Full Persuasive Speech: The Importance of Community Service and Civic Engagement by Stephanie Poplin

Audience Analysis

Careful analysis allows Stephanie to appeal to her audience with claims that she makes relevant to issues in their lives. In speaking to her student peers, she encourages involvement in community service by linking it to a significant concern of many college students: employability. She establishes credibility with the audience by discussing collective concerns of both hers and the group, and reminding the audience of the similarities they share, such as by saying “I think we would all agree that’s a necessity for us, especially in the stages we are in our lives right now.”

Stephanie addresses doubts that the audience might have pertaining to community service, demonstrating that she has given thoughtful consideration to responses they might have to the claims she makes. She creates common ground with her audience by refuting these doubts through sharing a personal experience that members of the audience can relate to, might have shared, or one that might inspire them to take a similar action.

Content and Supporting Ideas

Stephanie cites a study in order to present her information in a credible way. She illustrates her points with specific examples, often in the form of lists; she lists the desired skills of employers, and benefits students felt they had gained through volunteer work. By repeating these attributes throughout her speech, she successfully exemplifies her points. Supplementing this information by citing the study directly or using statistics from the study might make an even more persuasive and credible argument.

Stephanie uses a personal anecdote of her experience with Habitat for Humanity, thus making her point that “one person can make a difference” concrete by showing how this can directly apply to real life experiences available to her peers.

Introductions, Transitions, and Conclusions

Stephanie begins her speech with a quote that is appropriate to her speech topic and serves as an attention getter. She engages the audience by asking them to interpret the quote before presenting its relevance to her speech topic in a well-organized way. Stephanie manages to introduce herself smoothly in the introduction. She clearly outlines her speech purpose and her main points, which allows the audience to be attuned to what to listen for.

Stephanie uses rhetorical questions to transition to a new point, reflecting on what her audience members might be thinking about her previous claim. She lets the audience know what she intends to tell them before beginning her next point, allowing them to focus on her aims.

Stephanie clearly signals her conclusion by saying, “In summary.” She briefly outlines what she has already told the audience, reminding them of her main points. She gives an uplifting end to her speech by addressing the audience directly and as a peer, encouraging them to heed her advice. She restates the quote that she opened with in her last line, thus showing how she has in fact demonstrated this point through her speech, tying the whole speech together and wrapping it up nicely.

Delivery

Stephanie strikes an excellent balance between maintaining eye contact with her audience, and occasionally glancing down at her notecards. She is notably well-prepared, and while she looks down at her notecards in order to orient herself throughout her speech, she does so in a natural, relaxed fashion. This allows Stephanie a smooth, clear speaking manner that makes her speech engaging and easy to follow.

Stephanie incorporates pauses throughout her speech which help draw the audience’s attention to important points she wishes to stress, and gives them some time to absorb these ideas.