Chapter 4

Selecting a Topic and Purpose

Choosing a Topic

Not difficult in out-of-class experiences Topic = subject of speech Two broad categories

– Topics you know a lot about– Topics you want to know more about

Key to a good speech is not found in topic alone… but in how you develop it

All Else Fails: Brainstorming

4 Techniques– Personal Inventory

• Experiences, interests, hobbies, skills, beliefs…• Find a general subject area?

– Clustering (9 columns)• Still stuck? Choose 3 and free associate

– Reference Search– Internet Search

Determining the General Purpose

General purpose = goal of the speech 3 main types:

– To Inform– To Persuade– To Entertain

In-class this is provided

Determining the Specific Purpose

Specific Purpose = A single infinitive phrase that states precisely what a speaker hopes to accomplish in their speech

Should focus on one aspect of a topic

Examples:

Topic: Emergencies– General Purpose: To Inform– Specific Purpose: To inform my audience of the

major steps in responding to an emergency.

Topic: Calendars– General Purpose: To Inform– Specific Purpose: To inform my audience about

the four major kinds of calendars used in the world today

Tips for Formulating the Specific Purpose

Write the purpose statement as a full, infinitive phrase, not as a fragment– Calendars vs. previous example

Express purpose as a statement, not a question

Tips for Formulating the Specific Purpose (cont’d)

Avoid figurative language– “sweet” & “throwing the baby out with the

bath water” Limit your purpose statement to one

distinct idea –do not use “and to” Make sure that it is not too vague or

general

Questions to ask about your Specific Purpose

Does my purpose meet my assignment? Can I accomplish my purpose in the time

allotted? Is the purpose relevant to my audience? Is the purpose too trivial for my audience? Is the purpose too technical for my audience?

Phrasing the Central Idea

Central Idea = A one sentence statement that sums up or encapsulates the major ideas of a speech– More precise than your topic and specific

purpose– Consider: What would you tell your friends

about your speech?

Book says: Central Idea is also your

Residual Message Residual message = what a speaker

wants the audience to remember after it has forgotten everything else in a speech – “take home message”

Did you have one in your job interview?

Guidelines for the Central Idea

It should be expressed in a full sentence It should not be in the form of a question It should avoid figurative language It should not be vague or overly general If you can’t state it yet, you do not

understand your topic well enough

Chapter 6

Gathering Materials

Using your own knowledge and experience

Do not depersonalize your speech by simply relying on facts and figures from books

Personal stories can add interest, realism and vividness to a speech

Doing Library Research

Librarians– Doctors vs Librarians

Catalogues– Card/Computer– Call numbers

Doing Library Research (cont’d)

Periodical Indexes– A research aid that catalogues articles from a

large number of journals or magazines– Abstract listing – a summary of a magazine or

journal article, written by someone other than the original author

– General Indexes – “Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature”

– Special Indexes – Social Sciences Index, Applied Science and Technology Index

Doing Library Research (cont’d) Newspaper Index

– A research aid that catalogues articles from one or more newspapers

Reference Works– A work that synthesizes a large amount of related

information for easy access by researchers– Encyclopedias (General/Specific)– Yearbooks*– Dictionaries– Quotation books– Biographical Aids*– Atlases and Gazetteers*

The Internet

The Internet = The Global Collection of interlinked computer networks

When did you first start using the Internet?

How old were you? Do you know more about it than your

parents? Your Grandparents?

Searching the Internet

www = (World Wide Web) A global hypertext information system that allows users to access text, graphics, audio and moving images from the Internet

Browsers – Computer program for navigating the WWW

Link – A connection between two documents or sections of a document on the WWW

Searching the Internet (cont’d)

Search Aids:– Search Engines: index web pages and checks

them for sites that match a researcher’s request– Metasearch engines: a search aid that sends the

researcher’s request to several search engines at once

– Virtual Libraries: combine Internet Technology with traditional library methods of cataloguing and assessing data

Searching the Internet (cont’d)

Keyword Searches Subject Searches Bookmarks URL – Uniform Resource Locator

– A string of letters or numbers that identify the location of a given website on the Internet

Specialized Online Research Resources

Government Reference Periodical News Multicultural

Evaluating Internet Documents

Who can publish a web page? Authorship: is the author an expert?

Examine their qualifications. Consider Bias. Sponsorship: is a sponsoring organization

actually providing the content? Recency: How old is the Information, does

this matter?

Interviewing

No Time in class – look in your book for more information

Book provides:– Before, During and After Interview stage

information

Tips for doing research

Start Early Make a preliminary bibliography Take notes efficiently

– Use index cards– Record the source of the note on each card– Separate card for each note– Distinguish between yours, a quote and

paraphrase Think about your materials as you research