Chapter 6 Review

“Use your topic to focus the message.”

As Sara’s story revealed, selecting a topic for your speech can seem overwhelming at first. But the systematic approach described in this chapter can help you move past any feelings of frustration or confusion. First, develop a set of potential topics based on the results of research, brainstorming, word association, and mind mapping. Select the best topic based on an understanding of the assignment, your audience, your knowledge and interests, and the context of your speech. Then refine your topic by determining your rhetorical purpose and narrowing your topic to the most relevant aspects, given the time available for your speech. To draft your specific purpose, express your rhetorical purpose, and decide what you’d like to accomplish in your speech. Finally, hone in on your specific purpose by creating your thesis statement—a single sentence that captures your overall message and what you’d like your speech to convey.

LaunchPad for Speak Up offers videos and encourages self-assessment through adaptive quizzing. Look for the check icon and play icon throughout the chapter for adaptive quizzing and online video activities.

184

Key Terms

divergent thinking 161

research 161

brainstorming 163

word association 164

mind mapping 164

context 170

rhetorical purpose 172

informative purpose 172

persuasive purpose 173

marking a special occasion 173

specific purpose 178

thesis statement 179

Review Questions

  1. Question

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  2. Question

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  3. Question

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  4. Question

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  5. Question

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  6. Question

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Critical Thinking Questions

  1. Question

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  2. Question

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  3. Question

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    What role should audience analysis, discussed in Chapter 5, play in selecting a topic for a speech?

  4. Question

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  5. 185

    Question

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Activities

  1. Working in small groups, brainstorm a list of potential speech topics. Then decide which topics would be most interesting to the group and which would be less interesting. Have group members explain why they decided that certain topics would be more interesting than others.

  2. Divide into small groups. Have each group use one topic generation process (brainstorming, word association, or mind mapping) to create a list of potential topics. Have each group share with the class the topics they listed. Discuss how different processes can result in different topic ideas.

  3. Discuss potential topics with other students in your public speaking class. Which topics are already familiar to students? Which topics are likely to be familiar to your instructor? For the topics that are familiar, discuss ways they could be narrowed to present new and original perspectives to the audience.

  4. Read through the op-ed page in a national newspaper or the commentary in a newsmagazine. How successful are the topics in catching your interest? How do you think columnists come up with their topics? Are they always about current events?

  5. Video Activity 6.4: “Gentz, My Hero, Marilyn Hamilton.” Watch Lillian Gentz’s speech. What do you believe her rhetorical purpose is? How did she narrow her topic? If you were going to deliver a speech about a hero in your life, what main points would you emphasize? Why?