365REAL REFERENCE A Study Tool
Describe the power of public speaking and how
preparation eases natural nervousness.Identify the purpose of your speech:
c Informative speeches aim to increase the audience’s
understanding and knowledge of a topic (p. 337).
c Persuasive speeches are intended to influence the
beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors of an audience
(p. 339).
c Special-occasion speeches are given at common events
(like weddings and funerals), and many of us will
deliver such a speech at some point in time
(p. 340).
Conduct audience analysis:
c It is important to understand and appreciate your
audience’s expectations for the speech as well as key
situational factors (p. 342).
c Knowing demographics, the quantifiable charac-
teristics of your audience, and psychographics,
psychological measures, will help you identify
topics that the audience would be interested in
learning about (pp. 342–344).
c You will want to anticipate your audience’s
response by considering their motivation, seeking
common ground (homogeny), determining prior
exposure, and considering disposition (pp. 344, 346).
c You can learn about your audience by observing
people, getting to know people, conducting
interviews and using surveys, and using the Web
(p. 346).Choose an appropriate topic and develop it:
c Speak about something that inspires you (p. 348).
c Use brainstorming and clustering to amass
information, think creatively, and consider problems
and solutions related to your topic (pp. 348–349).
c A specific purpose statement expresses the topic
and the general speech purpose in action form
and in terms of the specific objectives you hope to
achieve with your presentation (p. 350).
c Narrow your topic and write a thesis statement,
a summary of your central idea (pp. 350–351).Support and enliven your speech with effective
research:
c Include expert testimony, the opinion of an
authority, or lay testimony, opinion based on
personal experience (p. 352).
c Scientific research findings carry weight in topics
on medicine, health, media, and the environment;
statistics, information in numerical form, can
clarify your presentation (p. 352).
c Anecdotes, relevant personal stories, bring the
human experience to the speech (pp. 353–354).
c Surveys will add the point of view of a larger range
of people (p. 354).
c Use databases to find material, such as directories,
library gateways, search engines, metasearch en-
gines, and research search engines. (pp. 355, 357).Cull from among your sources the material that will
be most convincing:
c Take time to evaluate the credibility—the quality,
authority, and reliability—of each source you use
(p. 357).
c Up-to-date information convinces the audience of
its timeliness (p. 358).
c Citing accurate and exact sources gains audience
respect (p. 358).
c Compelling information is influential and interest-
ing (p. 358).Give proper credit to sources and take responsibility
for your speech:
c Avoid plagiarism, presenting someone else’s
intellectual property as your own (p. 359).
c Keep accurate track of all your references to avoid
unintentional errors (pp. 359–360).
c Keeping a running bibliography, the list of re-
sources you’ve consulted, will free you from having
to write the same information over and over
(p. 361).
c Honor the basic rules for ethical speaking
(pp. 362–363).Now that you have finished reading this chapter, you can✁