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Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven. Selecting a Topic and Purpose. Chapter Seven. Table of Contents Assigned Versus Self-Selected Topics Identifying the General Speech Purpose Choosing a Topic Using Brainstorming to Generate Ideas Refining the Topic and Purpose From Topic and Purpose to Thesis.

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Chapter Seven

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  1. Chapter Seven Selecting a Topic and Purpose

  2. Chapter Seven Table of Contents • Assigned Versus Self-Selected Topics • Identifying the General Speech Purpose • Choosing a Topic • Using Brainstorming to Generate Ideas • Refining the Topic and Purpose • From Topic and Purpose to Thesis

  3. Selecting a Topic and Purpose The first task is to select a topic and purpose that are appropriate for the rhetorical situation, or the overall speech situation (the audience and the occasion).

  4. Assigned Versus Self-Selected Topics • Public speakers are either given a topic, or asked to choose one of their own. • You may be given a: • purpose • time constraint • challenge

  5. Identifying the General Speech Purpose • General speech purpose: indicates why you are speaking on the topic for this particular audience and occasion.

  6. Identifying the General Speech Purpose • Informing • Persuading • The Special Occasion Speech

  7. Identifying the General Speech Purpose:When the General Speech Purpose Is to Inform • Informative speech : increase the audience’s understanding or awareness of a topic. • Gauge the audience’s knowledge of the subject

  8. Identifying the General Speech Purpose:When the General Speech Purpose Is to Persuade • Persuasive speech: effect some degree of change in the audience. • Controversial issues are good topics.

  9. Identifying the General Speech Purpose:The Special Occasion Speech • Special occasion speech: prepared for a special occasion and for a purpose dictated by that occasion. • Such as acceptance speeches, toasts, after-dinner speeches, and eulogies.

  10. Choosing a Topic • Broad social issues of national or global consequence • Your own interests and experiences

  11. Choosing a Topic • Personal Interest: Looking Within • Current Events and Controversial Issues • Grassroots Issues

  12. Choosing a Topic:Personal Interests: Looking Within • Select a familiar topic • Personal interests run the gamut from from favorite activities to deeply held values.

  13. Choosing a Topic:Current And Controversial Events • Current events • Few people have time to research the news • Controversial issues • Issues such as abortion, gun control, and drug abuse profoundly affect us as a society

  14. Choosing a Topic:Grassroots Issues • The majority of people react with interest to issues that affect them directly.

  15. Using Brainstorming to Generate Ideas • Brainstorming: a technique that involves the spontaneous generation of ideas

  16. Using Brainstorming to Generate Ideas • Word Associations • Topic Mapping

  17. Using Brainstorming to Generate Ideas:Word Association • Word Association • Write down one topic • Write down the first thing that comes to mind • As soon as your words remind you of something, write it down. • Review your list and pick two or three topics as possible final choices.

  18. Using Brainstorming to Generate Ideas:Topic Mapping • Topic Mapping • Put your initial topic in the middle of the paper • Write down new ideas in clusters to form groups • Use each group to show how closely they relate both to one another and to your topic

  19. Refining the Topic and Purpose Now the topic and general speech purpose must be narrowed with regards to time constraints, audience expectations, and the nature of the occasion.

  20. Refining the Topic and Purpose • Narrowing the Topic • Forming a Specific Speech Purpose

  21. Refining the Topic and Purpose:Narrowing the Topic • Focus on specific aspects of the topic and excluding others • Consider time and research constraints • Brainstorming can help categorize different aspects of your topic.

  22. Refining the Topic and Purpose:Forming a Specific Speech Purpose • Specific speech purpose: expresses both topic and general purpose in action form and in terms of the speaker’s specific objectives. • “What is it about my topic that I want to affect the audience with?”

  23. From Topic and Purpose to Thesis • Thesis statement: the theme or central idea of the speech. • Specific purpose: states in action form what you want to achieve with the speech.

  24. From Topic and Purpose to Thesis • Making a Claim • Making the Thesis Statement Relevant and Motivating

  25. From Topic and Purpose to Thesis:Making a Claim • The thesis statement proposes that the statement being made is true or is believed. • Without the thesis, the audience cannot easily follow the speech body.

  26. From Topic and Purpose to Thesis:Making the Thesis Statement Relevant and Motivating • Relevant statements can be created by adding a few key words or phrases • The exact phrasing of your thesis depends on the type of audience

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