1. Christa Tess PowerPoint™ Presentation Package Prepared By:
Minneapolis Community & Technical College
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2. Copyright ©2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Chapter 2: Selecting Your Topic and Purpose
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3. Overview HOW DO YOU SELECT A TOPIC? HOW DO YOU NARROW YOUR TOPIC?
HOW DO YOU CREATE A CENTRAL IDEA?
The key to any speech is a first-rate topic. This chapter will focus on how you select a topic, narrow it, create a central idea, and construct a working outline.
HOW DO YOU CONSTRUCT A WORKING OUTLINE?

4. How Do You Select a Topic?
1. Identify general purpose
2. Create an idea bank
3. Conduct preliminary research
There are 3 basic steps: Identifying the general purpose, creating an idea bank, and doing your preliminary research.
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5. Identify the General Purpose of Your Speech1
Identify the General Purpose of Your Speech
To inform
To persuade
To accentuate a special occasion
The general purpose is the unrestricted aim of your speech that falls under these categories:
To inform: providing information to the audience.
To persuade: to reinforce, change, or influence the attitudes, values, beliefs, or actions of your audience.
To accentuate a special occasion: to entertain, to celebrate, or to commemorate.
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6. Copyright ©2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Create An Idea Bank
Brainstorm
Explore your general purpose
Search for topic ideas
And idea bank is a list of general words and phrases that could be potential speech topics for you
<<CLICK>> Brainstorming is when you “free associate” or jump from one word or concept to another. Consider interests, experiences, abilities, talents, values, attitudes or beliefs.
<<CLICK>> Exploring your general purpose to find topic categories.
<<CLICK>> Searching for topic ideas in print publications, reference works, web sites, or other media and materials.
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7. Copyright ©2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.3
Do Some Preliminary Research
Before you commit to a topic, do some preliminary research to see if you can locate current, quality material on the topic.
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8. A speech to persuade might have a general purpose to do what?
What Do You Think?
A. Explain how to do something
B. Reinforce values
C. Celebrate a wedding
B. Reinforce Values

9. How Do You Narrow Your Topic?
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10. Copyright ©2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
NARROWING YOUR TOPIC
IDENTIFY ITS SPECIFIC PURPOSE
IDENTIFY ITS CENTRAL IDEA
EVALAUTE THE CENTRAL IDEA
You can narrow your topic in different ways, the main result of any method you use should be a focused, effectively written central idea (thesis statement)
[CLICK] Identify the specific purpose of your speech
[CLICK] Identify the central idea of the speech [CLICK] Evaluate the central idea
[CLICK] Construct a working outline
CONSTRUCT A WORKING OUTLINE
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11. How Do You Create a Central Idea?
Identify the specific speech purpose
Identify the objective speech purpose
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12. Identify the Specific Purpose of Your Speech
Specific speech purpose of your speech is a single statement combining your general purpose, your audience, and your objective.

13. Identify the central idea of your speech
The central idea (also called the thesis statement) is a concise, single sentence summarizing what you will say in your speech

14. Evaluate your central idea
Is it mechanically sound?
A complete sentence
A statement
Clear, specific, and direct language
Is it appropriate for the event and audience?
Evaluate your central idea from two perspectives <<CLICK through bullets>>
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15. What part of this specific purpose is indicated in green?
What Do You Think? ?
Audience

16. How Do You Construct a Working Outline?
Sketch
Select 2-5 important ideas
Write working main points
A working outline is a brief (usually handwritten) sketch of the body of your speech
Main points are the backbone that makes up the body of your speech - usually two to five of the most important ideas about your topic
Working main points are early drafts of your main points
Turn to your central idea for categories
Sum up each of your categories with a statement or question
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17. What is the central idea?
What Do You Think?
A. A statement about what you hope to accomplish in the speech
B A statement about your interests
C. A statement that sums up what your speech is about
C. A statement that sums up what your speech is about.

18. OVERVIEW OF PUBLIC SPEAKING