Outlining Your Speech

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At this point, you have all the building blocks for a successful speech. Now you’re ready to pull your work together in an outline—a structured form of your speech content (Fraleigh & Tuman, 2011). An effective outline helps you confirm that your points are arranged clearly and properly, ensures that you’ve cited your all-important research, and assists you in your speech delivery. (In fact, many instructors require students to turn in an outline before the presentation. Be sure to check on your instructor’s preferences.)

You may already be familiar with the basics of outlining from your high school courses or from your college composition class. We’ll refresh that information for you with a discussion of the essentials of outlining before we move on to types of outlines and the heart of this section: preparation and speaking outlines.