Selecting a Topic And Purpose

1. Choosing your topic

A. Choose a topic you know about.

B. Choose a topic you are interested in.

C. Choose a topic which you hold a strong opinion and belief (be careful and remember your audience-center approach). 2. What to do if you have problems selecting a topic.

A. Write down your interests, skills, experiences, hobbies.

B. Brainstorm people, place, thing, events, policies.

C. Look at an encyclopedia, newspaper for a topic.

D. Whatever your topic is....think of one quickly.

3. Determine your general purpose.

A. To inform or to persuade. 1)inform: enhance knowledge and understanding 2)persuade: change the attitude or actions and get the listener to act upon it (donor card, donate blood, vote, etc).

4. Narrowing the general purpose to a specific purpose.

A. Indicate exactly what the speaker wants to communicate. Five tips for forming a good specific purpose statement. 1)it should be a complete sentence and not a fragment. 2)phrase it as a statement not a question. 3)avoid figurative (slang) language. 4)should not contain two or more unrelated ideas. 5)Don't be too vague or general

B. Once you select topic and specific purpose check... 1)Does the specific purpose meet the assignment (inform, persuade, object, event, etc.) 2)will you have enough time to do an effective speech. 3)Is the specific purpose relevant to the audience. 4)is the specific purpose too technical or trivial.

5. Creating a central idea.

A. Central idea is the exact statement of what the speaker expects to say in the speech. 1)It sums up the speech in a single sentence. 2)What the speaker wants the audience to remember. 3)It tells us the content of the speech.

B. Central idea should meet 4 criterias. (same as 4-A, except #4.)