If you’ve been assigned to give a talk for a class, it will probably fall
into one of the following categories:
■ Exposition: a straightforward statement of facts.
■ Argument: trying to change the opinions of at least a portion
of the audience.
■ Description: providing a visual picture to your listeners.
■ Narration: storytelling.The most common forms of oral reports assigned in school will
be exposition and argument. You’ll find that you will research and
organize information for these types of speeches pretty much the way
you would a term paper.
A note of caution: If you’re preparing an argument, don’t convince
yourself you don’t have to research bothsides of the topic just because
you’re only presenting oneof them. You should be doubly prepared
with all the facts, as you might be challenged with questions or the
arguments of other speakers.
As you gather information for your report, making notes on index
cards as you did for your term paper, keep this in mind: In order for
you to be effective, you must use some different techniques when
you tellyour story rather than writeit. Here are a few:
■ Don’t make your topic too broad. This advice, offered
for preparing written reports as well, is even more important
when preparing a talk. Try giving an effective speech on
“Eleanor Roosevelt,” “Jane Austen’s novels,” or “The U.S.
military” in 15 minutes, frequently the amount of time
assigned for oral reports. These topics are more suited to a
series of books!168 How to Study