Determining the Specific Purpose of Your Speech

Page 244

Once you’ve narrowed your topic, you’ll need to zero in on a specific purpose for your speech. Ask yourself, “What is it about my topic that I want my audience to learn, do, consider, or agree with?” A specific purpose statement expresses both the topic and the general speech purpose in action form and in terms of the specific objectives you hope to achieve with your presentation.

Let’s consider an example. Imagine you are giving a persuasive speech on volunteerism. Your general purpose and specific purpose might look like this:

Topic: Volunteer reading programs

General purpose: To persuade

Specific purpose: To have audience members realize the importance of reading with local elementary schoolchildren so that they sign up for a volunteer reading program such as Everybody Wins

There is an additional level of specificity to consider when preparing your speech. It is called the thesis statement—you’re probably familiar with this term from high school or your college composition course. We help you understand and develop your own thesis in the next section.