Chapter 4 Selecting a Topic and Purpose. Choosing a Topic Not difficult in out-of-class experiences...
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Transcript of Chapter 4 Selecting a Topic and Purpose. Choosing a Topic Not difficult in out-of-class experiences...
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
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 (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
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