Working individually or in groups, select a persuasive speech topic. Identify three possible audiences for that speech: sympathetic, hostile, and neutral. Select a thesis and at least three main points for each audience. Discuss how your thesis and main points should differ for each audience type.

Select any thesis for a persuasive speech that advocates action by the audience. How could you use each of the strategies for adapting your argument to the audience in a speech on the topic you have chosen?

Watch Anna Martinez’s speech. How does Martinez tailor her thesis to fall within audience members’ latitude of acceptance? Identify other strategies she uses to adjust her speech to the audience.

Review the editorial page in several newspapers, and consider their attempts to persuade you. How many editorials make fact claims? Value claims? Policy claims? Can you tell what organizational pattern the writers are using?

Pay a visit to factcheck.org, a nonpartisan group that investigates claims made by politicians, news organizations, and interest groups to determine how truthful they are. Are you surprised by any of the information presented there? What examples of unethical speech did you come across?