Informative Speaking
Purposes of Informative Speaking
Informative speaking offers you an opportunity to practice researching, writing,
organizing, and finally, your speaking skills. You will learn how to discover and
present information clearly. If you take the time to thoroughly research and
understand your topic, to create a clearly organized speech, and to practice an
enthusiastic, dynamic style of delivery, you can be an effective "teacher" during
your informative speech. You will be using visual support to further enhance
your presentation.
The purpose of the informative speech is to provide interesting, useful, and
unique information to your audience in an unbiased way (neutral).
Keep the following “C’s” in mind as you construct your speech:
1. Be Clear—Provide definitions and/or make distinctions: what a topic is
or is not.
2. Be Concise—Make each word count using precise and specific
language.
3. Be Complete—State your main ideas and satisfy them…use advanced
organizers.
4. Be Correct—Check and double check the accuracy of your
information. Give credit when due.
5. Be Concrete—Talk in terms of people, places and things. Be specific
and avoid generalizations.
6. Be Connected—Analyze your audience so you can include information
they can relate to.
Requirements
You will deliver a 4-6 minute researched presentation

Due:

Minimum of 3 sources of information --one source must be from the Internet

Multimedia support (slides/video/Glog, etc.) to coordinate with presentation

1 typed outline

Page(s) of research with source citations clearly identified, following MLA
format Due:

Completed storyboard Due:

1 practice sheet due the day you speak Due

Unit test
Due
Informative Topics
(NO, you do not HAVE to
pick one of these.)
1
Actress/Actor
Adoption
Advertising
A country (pick one)
Animal ( pick one)
Anorexia/bulimia
Artist
Baseball cards
Bigfoot
Birds
Bugs
Cartoon character
Cartoonist
Cat
Chocolate
Classic movie
Classic rock artist
Clouds
Coca Cola
Comedian
Comic book characters
Comic books
Computers
Crafts
Crop circles
Current event
Current music artist
Customs
Disney
Disney film
Dracula
Dream analysis
Dreams
Dubuque
Earthquakes
Easter Island
Education
Egypt
Famous athlete
Famous criminal
Fashion
Favorite tv show
Fish
Flowers
Gangs
Ghosts
Iraq
Lucid dreaming
M.C. Escher
Movie director
Music group
Nightmares
Nostradamus
Osama Bin Laden
Palm reading
Sleep
Sleep disorders
Tornadoes
UFO’s
Unsolved mysteries
Volcanoes
Social networking
websites and how they
work (e.g. Facebook,
Friendster, MySpace)
The latest trends with the
Internet
The history of video or
computer games
Global Positioning
Systems (GPS)
Science and Medical
Topics
Most of these topics
should be broken down
into more manageable
subtopics!
http://www.myspeechclass
.com/informativetopics2.ht
ml
http://www.hawaii.edu/mau
ispeech/html/infotopichelp.
html
Dubuque Senior Online
Information Resources:
www.aea1.k12.ia.us
Select “Online
Resources”
User Name(home and
school):kaea003
Password:kaea01
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Sample informative:
Paris Hilton Outline
Allison Boyes
Intro: If you look in anywhere TV, magazines, the Internet, it seems that Paris Hilton is everywhere in the media. From her feud
with her best friend, to losing her dog. It seems like the more that we dislike her, the more we want to know more about her.
Known as the spoiled Hollywood party girl, is that really all there is to Paris or is there more to her that we don’t know.
I. General Paris Facts
A. Paris Whitney Hilton (according to www.imdb.com)
B. Nicknames
1.Star
2.Princess
C. 5’7’’
D. Socialite, Singer, Actress, Fashion Model, Author
II. Family Life
A. Parents: Rick and Kathy
B. Siblings: Nicky, Barron, and Conrad
C. Celeb Relatives (according to www.en.wikipedia.org)
1.Kim and Kyle Richards (child stars)
2. Zsa Zsa Gabor
3. Elizabeth Taylor
D. Heiress: Real Estate, Hotels
E. Family Houses
1. $30.5 million in Bel Air
2. $12.3 mil, $10 mil in Hollywood
III. Modeling
A. Signed by top agencies
1.Ford Model Management
2.Models 1
3.Nous Model Management
3. Premier Model Management
B. Advertisements
1. Guess
2. Tommy Hilfiger
3. Christian Dior
4. Marciano
IV. Acting
A. The Simple Life
1. Nicole Richie
2. Live w/ rural family in Arkansas
3. 5 seasons
B. Movies
1. House of Wax, The Hillz
2. Rasin Helen, Win a Date With Tad Hamilton
3. Zoolander
4. Lead Roll- The Hottie and The Nottie (2008)
C. TV Guest Stars
1. The OC, George Lopez Show
2. Las Vegas, American Dreamz, Veronica Mars
D. Made 7 million on 2004
V. Other Business
A. Music
1. Founder of Heiress Records
2. Album in 2004
3. Stars are Blind (Single) peaked #18
4. Reviews Mixed (57%)
B. Paris, Nicky, Tinkerbelle = Cartoon
C. Author
1.Confessions of an Heiress
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a. Best seller
b. 2004
D. Perfume
VI. Personal Life
A. Tinkerbelle
1. Chihuahua
2. Getting lost was nation news
B. That’s Hot- Trademarked
C. Dumb Blonde Front (according to Seventeen Magazine)
1. Plays it for the camera’s
2. Can’t trust people
D. Enjoys being single
E. 2005 Fiancée (according to Vanity Fair)
1. Paris Kasidokostas
2. Inherit $30 mil.
F. Nicole Richie
1. Fight
2. Friends for 20 years
Conclusion:
Whether you like Paris or not, it doesn’t seem like she’s going to go away anytime soon. This party girl may not always make the
right choices, but with all of her business success she is a lot smarter than most of us think.
Documenting Print Sources and Using Online Tools for Internet Sources
Citation entries for books generally list three main sections for information about your
source:
1. Author name: last name first, first name.
2. Full title of the work: book and journal titles are underlined or italicized
(if typed); article titles are put in quotation marks.
3. Publication information: city of publication, name of publisher, and date.
4. Publication medium (print, web, dvd….etc.).
I. A Book by a Single Author:
Morris, Desmond. Body Talk: the Meaning of Human Gestures. New York:
Random House, 1994. Print
.
II. An Anthology:
Allen, Robert C., ed. Channels of Discourse: Television and
Contemporary Criticism. Chapel Hill: U of North
Carolina P, 1987.Print
Magazine
Author’s name (if given). “Title of article.” Title of magazine. Date of publication: Page
number(s). Print.
Newspaper
Author (if given). “Title of article.” Newspaper name. Date:Section:Page. Print.
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Internet WWW Primary Page
Author/Editor (if known). “Title of page.” Revision or copyright date (if available).
Publication medium (Online), Page publisher. Access date. Web.
Magazine, online
Author. “Article title.” Magazine Title. Date: page . Publication medium (online).
Name of computer service or database. Access date. Web.
Article from a database, such as EBSCO
Author. "Title of Article." Publication Name Volume Number (if necessary) Publication
Date: page number-page number. Database name. Service name. Library
Name,City, State. Date of access.
Web
ONLINE Bibliography TOOLS
1. Open up a Word document. Copy and paste information from your sources in this
document.
2. Go to http://www.easybib.com,
http://www.Citationmachine.net
http://www.Bibme.org
Choose MLA and then source type. Follow the directions in order to generate a source
citation. Copy the results to your word document. Put in alphabetical order.
3. Remember, you MUST identify your sources in your speech!
You will need at least 3 sources. You may use more than three.
.
VERBS THAT CAN
INTRODUCE
QUOTES
From Tom
Powell
adds
concludes
holds
reveals
admits
condemns
illustrates
says
affirms
considers
implies
sees
agrees
contends
insists
shows
argues
denies
maintains
speculates
asks
declares
notes
states
asserts
derides
observes
suggests
believes
disagrees
points out
thinks
claims
disputes
rejects
warns
comments
relates
writes
5
compares
explains
reports
concedes
finds
responds
emphasize
http://www.studygs.net/t
rans/index.htm
Transitions
TRANSITION WORDS
Transitions are words or phrases that act as a bridge between ideas.
Transitions help smooth the flow of a speech.
For continuing a common line of reasoning:
consequently
clearly, then
furthermore
additionally
and
in addition
moreover
because
besides that
in the same way
following this further
also
pursuing this further
in the light of the... it is easy to see that
To change the line of reasoning (contrast):
however
on the other hand
but
yet
nevertheless
on the contrary
For opening a paragraph initially or for general use:
admittedly
assuredly
certainly
granted
no doubt
6
nobody denies
obviously
of course
to be sure
true
undoubtedly
unquestionably
generally speaking
in general
at this level
in this situation
For the final points of a paragraph or speech:
finally
lastly
Transitional chains, to use in separating sections of a paragraph that is arranged chronologically:
first... second... third...
generally... furthermore... finally
in the first place... also... lastly
in the first place... pursuing this further... finally
to be sure... additionally... lastly
in the first place... just in the same way... finally
basically... similarly... as well
To signal conclusion:
therefore
this
hence
in final analysis
in conclusion
in final consideration
indeed
To restate a point within a paragraph in another way or in a more exacting way:
in other words
point in fact
specifically
Sequence or time
after
afterwards
as soon as
at first
at last
before
before long
finally
first... second... third
in the first place
in the meantime
later
7
meanwhile
next
soon
then
http://www.Sliderocket.com
Free online alternative
Requires signing up
www.glogster.com
Check out
www.cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com
The site lists hundreds of options!
http://www.go2web20.net/
Flipsnack.com
Myebook.com
Prezi.com
Evaluating Internet Resources
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It is important to note that not all resources contain valid information.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to verify information found on the
web. We should be concerned about the quality of information used
in a speech. The following is one suggestion about determining if
web content is “good.”
http://www.gettysburg.edu/library/research/tips/webeval/index.dot
Why Evaluate Web Sources?

Anyone with a little time, some knowledge and small amount of money can publish on
the Internet.

No person, persons or organization reviews the content of the Internet.

Pages are retrieved by search engines based on the page's content, not the relevancy or
quality of the page.

Much information on the Web is not updated regularly.
How to Evaluate Web Resources
The CRAAP Test* is a useful guide to evaluating Web resources. CRAAP is an acronym for the
general categories of criteria that can be used to evaluate information you find on the Web. The
following table outlines the CRAAP criteria. Click on the criteria to find more information and
examples.
Currency
Relevance/Coverage
Authority
Accuracy
Purpose/Objectivity
The timeliness of the information.
The depth and importance of the information.
The source of the information.
The reliability of the information.
The possible bias present in the information.
*The CRAAP acronym and descriptions are from Meriam Library at California State University
Chico. CRAAP Test from the Meriam Library website.
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