Topic: Smoking
General Purpose: To persuade my audience about the negative effects on smoking
Specific Purpose: To persuade my audience about the negative effects through education
Thesis: There is no doubt that smoking cigarettes is an extremely harmful habit rooted in our culture that needs to be ended.
Introduction
I. Attention Getter: Have you ever had to watch your loved one that you know suffer or die from smoking? When I was just eight years old I witnessed my great-grandma die from lung cancer. Distraught and confused, I asked my mom for an explanation and she simply held up a cigarette. I don’t understand how something so small and accessible can have such a huge impact on a person’s life. Whether you’re currently an avid smoker or despise the addicting habit, there is no denying the negative consequences that come from smoking cigarettes. Today, over millions of people all over the world voluntarily choose to poison their bodies with countless harmful toxins all leading to one eminent result: a prompt and unavoidably strenuous fatality.
I. Thesis: There is no doubt that smoking cigarettes is an extremely harmful habit rooted in our culture that needs to be ended.
II. Preview: Today I am going to talk to you about the negative effects smoking imposes on your body, how educating people about this harmful habit will prevent more deaths and possible resolutions to this problem.
III. [Transition: Preview the introduction]
Body
I. Problem: The negative effects smoking imposes on your body
A. Lung cancer
1. According to the book “After Tobacco” Smoking accounts for 85% of lung cancer cases.
2. According to the article “Cigarette smoking and lung cancer: pediatric roots” A recent comparative modeling study of the impact of reduced smoking on lung cancer mortality in the United States during 1975–2000 suggests that approximately 795,852 lung cancer deaths were averted due to changes in smoking behavior among American men and women. Approximately 2,504,043 lung cancers could have been averted had tobacco control efforts been completely effective in eliminating smoking as of 1965.
B. Cardiovascular Disease
1. According to the book “After Tobacco” Tobacco consumption and smoking remains the largest risk factor for cardiovascular diseases worldwide.
2. If smoking had ceased in 2006, approximately 750,000 cardiovascular deaths could have been avoided.
II. Solution: Education
A. School
1. “According to the article Adolescent Substance use and peer use” For every one step increase in peer smoking the odds for daily smoking increase over twofold and for every one step increase in peer respect for smoking the odds for daily smoking increases by about 85%. Additionally to these risk factors, school level peer smoking increases the odds for daily smoking by over 91%.
2. For every one step increase academic grades the odds for daily smoking decrease by 6%.
B. Parents
1. According to the article “Adolescent Substance use and peer use” for every one step increase in time spent with parents the odds for daily smoking decrease by over 14%.
2. According to the book “After Tobacco” smokers quitting by age 30 had almost the same life expectancy as never smokers.
III. Intensifying the solution: How this course of action will resolve the problem
A. If you’re not educated of the problematic effects it can become easy to participate in things that are detrimental and well-being.
1. According to the article “Cigarette smoking and lung cancer: pediatric roots” The Affordable Care Act has made tobacco dependence treatment available to millions more smokers who want to quit. The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act has given the United States Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate tobacco products and to protect both youth and adults from their use.
2. According to the book “After Tobacco” Lifelong smokers lived, on average, 10 years less than lifelong never smokers.
B. Educating younger generations is vital to the elimination of smoking in order for our society to not repeat its previous terminal.
1. According to the article “Cigarette smoking and lung cancer: pediatric roots” studies have shown that male and female smokers who started smoking before the age of 15 years had double the risk of lung cancer of those who started at age 20 years or more.
2. “I don’t want to be one of those people who are in their 60s who have an artificial voice box, it’s not good.” (High motivation smoker, Male, Age 22, Pg. 8).
Conclusion
I. Summary: Don’t be one of the many victims of cigarettes and instead I encourage you to take action on making the best decision.
II. Closure: Today I have talked to you about the negative effects smoking imposes on your body, how educating people about this harmful habit will prevent more deaths and my resolution to this problem. Ending smoking habits is a cause that I truly believe in because of the detrimental effects I have personally witnessed cigarettes bringing in the lives of my loved ones. When it comes to cigarettes, ignorance is not bliss, and I believe that if the public continues to be enlightened of how cigarettes poisons countless aspects of both your physical and emotional life they would want to stay clear of this product. It is the responsibility of youth today to continue to push for a tobacco-free society in order to encourage and perpetuate a healthy lifestyle for all generations to come.

Bearman, P. S., Neckerman, K. M., & Wright, L. (2011). After tobacco: What would happen if Americans stopped smoking? New York: Columbia University Press.

Hymowitz, Norman (09/01/2012). "Cigarette smoking and lung cancer: pediatric roots". Biotechnology research international (2090-3138)

Uppal, N, and L. Shahab, and J. Britton, and E. Ratschen. (2013). The forgotten smoker: a qualitative study of attitudes towards smoking, quitting, and tobacco control policies among continuing smokers. BMC Public Health, 13 (1), PP 432.

Kristjansson, A., Sigfusdottir, I., & Allegrante, J. P. (2013). Adolescent substance use and peer use: a multilevel analysis of cross-sectional population data. Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention & Policy, 8(1), 1-10. doi:10.1186/1747-597X-8-27