1. Developing Your
4 Purpose and Topic

2. General Purpose
 The speaker’s overall objective
• To inform
• To persuade
• To entertain

3. Determining Your General Purpose
 Speaking to inform
 Speaking to persuade
 Speaking to entertain
 Keeping your general purpose in mind

4. Brainstorming for Possible Topics
 Brainstorming – a free-form way of
generating ideas without evaluating them

5. Evaluating and Selecting Topic Ideas
 Consider your own interests
 Consider the audience
 Consider resource availability
 Consider time
 Consider the setting and speaking event

6. Identifying Your Speech Purpose
 Specific purpose – what you want to
achieve in your speech

7. General Purpose, Topic, &
Specific Purpose

8. Phrasing Your Thesis
 Thesis – summarizes your plan for
achieving the specific purpose; a single
descriptive sentence that captures the
essence or central idea of a speech

9. Building Your Working Outline
 An outline that guides you during the initial
stages of topic development, helping to
keep you focused on your general
purpose and clarify your specific purpose

10. Building Your Working Outline Cont.
 Brainstorming for topic development
 Grouping ides to select main points
 Writing the thesis

11. Types of Outlines

12. Introduction
Intro
Greeting Name
Attention
Getter
Thesis

13. Major Speech Parts
Introduction
 Arouse the audience members’
attention with a quotation, question or
short story
 Introduce yourself (First & Last Name)
 Greeting
 Clearly state the thesis at the end of the
introduction

14. Body
• Use Transitions
• Focus on Detail
• Create additional Attention Getters
• Give examples
• Make Audience feel like they are a part
of
your discussion

15. Conclusion
• Restate the thesis
• Leave Audience with something to
think about/attention getter
• Say Thank You
• Discuss Objects (one minute or less)
• Prepare Demonstration(30 seconds or less)
• Answer questions

16. Relevant Websites
 Developing your thesis
 Framing a thesis statement