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As a student of public speaking, it’s important that you select a topic that meets your instructor’s criteria for the assignment. For example, in most classroom speeches, your instructor will require references to research. In such cases, you need to make sure that appropriate research sources are available for the topic you select. A humorous speech about your experiences as a food server, horror stories about your former roommates, or a demonstration of how you make your favorite fruit salad probably would fail to meet your instructor’s criteria for the assignment.

In some cases, a specific topic might be assigned. For example, a history instructor may require an oral report on ancient China, or an agriculture professor may assign a debate on water policy. On the job, your manager may ask you to develop an online sales presentation on a new product. Alternatively, you may be asked to speak face-to-face to a small group of concerned citizens about a proposed new housing development on agricultural lands. In life, you do not always get a choice of topics; nevertheless, it remains your responsibility to research the subject well and prepare an interesting presentation for the audience.

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Even if you have some latitude in choosing a topic, your instructor may have a list of topics that should be avoided. Certain topics crop up in public speaking classes every semester, such as capital punishment, abortion, the drinking age, steroids in sports, and marijuana. Rather than selecting an obvious and overused topic, you would be better off trying to get ahead of the curve when choosing a topic. For example, rather than talking about an existing social networking site, consider researching how new technology will change social networking.