Chapter 6
Selecting your topic
Selecting your topic: An overview
• We choose topics everyday
• The best topics meet three key criteria
– They are interesting to the speaker
– They are interesting to the audience
– They are relevant and speakers can add
useful information or contribute to the
surrounding debate
The best topics are interesting to
the audience
Developing a set of potential topics
•
•
•
•
Brainstorming
Word Association
Mind Mapping
Research
Developing potential topics:
Brainstorming
• Listing every
idea that
comes to
mind without
evaluating
their merits.
Developing potential topics:
Word association
• One idea leads
to another that
leads to
another until a
speaker finds
an appropriate
topic.
Developing potential topics:
Mind mapping
• Writing down an initial word or phrase and
then surrounding it with additional words,
pictures, and symbols
Developing potential topics:
Research
• Developing possible speech topics by
gathering and recording information from
libraries, the Internet, and interviews.
Selecting the best topic
•
•
•
•
Consider your audience
Consider your own knowledge and interest
Consider the speech context
Choose a topic and stick to it
Selecting the best topic:
Consider your audience
• Your topic should meet at least one of the
following criteria:
– It will interest your audience
– Your audience needs to know
– It will move them in some way
Selecting the best topic:
Consider your own knowledge and interests
• Pick a topic you are excited about
• Pick a topic you are knowledgeable about
Selecting the best topic:
Consider the speech context
• Context is the overall situation of your
presentation and is affected by:
– Formality: classroom speeches are less
formal than workplace speeches
– Situational characteristics: such as
audience size, mobility issues, time of day,
and physical setting
Selecting the best topic:
Choose a topic and stick to it
• Changing topics will increase your
preparation time.
• Wavering back and forth on a topic
weakens your speech.
Tips for selecting the best topic
• Tip: If you are not excited about your
topic… no one else will be.
• Tip: Boring your teacher will not give you a
good grade.
Refining your topic:
Decide your rhetorical purpose
• To inform: increasing listeners’
understanding or awareness.
• To persuade: convincing listeners to
consider a new position, strengthen or
weaken a belief, or take action.
• To mark a special occasion: honoring
an occasion by entertaining, inspiring, or
moving listeners.
General tips for refining your topic
• Tip: If you have a strong opinion about
your topic, consider using it for a
persuasive speech.
• Tip: If you are going to commemorate a
death, be sure you are ready to speak
about it in public—you may get caught off
guard by your emotions.
Narrowing your topic
• Why is this important?
– Speech needs to fit time limit
– Gives you focus
Broad topic 
spring break fun
Narrower topic 
spring break in
Miami
Narrowed topic 
use caution with
spring break tattoos
Narrowing your topic: Remember
your audience
• Make listeners care.
• If they are asking “why should I care?”
your speech will not be as effective.
Narrowing your topic: Draw on your
interests and expertise
• It is easier to speak extemporaneously on
a topic which is:
– Familiar
– Important to you
– Exciting to you
Narrowing your topic: Review your
rhetorical purpose
• Does your narrowed topic match the
rhetorical purpose?
Narrow your
topic:
Make sure
topic matches
rhetorical
purpose
Narrowing your topic: Evaluate the
situation
• Will situational factors get in the way of
your topic?
– Time of day
– Occasion
– Overall speech context
Drafting your specific purpose
• Specific Purpose—the speech objective
presented as a single sentence—should
focus speech development.
• Rhetorical purpose should start:
– “To inform my audience…”
– “To persuade my audience…”
– “To commemorate…”
Tips for drafting your specific
purpose
• Tip: Focus on what you want your
audience to walk away with.
• Tip: If you spend the time to develop a well
constructed specific purpose, the speech
will write itself (mostly)—more on this
when we talk about organization!
Drafting your thesis statement
• Single sentence
• Expresses the speaker’s intentions
• Consistent with specific purpose
Thesis statement examples
– Informative: “Hmong New Year includes many
culturally distinctive features.”
– Persuasive: “You should sign up for a service
learning course.”
– Special Occasion: “The Duke University
women’s basketball team has much to
celebrate at this year’s awards banquet.”