Selecting your topic Selecting your topic An overview

Selecting your topic 常姗姗 上海财经大学

Selecting your topic: An overview • We choose topics everyday • The best topics meet two key criteria – They are interesting to the speaker – (topics you know a lot about/you want to know more about) – They are interesting to the audience Occasions audience qualifications

Two broad categories of topics • 1. subjects you know a lot about • the unusual experience or special expertise • How to Have a Successful Job Interview • Shanghai: The Financial Capital of Asia • A Tour of Tibet • How to Shop Online

Two broad categories of topics 2. subjects you want to know more about • Explore the topic • Have strong opinions or beliefs. (may include international concerns: international conflict, hijack, global warming, media violence, third-party payment regulations. Or dormitory regulations, helping people with disabilities, or vegetarianism)

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 interest yourself – 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.

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

Narrow your topic: Make sure topic matches general purpose

Narrowing your topic: Evaluate the situation • Will situational factors get in the way of your topic? – Time of day – Occasion – Overall speech context

Write the Specific Purpose Statement as a Full Infinitive Phrase, Not as a Fragment Ineffective: Calendars More Effective: To inform my audience about the four major kinds of calendars used in the world today. ©Stephen E. Lucas 2001 All rights reserved.

Limit the Specific Purpose Statement to One Distinct Idea Ineffective: To persuade my audience that the federal government should ban all cigarette advertising and that smoking should be prohibited in all campus buildings. ©Stephen E. Lucas 2001 All rights reserved.

More Effective: To persuade my audience that the federal government should ban all cigarette advertising. OR More Effective: To persuade my audience that smoking should be prohibited in all campus buildings. ©Stephen E. Lucas 2001 All rights reserved.

Make Sure the Specific Purpose Is Not Too Vague or General Ineffective: To inform my audience about the Civil War. More Effective: To inform my audience about The role of African-American soldiers in the Civil War. ©Stephen E. Lucas 2001 All rights reserved.

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…”

Central Idea • Is a concise statement of what you expect to say. =thesis statement, subject sentence, major thought.

Thesis statement examples – Topic: Qipao – General Purpose: To inform – Specific Purpose: To inform my audience of the history, style, and cultural impact of Qipao. – Central Idea: Qipao was created in the 1920 s, comes in a number of styles, and has exerted significant cultural impact on Chinese women.

activity • Your communication degree has helped you land a job as spokesperson for the mayor of a medium-sized costal city. A year after starting the job, you are selected to organize an information campaign explaining the benefits of a new public park proposed by the mayor. • To launch this campaign, you will hold a news briefing at the end of the week. To open the briefing, you will present a short set of comments on the mayor’s initiative.

Activity • You decide to focus on three benefits of the park: 1, it will provide green space in the middle of the city; 2, it will provide a location for healthy social activities; 3, it will be free and open to everyone. • Following the format used in this chapter, state the general purpose, specific purpose, central idea, and main points of your comments. • make a speech