STUDY GUIDE (Quiz 2) “Getting Started on Your First Speech” (pp. 579-594)
DISCLAIMER: This guide highlights some of the most important concepts addressed in the textbook readings for which you are accountable in Quiz 2. Review this material as you prepare for the quiz. Not everything in this guide will be on the quiz, and not everything on the quiz will derive from this guide. Indeed, you should carefully review the readings for other noteworthy facts, terms, or concepts that you might encounter on the quiz.

KEY WORDS Topic selection Ethical behavior Plagiarism General purpose Specific purpose Thesis statement Audience definition Facts Statistics Examples Testimony Analogies Introduction Body Conclusion Language Fillers Stages of speech tension SUMMARY Putting together an effective public speech requires good planning. In order to construct and to deliver such a speech, you should follow an eight-step process. First, decide on a topic. Before choosing a topic, make sure you know the amount of time you have to speak, your level of knowledge about the topic, and the needs of your audience. Second, resolve to demonstrate ethical behavior throughout the process. This requires you to use accurate and current information, to rely on sound reasoning, to present a speech based on your own independent research and views, to cite sources, and to quote and to paraphrase correctly when you present information that is not your own. Third, determine the general purpose, specific purpose, and thesis statement. A speech may have one of three general purposes: to inform, to persuade, or to entertain or inspire. A speech’s specific purpose is an infinitive phrase that explains precisely what you wish to do in the speech. The thesis statement is a single sentence that expresses the central message that you want listeners to receive as the speech’s main point.

Fourth, define your audience. This requires you, while planning the speech, to study what the audience already knows and other factors that may affect how the audience responds to your speech. Fifth, document your ideas through support and sound reasoning. Use facts, statistics, examples, testimony, and analogies to back each point you will make before the audience, and reason well as you put it together. Sixth, draft the introduction, body, and conclusion. The introduction should capture the attention and interest of your audience, establish your credibility as a speaker, and preview your speech. The body of your speech contains your key ideas and relevant supporting material. The conclusion reinforces the message, summarizes the main points, and provides closure. Seventh, develop the language of the speech with care. The words you choose to convey your message reflect your personality, your attitude toward your subject, occasion, and audience, and your concern for communicating effectively. Eighth, deliver your speech while making your tension work for you. This requires you to use vocal and other non-verbal variables to deliver the speech effectively and to use strategies to control your tension.

“Speaking to Inform” (pp. 791-804)
KEY WORDS Informative versus persuasive intent Speeches of description Speeches of explanation Speeches of demonstration Goals and strategies of informative speaking Guidelines for effective informative speeches Signposting Repetition The ethics of informative speaking SUMMARY Informative speeches fall into three categories. Speeches of description paint a picture of an event, person, object, place, situation, or concept; speeches of explanation deal with such abstractions as ideas, theories, principles, and beliefs; and speeches of demonstration focus on a process, describing the gradual changes that lead to a particular result. A somewhat blurry line exists between informative and persuasive speaking. Remember that in an informative speech your goal is to communicate information and ideas in a way that your audience will understand and remember. The key determinant in whether a speech is informative is speaker intent. As an informative speaker, you should strive to be accurate, objective, clear, meaningful, and memorable. Preparing and delivering an effective informative speech involves applying the strategies identified in this chapter. In order to increase accuracy, make sure you question the source of information, consider the timeliness, and accurately cite your sources orally. Being objective includes taking into account all perspectives and showing trends. Crucial to any speech is clarity. To aid your audience, carefully organize your message, define unfamiliar words and concepts, signpost main ideas, relate the new with the familiar, and use repetition. Audience members have gathered for different reasons. No matter what the reason, you want your speech to be meaningful to all listeners. In doing so, consider the setting, your audience’s needs and goals and knowledge level, and try to avoid information overload. An informative speaker also wants people to remember his or her speech. In order to meet that goal, try to capture attention and interest immediately, sustain audience attention and interest by being creative, vivid, and enthusiastic, use examples and humor, offer interesting visuals, and physically involve your audience. As you prepare your informative speech, make sure the choices you make are based on a God-honoring ethical standard. You have an obligation to be truthful, and we presented many ways to accomplish this as you prepare your speech as well as when you deliver it.

“Speaking to Persuade” (pp. 809-829)
KEY WORDS Elements of persuasion Ethos Speaker credibility The strategy of identification Pathos Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Logos Inductive reasoning Reasoning by analogy Reasoning from cause Reasoning from sign Deductive reasoning Syllogisms Persuasive goals, aims, and claims Adoption, continuance, discontinuance, deterrence Propositions of fact Propositions of value Propositions of policy Monroe’s motivated sequence The habit of search The habit of justice The habit of preferring public to private motivation The habit of respect for dissent SUMMARY Your credibility as a speaker is determined by the way the audience perceives you. Credibility is measured in terms of perceived competence, concern for the audience, dynamism, and ethics. According to rhetorical theorist Kenneth Burke, you can increase your credibility and ability to persuade if you convince your audience that you share “common ground” by identifying with your listeners. Emotional appeals (pathos) can be powerful because they provide the motivation for action and attitude change. Through emotional appeals you can elicit the full range of human feelings in your listeners. To strengthen your appeal, use concrete detail and emotional language, and concentrate on delivering your speech effectively. Persuasive speaking also invites ethical responsibility (ethos). As a persuasive speaker, you should be conscious of ethical standards and what the implications are of the choice you are asking your audience to make. The audience needs to be treated to the truth, without manipulative intent. Understanding Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs is helpful to persuasive speakers. The five levels of Maslow’s hierarchy form a pyramid, with the basic levels forming the base. From bottom to top, these needs are physiological, safety, belongingness and love, esteem, and self-actualization. If you approach your listeners at an appropriate level of need, you will find them more able or willing to respond.

When making logical arguments (logos), one can take an inductive or deductive approach. Inductive reasoning enables you to generalize from specific instances and draw a conclusion from your observations. Deductive reasoning draws a conclusion based on the connections between statements. Depending on your purpose for persuasion, you may choose to reason from examples, analogies, causal relations, or with enthymemes. Choosing the right amount of support and the most persuasive kind of evidence, and then reasoning carefully are essential for successful persuasion. The two overall persuasive goals are to address audience attitudes and to move an audience to action. Four specific persuasive aims define the focus of your speech. These aims include adoption, continuance, discontinuance, and deterrence. Your point of view, or thesis statement, is expressed in the form of a proposition that must be proved. Propositions take three basic forms: fact, value, and policy. An effective method for organizing a persuasive speech is Monroe’s Motivated Sequence that includes five steps designed to motivate the audience to action: attention, need, satisfaction, visualization, and action. The motivated sequence is a widely used method for organizing persuasive speeches which follows the normal pattern of human thought from attention to action.