The general purpose of any speech will be either to Inform; Motivate/Persuade; or Entertain your audience. As soon as you know the general purpose of your speech you can develop your Specific Purpose Statement (What the speaker will accomplish). Your Specific Purpose Statement is used to develop your speech. You don't acutally say it in your speech. Show Restrict your Specific Purpose to one idea only. In Speech 151 for the informative speech your general purpose is to inform. For an informative speech you will want to start your specific purpose statement with "I will inform my audience about...." A Specific Purpose Statement for an informative speech will be phrased much like the following statements. Click here for more examples of Specific Purposes, Central Ideas, and Main Points. Informative speech specific purpose statements:
When you have your specific purpose statement you are ready to compose your Thesis Statement/Central Idea (they are one in the same). This is the most important part of your speech. This is one sentence that encompasses the central idea of your speech. Writing your thesis statement/central
idea is a four step process:
"The two major forms of hula that have played an important role in Hawaiian history and have developed into unique dances are the Kahiko and 'Auana." "Lifegaurding is a great way to spend your days on the beach, but the work includes training, teaching, and lots of practice making it more challenging than what you see on "Baywatch." Your next step is to compose the main points of your speech. Main points are complete sentences that create a dialogue with your audience. With your main points you want to create questions in the mind of your audience. You will answer the question in your support of your main points. You make a claim in your main points and you support your claim in your subpoints, sub-subpoints, sub-sub-subpoints and so on. The following are examples of Main points: Specific Purpose: I will inform my audience about the two major forms of hula. Central Idea: "The two major forms of hula that have played an important role in Hawaiian history and have developed into unique dances are the Kahiko and 'Auana."
The Public Speakers' Resources |Public Speakers' Page | Speech 151 | Speech 251 | Public Speaking Resources| |Supporting Your Speech | Sample Speeches | Speech Practice | Speaking Tips| |Speech Anxiety | Team Presentations | Group Communication | Interviewing| |Using Visual Aids | ESL Links | Anonymous Feedback | Ron St. John| |The Learning Center | MCC Library | Maui Language Institute| |Distance Education Academic Support Services| |The Ho'oulu OnLine (Student Newspaper)| |The University of Hawai'i at Manoa| Page Designer: Ron St. John Copyright � 2002 - Ka Leo Kumu Last Revised: September 16, 2002 Chapter 5: Presentation Organization Speeches have traditionally been seen to have one of three broad purposes: to inform, to persuade, and — well, to be honest, different words are used for the third kind of speech purpose: to inspire, to amuse, to please, or to entertain. These broad goals are commonly known as a speech’s general purpose, since, in general, you are trying to inform, persuade, or entertain your audience without regard to specifically what the topic will be. Perhaps you could think of them as appealing to the understanding of the audience (informative), the will or action (persuasive), and the emotion or pleasure. Now that you know your general purpose (to inform, to persuade, or to entertain), you can start to move in the direction of the specific purpose. A specific purpose statement builds on your general purpose (to inform) and makes it more specific (as the name suggests). So if your first speech is an informative speech, your general purpose will be to inform your audience about a very specific realm of knowledge. In writing your specific purpose statement, you will take three contributing elements (shown in figure 5.3) that will come together to help you determine your specific purpose:
Figure 5.3. You, your audience, and your context (Tucker & Barton, 2016) Putting It TogetherKeeping these three inputs in mind, you can begin to write a specific purpose statement, which will be the foundation for everything you say in the speech and a guide for what you do not say. This formula will help you in putting together your specific purpose statement: To _______________ [Specific Communication Word (inform, explain, demonstrate, describe, define, persuade, convince, prove, argue)] my [Target Audience (my classmates, the members of the Social Work Club, my coworkers] __________________. [The Content (how to bake brownies, that Macs are better than PCs]. Example: The purpose of my presentation is to demonstrate for my coworkers the value of informed intercultural communication. Formulating a Central Idea StatementWhile you will not actually say your specific purpose statement during your speech, you will need to clearly state what your focus and main points are going to be. The statement that reveals your main points is commonly known as the central idea statement (or just the central idea). Just as you would create a thesis statement for an essay or research paper, the central idea statement helps focus your presentation by defining your topic, purpose, direction, angle and/or point of view. Here are two examples: Specific Purpose – To explain to my classmates the effects of losing a pet on the elderly. Central Idea – When elderly persons lose their animal companions, they can experience serious psychological, emotional, and physical effects. Specific Purpose – To demonstrate to my audience the correct method for cleaning a computer keyboard. Central Idea – Your computer keyboard needs regular cleaning to function well, and you can achieve that in four easy steps. What is the preview of main points in a speech?What is a Preview Statement? Preview statements should give a breakdown of the speaker's 3 or 4 main points. These will be presented sequentially throughout the body of the speech. This is the statement that is asked of by the professors and used to gauge the organization of the speech.
What does a preview do for your speech introduction?The purpose of a well-crafted preview statement is to help your audience understand your points while keeping their attention. A solid preview statement pulls your presentation out of the introduction and places the audience's attention firmly into the main body of your speech.
Why is it important to preview your main points in your introduction?Preview Main Ideas
The last major function of an introduction is to preview the main ideas that your speech will discuss. A preview establishes the direction your speech will take. We sometimes call this process signposting because you're establishing signs for audience members to look for while you're speaking.
How many main points should be covered in a speech?Most speeches should have two to four main points. a. Students do not have time in classroom speeches to develop more than four main points.
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