INFORMATIVE SPEECH ASSIGNMENT
Informative speeches are a customary part of the public speaking course. The following pages
provide a complete set of assign documents for a standard informative speech.
Specific ideas for an informative speech include:
 An Art Speech. This is an expository speech about a piece of art – a painting, a
sculpture, an installation, a mural, etc. Students can research the artist, the historical
context, and/or the legacy of the piece of art. This speech is a natural for incorporating
visuals, including storyboards.

A Biography Speech. Students can research a famous person from the past or present in
history, government, science, technology, art, media, or entertainment.

Cultural Food Speech. Have students take a food product or dish from a particular
culture. They must research the origins, the ingredients, recipes, nutritional elements,
and/or relevant cultural rituals surrounding or incorporating the food.

Local Point of Interest. Students research a local point of interest (park, statue, museum,
building, outdoor space, street) in your community and share the results in their speech.
This is a great way to encourage interviews. Students can also gather their own images
and incorporate those into their visual presentation.

Demonstration Speech. In this popular informative speech assignment, students
demonstrate a step-by-step process, complete with visual support. Encourage students to
choose a topic that’s new and useful, so the speech is meaningful for their listeners. You
may want to pre-approve topics to ensure that students don’t fall back on high-school
standards such as “How to Make a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich,” or “How to Tie a
Tie.”

A Current Events Speech. For this speech, students can explain a topic that is
circulating in the media which addresses various political, economical, technology-based,
human interest.
INFORMATIVE SPEECH ASSIGNMENT
Prepare this speech according to the directions and suggestions below. This speech will apply
concepts learned in the course to present a topic involving processes, events, places, people,
objects, or concepts.
This speech will be 7-8 minutes long and is worth 150 points. Adherence to the 7-8 minute
timeframe of the speech will be strictly kept. Every student is EXPECTED to be prepared to give
their speech on day 1. However, I will ask for volunteers on each day of the speech block. If
there are no volunteers, I will begin assigning speech turns in random order. This may be done
according to where you sit in class (by row) or it may be done according to the class roster –
either alphabetical from the top of the list or from the bottom. If you are not ready or are not in
class on the day your name comes up, you will forfeit your points. No make-ups will be made.
You must bring a print-out of your corrected outline stapled to your final outline. Failure to do
this will result in a 10% deduction off your final grade.
Proper APA format MUST be used for a passing grade including proper in-text citations and
reference page. An exemplary speech outline will be provided at the speech class website:
http://speechclassdocs.weebly.com/
HIGHLIGHTED SKILLS:
 Thesis statement and connected main supporting points
 Transitions and organizational markers
 Citing of research sources
 Visual support
 Audience connection, use of personal pronouns
 Credibility
TIME LIMIT: 7-8 minutes
Adopt a listener-centered mind-set. Prepare and deliver this speech with your audience in
mind. Your goal is to broaden the intellectual horizons of your specific listeners.
Topic selection/audience analysis. Choose a topic of interest to intellectually curious college
students. The topic must be one that helps your classmates learn more about their world, and
must be one about which you need to do additional research.
Structure your speech.
Introduction – Tell us what you’re going to tell us
attention material – planned material that gains attention and makes us want to listen to the rest
of the speech. It may be a question, a quote, a scenario, humor, etc.
thesis statement – introduce your topic, and narrow it down to your thesis.
establish credibility – tell us your interest in the topic and speak about your research.
audience connection – tell your audience why they should listen to you discuss this topic. What
is your topic and thesis relevant to this group?
preview your main supporting points
Body – Tell us
Main points – develop two to four main points that support the thesis. You’ll discuss them one
at a time. Each main point will have sub-points and perhaps even sub-subpoints.
Use transitions – use clear transitions between main points to help listeners follow your
organizational structure.
Conclusion – Tell us what you've told us
transition to the conclusion – let listeners know the conclusion is beginning.
review thesis and main points – summarize the content of your speech.
take-away – tell the audience what they can do with your information; create yet more
relevance.
closing material – planned material that lets us know you are done speaking.
Find and incorporate relevant research. Analyze the credibility of your sources. You must
verbally cite a minimum of two research sources during the speech.
Use a variety of forms of support.
At least one piece of visual support is required. Show something that helps reinforce your
informative message.
Consider ways to engage your listeners. Use personal pronouns, and consider direct and
rhetorical participation techniques.
Continue to establish and maintain your credibility.
Speak conversationally. Plan on what you’ll say, make a note card or two with key words and
phrases to trigger your memory and practice a few times, but DO NOT write out this speech
word for word and read it to us. Your aim is to talk to us in a natural, conversational tone of
voice.
Consider your language. Keep in inclusive, make it accurate, and define terms,
Make eye contact with your audience. Show confidence in your other nonverbals.
Use a solid volume. We have to hear you to be able to interact with your message.
Practice to familiarize yourself with your material and to meet the time limit.
Possible Informative Speech topics:
Access to education
Adult education
Affirmative Action
After-school programs
Americans with Disabilities Act
Arts and humanities
Basic skills/”underprepared” for college
California and education, ranking
Censorship
Charter schools
Child care for college students
Class size/student-teacher ratio
College admissions
College culture
Common Core state standards
Community colleges
Cost of higher education
Cultural literacies and testing
Democracy and education
Desegregation
Digital divide
Digital literacy
Disadvantaged students
Distance learning
Diversity and education
Dream Act/Development, Relief, and
Education for Alien Minors
Dual immersion/bilingual education
“Dumbing Down” of education
Employment and education
Earnings and education
Educational factors: economic, social,
cultural, family, geography
English as a second language
Equity and education
Ethnicity and education
Financial aid
First generation college students
Future of education
Gender and learning and schools
Girls’ and boys’ schools
Head Start
Higher education
Home schooling
Information literacy
Learning aptitudes, modalities
Learning disabilities
Life-long learning
Liberal education
Literacy
Magnet schools
Merit pay for teachers
Millennial students
Minorities and education
MOOCS/Massive Open Online Courses
Multicultural education
Native American education
No Child Left Behind Act
Open education
Outsourcing education and services
Parochial schools
Physical education
Politics and education: local, state,
federal
Poverty and education
Preschool (universal)
Private schools
Privatizing education (“financialization”)
Public education
Race and education
Rural/Urban
School choice
Socio-economic factors in education
Special Education
Standard of living and education
Standardized testing
STEM (Science, Technology,
Engineering, and Mathematics)
Student visas
Student-teacher ratio
Success in education
Support services for students: nurses,
counselors, librarians, aides, etc.
Tenure for teachers
Technology
Tuition vouchers
Undocumented students
Vocational education
Pachamama
Edward Snowden
Janet Napolitano
Ben Bernanke
Malala Yousafzai
Federal Reserve
China’s elderly population
Finland Education system
Egypt’s Revolution
The Farm Bill
Wendy Davis and the Texas filibuster
North Korea Nuclear Testing
Daft Punk
MIA
KTVU and journalism fact checking
Student debt
Trayvon Martin
The Cloud
NSA
MRSA
Librotraficante
Attachment parenting
Shadow banking
K-Pop/Hallyu
Colonialism
Marxism
Capitalism
Structuralism
Postmodernism
Deconstruction
Epistemology
Government shutdown
The Emmy’s
iOS7
Obama Care
Syria
Nicolas Maduro
Smart Water
2014 World Cup (Soccer)
Nelson Mandela
George Zimmerman trial
Helpful websites for research:
Affirmative Action
ACLU http://www.aclu.org/racial-justice/affirmative-action
American Association of Community Colleges (AACC)
http://www.aacc.nche.edu/Pages/default.aspx
American Indian Education
http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jar/AIE/index.html
Americans with Disabilities Act
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EECO)
http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/history/35th/1990s/ada.html
U.S. Department of Justice/Civil Rights Division http://www.ada.gov/
Bilingual Education/Dual Immersion
California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE)
http://www.bilingualeducation.org/resources_links.php
National Association for Bilingual Education
http://www.nabe.org/BilingualEducation
California Department of Education
http://www.cde.ca.gov
California Dream Act http://www.csac.ca.gov/dream_act.asp
Censorship
ALA http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/censorshipfirstamendmentissues
Charter Schools
National Alliance for Public Charter Schools
http://www.publiccharters.org/About-Charter-Schools/What-are-CharterSchools003F.aspx
Common Core
State Standards http://www.corestandards.org/
California http://www.cde.ca.gov/re/cc/ccssfaqs2010.asp
Education Commission of the States
http://www.ecs.org
Head Start http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ohs/
Information Literacy http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/informationliteracycompetency
Magnet Schools http://www2.ed.gov/programs/magnet/index.html
Informative Speech
Preparation Outline
Speaker: Student Name Here
Title: Improving Yourself
Speech Purpose: To inform
1. INTRODUCTION
a. Attention material: There are many people that would like to get healthier, but
do not really know how or think that just not eating will help. I bet most of us are
like that too.
i. Initial audience relevance: Most people have the idea that lifting weights
will just get you big and bulky. Weight training can actually help with fat
burning. It can also help with relieving stress. Obviously your physical
appearance can improve as well which is why most people do it. However
you should know more in detail about the results that can occur when you
weight lift.
ii. Initial credibility: I did some research on how weight training can help
you get in to a better shape. I have had personal experience on how weight
training can improve your health. I used to be overweight and now since I
started weight training I have seen the improvements that have resulted.
iii. Thesis: Weight training can be an efficient way to improve your health
and lifestyle.
iv. Preview of main points: When I have finished informing you about how
to improve your health, you will know first, the basic of weight training;
second, the nutrition that goes along with weight training; and finally, the
different styles of weight training you can perform.
TRANSITION TO BODY: Let’s get into detail about weight training.
2. BODY
a. Main Point 1: According to the Mayo Clinic Staff, “weight training is a type of
strength training that uses weights for resistance” (mayoclinic.org).
i. It provides stress on the muscle causing them to grow and get stronger.
ii. Weight training can be performed by using free weights like dumbbells or
barbells or by using weight machines.
iii. You do not have to spend your whole time in the gym. You can work out a
couple times a week and still improve your health.
iv. You have to perform your exercise with the correct form or will otherwise
get injured. Start out slow with light weight and the then progress on to
heavier weight as you improve.
v. According to exerciseabout.com weight training can help burn more fat
than just doing cardio alone (exerciseabout.com).
vi. Don’t get me wrong cardio is good way to lose fat but weight training can
be more effective.
vii. Like any other activity you have to allow your muscles to rest in order to
recover from the workout.
Transition: However a good workout does you no good if you do not eat the food.
b. Main Point 2: As stated on eatright.org “Proper nutrition is important for weight
training as it can improve the overall performance and increase muscle strength”
(eatright.org).
i. The easy part is the workout, the hard part is controlling what you eat for
the rest of the day.
ii. You need to consume foods that contain enough energy that satisfy your
needs. They depend on how often and how hard you train.
iii. Carbohydrates are the source that provide you with energy. Having the
adequate amount of carbs can avoid fatigue and injury. Some examples of
good sources of carbs are whole grains, fruits, and dairy.
iv. Protein is an important factor in building and maintaining muscle
(eatright.org). The amount of protein intake depends on your training.
good sources of protein are lean meat poultry, fish, eggs, soy products and
low fat or fat free dairy products.
v. According to muscleandfitness.com “you should not avoid fat”
(muscleandfitness.com). Healthy fats should consists 20-30% of your
daily calorie intake. You can eat avocados, walnuts, olives, and peanut
butter.
vi. So basically you have to make sure you consume a diet that contains high
quality protein intake, adequate carbohydrates and heart healthy fats.
Transition: Like many other activity performed weight training has variations.
c. Main Point 3: There are many different types of weight training that can provide
different results. It all depends on what your goal is and you choose which type
best suits you.
i. One type is bodybuilding. According to livestrong.com, “bodybuilders
have the goal to make their muscles bigger” (livestrong.com). This tends
to be more of a bulking type of training.
1. This type tends to focus on one muscle group per day per week.
2. This makes your muscles bigger but not necessarily stronger.
3. Body builders tend to not be as strong as other athletes because the
goal is aesthetics, not athleticism.
ii. Another type is power lifting. Their goal tends to focus more on strength
and not appearance. This is best type for max strength. They lift extremely
heavy weight for only a few repetitions.
iii. Circuit training is another type of weight training.
1. This is more ideal for burning fat and increasing stamina.
2. They do a number of exercises in a quick session with a light
amount of weight.
3. This is popular among fighters and boxers.
CONCLUSION
Marker to conclusion: So let’s review…
Summary of speech thesis: “Today, I talked to you about how you can improve your health by
trying something new.
Summary of main points: The basics of weight training the nutrition that goes along with it and
the different types of weight training can help you better your body and life.
Audience take-away: Now, you’ve learned some basic info about weight training and the results
that occur from it. Hopefully you will try make a change to better your lifestyle.
Closing material: Just remember that change does not happen overnight you have to be patient.
Stick with it and eventually the results will be noticeable and you will be happy you made a
change.
References
5 types of weight training. (n.d.). LIVESTRONG.COM. Retrieved August 16, 2013, from
http://www.livestrong.com/
Eat right for resistance training. (n.d.). eatright.org. Retrieved December 1, 2013, from
http://www.eatright.org/Public/
Stoppani, j. (n.d.). muscle food . muscleandfitness.com. Retrieved February 23, 2014, from
http://muscleandfitnesse.com/
Waehner, p. (n.d.). weight traing 101. about health.com. Retrieved July 30, 2014, from
http://exercise.about.com/
Weight training: improve your muscular fitness. (n.d.). mayoclinic.org. Retrieved November 13,
2011, from http://www.mayoclinic.org/
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