Lecture two
Speech preparation:
Getting started (I):
preparing the speech
outline
Part I Selecting a topic and purpose
1. Choosing a topic
Choosing a Topic
1. Topics You Know a Lot About
2. Topic You Want to Know More About
Choosing a Topic
1. Topics You Know a Lot About
Think about unusual experiences you may
have had and about special expertise you may
have acquired.
e.g. How to have a successful job interview
Shanghai: The Fashion Capital of Asia
A Tour of Qinghai Lake
Migraine Headache: You Can Live with It
Choosing a Topic
1. Topics You Know a Lot About
Here are some topics that students used:
Thailand: the Greatest Place I Have ever Traveled
Roller Skating: My Favorite Sport
How Did I lose Weight
The Greatest Teacher in My Life
Family Love—Always the Most Important
Being a Responsible Student
Choosing a Topic
2. Topic You Want to Know More About
You may choose to make your speech a learning
experience for yourself as well as for your audience.
Choosing a Topic--- how?
3. Brainstorming for Topics
Personal inventory (experiences, interests, hobbies, skills, and beliefs).
Clustering
Take a sheet of paper and divide it into nine columns
as follows:
People, Places, Things, Events, Processes, Concepts,
Natural Phenomena, Problems, and Plans and
Policies.
Then list in each column the first three to five items
that come to mind.
Choosing a Topic
The paper may look like this:
People:
George W. Bush, My family, David Beckham,Zhang Yimou
Places:
My hometown, Xi’an, Iraq, Taiwan, Los Angeles, Paris
Things:
Robots, Cell phones, Basketball, Movies, Computers
Events:
Beijing Olympics, 2008, September 11, 2001,
Chinese New Year, Going to college,
Moving to the new campus\
Choosing a Topic
Processes:
Taking photographs, Studying abroad,
Giving a speech, Losing weight
Concepts:
Buddhism, Confucianism, Religions, Conservatism
Natural Phenomena:
Earthquake, Hurricanes, Global warming, Wild animals
Problems:
Terrorism, Education in poor areas, CET6, Campus crime
Plans and Policies:
Homeland security, Protecting civil Liberties,
Building a new library
Choosing a Topic
Clustering
If you still cannot think of anything as a topic, take
the items you find most intriguing and compose sub
lists for each.
For example:
Movies: Academy Awards,
prizes, lotteries, gambling
Exercise:
Make a clustering list of your own.
Choosing a Topic
Internet search
Connect to a subject-based search engine such as Baidu
Baike (baike.baidu.com), Yahoo! Directory
(dir.yahoo.com) or the Librarians’ Index to the Internet
(www.lii.org)
Determine the Purpose
1. Determine the General Purpose
The general purpose of a speech normally fall into
two types: to inform or to persuade.
When your general purpose is to inform, you act like
a teacher or lecturer. Your goal is to convey
information, and to do it clearly.
For example:
How to Do Weight Lifting Correctly
Determine the Purpose
1. Determine the General Purpose
When your general purpose is to persuade, you act
like an advocate or a statesman. You go beyond
giving information to change or structure the
attitudes or actions of your audience.
For example:
Weight Lifting: The Best Way to Build Your Body
Determine the Purpose
2. Determine the Specific Purpose
The specific purpose should focus on one aspect of a
topic. You should state your specific purpose in a
single infinitive phrase.
For example:
to inform my audience about …;
to persuade my audience to …
Determine the Purpose
2. Determine the Specific Purpose
For example:
Topic: Emergencies
General Purpose: To inform
Specific Purpose: To inform my audience of
the major steps in responding to an
emergency.
Determine the Purpose
Tips for Formulating the Specific Purpose Statement
A. Write the Purpose Statement as a Full Infinitive
Phrase, Not as a Fragment
Ineffective: Calendars.
More Effective:
To inform my audience about the four major kinds
of calendars used in the world today.
Determine the Purpose
B. Express Your Purpose as a Statement, Not as a
Question
Ineffective: Is the US space program necessary?
More Effective:
To persuade my audience that the US space
program provides many important benefits to
people here on earth.
Determine the Purpose
C. Avoid Figurative Language in Your Purpose
Statement
Ineffective:
To inform my audience that yoga is extremely cool.
More Effective:
To inform my audience how yoga can improve their
health.
Determine the Purpose
D. Make sure your specific purpose is
not too vague or general
Ineffective:
To inform my audience about the civil war.
More Effective:
To inform my audience about the role of African
American soldiers in the civil war.
Phrasing the central idea
What is central idea?
---is a concise statement of what you expect to say. it
is also called thesis statement, the subject sentence
or the major thought. The central idea sums up
the speech in a single sentence.
Topic: Qipao
General Purpose: To inform
Specific Purpose: To inform my audience of the
history, styles and cultural impact of Qipao.
Phrasing the central idea
central idea?
Qipao was created in the 1920s, comes in a
number of styles, and has exerted significant
cultural impact on Chinese women.
Tips for the central idea
• 1. Make sure the central idea is not
too general
• 2. Express the central idea as a full
sentence
• 3. State the central idea as a
declarative sentence, not as a
question
• 4. Avoid figurative language in the
central idea.
Exercise
• 1. Banning violent content on
television is a good idea.
• 2. Green tea versus black tea.
• 3. What are nanorobots?
• 4. Hainan Island is an awesome place
for a vacation.
• 1. Banning violent content on
television is a good idea.
• Because violent content on television
increases antisocial behavior in young
children, it should be banned on
weekends and before 9:00 pm on
school nights.
• 2. Green tea versus black tea.
• Despite different methods of
preparation, green tea and black tea
are both made from the leaves of
camellia sinensis and both have their
own health benefits.
• 3. What are nanorobots?
• Microscopic in size, nanorobots are being
developed for use in medical treatment,
weaponry, and daily life.
• 4. Hainan Island is an awesome place for a
vacation.
• Hainan Island has many attractions for
vacationers, including a warm climate,
excellent food, and ethnic villages.
Exercise: fill in the blanks
Supply the general purpose, specific purpose, and the central idea
for a speech with the following main points.
General purpose: to ______________
Specific purpose: to ______________________
Central idea: __________________________
Main points: I. The first factor is to be
knowledgeable about the company.
II. The second factor is to make a good
initial impression.
III. The third factor is to communicate
effectively throughout the interview.
Exercise: fill in the blanks
Supply the general purpose, specific purpose, and the main points
for a speech with the following the central idea.
General purpose: to _________
Specific purpose: to______________________
Central idea: Living in the country is preferable
to living in the city because country life
provides more privacy, involves less stress, and
less pollution.
Main points: I.____________________________
II.___________________________
III. ___________________________
• Let’s practice!
• Write down the general purpose,
specific purpose, central ideas, main
points and the conclusion.
General topic: globalization
• Specific purpose:
• to inform my audience about the reasons
of “losing cultural identity” and how to
cope with the result brought about by
globalization.
• Main points:
• 1. introduction: describe the effects
(positive and negative) of globalization.
• 2: analyze the reasons: certain blindness.
• Sub-points:
• A. Western values distribute together
with western products.
• B: Younger generation live in international
environment.
• C: Lack of understanding of traditional
Chinese culture makes them an easy
target.
• Conclusion:
• embrace the opportunity of
globalization and be confident that a
new China will be on the horizon.
• Main point 3: How to preserve our
cultural identity?
• Sub-points:
• A: understand ourselves. (Lessons on
Chinese culture should be emphasized)
• B: improve ourselves. (No culture can
survive without developing or adapting to
the new situation.)
• C: be proud of ourselves. (traditional
values are also international. “Sunzi
warfare strategy and Confucius.”)