I persuasive speech that I gave to student, attempting to persuade them that purchasing books from on campus retailers is not a good idea.

1. Take a Stand: Textbooks Should be Cheaper or Loaned to Students
Specific Purpose: To persuade my audience to take a stand and change the way books
are purchased at Georgia Southern.
Central Idea: Students should be aware of the problem that they face while being forced
into the textbook monopoly, therefore they should take a stand and then enforce a plan of
action to change the ways textbooks are acquired for college courses.
Introduction:
Jessie Lee Bennett once said, “Books are the compasses and telescopes and
sextants and charts which other men have prepared to help us navigate the dangerous seas
of human life.”
This is the reason we should have easier access to the books from which we are
learning new subjects. You see we need them to learn and the bookstores know this. The
textbook policy at Georgia Southern as well as many other schools across our nation is
unfair! I urge students to stand up for themselves and make a change. We must fight
together to change high textbook prices.
Body
Problem:
I. Students are being taken advantage of by local bookstores that supply college
textbooks.
A. We demand textbooks in order to excel in our college course work.
B. The bookstores have the supply, so from a business standpoint everything is well.
However, we are not in the position to pay hundreds of dollars every semester to
acquire these textbooks.
C. Textbooks are sold new/ used. The problem is books are well over one hundred
dollars anyways. A used book may sell for eighty. Big deal! Or books are sold as
specialized packets for a specific class. The prices of these packets are often very
high, with some of the profits going to the professors themselves.
D. I purchased my West’s Legal Environment of Business recently; the book sells for
$143.00 on Amazon (cheaper than the bookstore where I purchased it.) According to
the Georgia Southern University book buyback system I can only receive $15.00
dollars for this book. Unreal!
E. According to a personal journal article written for the Wall Street Journal by
Shearon Roberts. Carol Liu, a Democratic member of the California State Assembly
said, “We ask students, Whats making college so expensive?” “Students over and
over say it’s the cost of textbooks: I’m barely getting by as it is working two jobs.”
Transition: You are well aware of the problems you face, lets see how we can make a
difference.

2. Taking a Stand:
In a broadcast by National Public Radio in August of 2007 about the college textbook
crisis Billy Roberts a student at Eastern Kentucky University said this, “I get pretty upset,
especially the public speaking textbook on campus. It is made especially for Eastern
Kentucky University. Therefore you can’t purchase it anywhere else. Every semester the
book is a new version, which means no used books. So a new book costs $120 for a 40
page book.”
The radio host Charles Compton follows, “this problem is not just an issue at E.K.U. but
at hundreds of other U.S. campuses.”
I. Complaining will get students nowhere. So the only answer is to change the
system from the inside out.
II. As a whole, students need to realize that they are being ripped off and fight
together in order to make textbooks more affordable.
III. According to my Audience Analysis everyone who answered agreed that the
methods we use to purchase books is very expensive, needs change, and
would be willing to try and make change. This tells me that people are ready
and willing to stand up and create change.
IV. Students also agreed that the books we spend so much money on are rarely
used in the classroom.
Transition: You understand that you must work together in order to get your hard
earned money back, lets go over a plan that will change the current situation.
Plan of Action:
I CALL FOR A NEW POLICY…
I. The students at Georgia Southern must band together in order to make a
strong, consistent force that the bookstores cannot defeat. In order to hurt the
bookstores sales we must discontinue business with them.
II. I encourage everyone to stop purchasing books on campus or at bookstores
surrounding campus. We pay way too much money at these establishments
and have many other options.
A. We can stop purchasing books at the bookstores until they lower prices
drastically.
B. We can create a petition to enforce a new policy where books are loaned to
students along with a small liability fee. If the books are in consistent shape when
returned then the money is returned. If the students as a whole created this new
design for getting our textbooks and approached the higher-level faculty members
such as President Grube we can and will change the current situation to a better
one.
III. Imagine the benefits we could reap if we worked hard to make a change and had
an extra three or four hundred dollars in our pocket each semester. That could add up
quick to thousands of dollars.

3. Practicality: Are these plans practical? Of course, if no one will buy the books then the
prices must fall. If we create a petition to enforce a book loaning policy then we can band
together and force the school to make drastic changes.
Conclusion:
I. As students we must realize that there is a problem and a solution.
II. We must realize that we have the right to create change.
III. Finally we must stand up for ourselves and do just that, create change.
Residual Message: Stand up for yourselves and stop letting the textbook companies rip
holes in your pockets. We are here to learn and we deserve that opportunity without
spending thousands of dollars on textbooks.