clear

32. Purposes

33. What is our general purpose?
- Providing new information or perspective
- Agenda setting
- Creating positive or negative feeling
- Strengthening commitment
- Weakening commitment
- Conversion
- Inducing a Specific Action

34. Providing new information or
perspective
Give the audience new information, or important information
they don’t know, about a topic they’re already familiar with.
Offer a certain perspective that differs from what they may
be accustomed to thinking about a topic.

35. Setting an agenda
Cause people to think about a topic that they previously
knew little about or ignored.

36. Creating positive or negative feeling
About the occasion, the speaker, or the message.
e.g., making listeners generally feel good about themselves
or the world.

37. Strengthening Commitment
“Preaching to the converted”
Motivate audience members to become even more strongly
committed to a belief or cause.

38. Weakening Commitment
Reduce the intensity of listeners’ commitment to a belief, not
necessarily to change their minds, but to instill a sense of
doubt.

39. Conversion
Persuade listeners to change their minds – to stop believing
one thing and to start believing another.
The replacement of one set of beliefs with another set that is
inconsistent with the first.

40. Inducing a specific action
The most pragmatic goal: persuade people to take a specific
action.
e.g. to make a contribution, to purchase a product, to vote
for a specific candidate, etc.
The speaker does not have to care whether listeners have
the same reasons for acting, only that they act.

41. Developing the
purpose statement
and the
thesis statement

42. Topic:
Cheating at the university

43. General purpose:
To provide new information

44. Specific purpose:
To inform listeners of
widespread cheating on this
campus!

45. Specific purpose:
To inform listeners of
widespread cheating on this
campus!
The “specific purpose” focuses on the outcome of
the speech by specifying what you want to achieve.
It is “audience centered.”

46. Topic: Cheating at the university
General purpose: To provide new information
Specific purpose: To inform listeners of widespread cheating on this campus!

47. What is the thesis statement?
Topic: Cheating at the university
General purpose: To provide new information
Specific purpose: To inform listeners of widespread cheating on this campus!
The thesis will sum up the speech in a
single sentence you want listeners to
remember.

48. Thesis:
Far more students engage
in cheating than most of us
think.

49. Topic: Cheating at the university
General purpose: To provide new information
Specific purpose: To inform listeners of widespread cheating on this campus!
Thesis: Far more students engage in cheating than most of us think.

50. Analyzing the
thesis statement

51. what
are
the
issues?

52. issue:
a question raised by the thesis statement
that must be addressed in order for the
thesis itself to be addressed effectively.

53. Topic: Cheating at the university
General purpose: To provide new information
Specific purpose: To inform listeners of widespread cheating on this campus!
Thesis: Far more students engage in cheating than most of us think.
“Far more students”
“Engage in cheating”
“Than most of us think”

54. Topic: Cheating at the university
General purpose: To provide new information
Specific purpose: To inform listeners of widespread cheating on this campus!
Thesis: Far more students engage in cheating than most of us think.
“Far more students”
How many? Is that number more than we think? Is it
“far more?”
“Engage in cheating”
“Than most of us think”

55. Topic: Cheating at the university
General purpose: To provide new information
Specific purpose: To inform listeners of widespread cheating on this campus!
Thesis: Far more students engage in cheating than most of us think.
“Far more students”
“Engage in cheating”
What is covered by the term “cheating?” And what
must one do to “engage in” it?
“Than most of us think”

56. Topic: Cheating at the university
General purpose: To provide new information
Specific purpose: To inform listeners of widespread cheating on this campus!
Thesis: Far more students engage in cheating than most of us think.
“Far more students”
“Engage in cheating”
“Than most of us think”
Who are “most of us”? What do “most of us” think?
Why do we think this?

57. Why identify the issues?
It lets you determine what the speech must cover.
It directs your research.
It may lead you to modify your thesis.
It can help you organize your speech.

58. Researching the Topic

59. Researching the Topic
- Develop or strengthen your own expertise on the topic
- Find evidence that will support your ideas
- Make your ideas clear, understandable, and pertinent to
your audience

60. Types of supporting material
- Personal experience
- Common knowledge
- Direct observation
- Examples
- Documents
- Statistics
- Testimony