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Science
A speech is about making a claim and providing evidence to support your claim. Evidence used should support your claim/thesis and be concise and clear.
Types of evidence
Evidence for your thesis or claim can vary depending on the topic and the type of speech you’re writing.
Statistics might seem like the most credible, but these can be very boring, hard to understand and inappropriate.
Use different kinds of support for each point:
- Definitions: Define terms the audience may not be familiar with: Explaining PB&J represents peanut butter and jelly sandwiches will help the audience follow as you are speaking.
- Examples: Give examples of how your argument/thesis is valid: An examples could be a visual, remove a PB&J from a sandwich bag to show that when made with peanut butter on both sides there is no mess.
- Personal testimony: Audiences often relate to personal stories: I personally love PB&J sandwiches and was so happy when I found this method of making them. I really like keeping may hands and clothes stain free.
Different kinds of evidence will have different effects—emotion, interest of the audience or objectivity.
- The little boy was crying because his hands were sticky from the jelly of his sandwich evokes a different response than listing the results from a survey.
- Both statements support the claim that peanut butter on both sides of the bread is the better option; however, each will be received and processed differently by the audience.
Take only the evidence you need from sources
As you read a source, you will notice many pieces of evidence are contained in one paragraph. As the speaker, you need to determine the pieces that support your claim or thesis.
Use only the evidence that you need to support the argument/thesis.
- Determine exactly what the audience needs to know
- According to the Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich survey of 1997 done by the Elementary School District, kids prefer not to have jelly leak through the bread.
- The unnecessary information not included: 519 kids preferred grape jelly and 600 preferred strawberry jelly. 1100 of the students do not like having jelly leak through the bread while 19 like having sticky fingers.
- Determine why the audience needs the information
- Using a speech outline (see resource on speech outlining) will help you narrow down the necessary information.
Making evidence relatable to the audience
Explanation of sources may be necessary to show the evidence's significance to the argument/thesis.
Complex information and definitions need to be presented in a way the audiences will understand. Visuals for more complex info (especially for statistics) may be helpful.
References
Beebe, S. A., & Beebe, S. J. (2012). A concise public speaking handbook. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Lucas, S. (2012). The art of public speaking. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Sprague, J. & Stuart, D. (2013). The speaker's compact handbook, 4th ed. Portland: Ringgold, Inc.
Vrooman, S. S. (2013). The zombie guide to public speaking: Why most presentations fail, and what you can do to avoid joining the horde. Place of publication not identified: CreateSpace.
Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe. – H. G. Wells
Now that you understand the importance of informing others, this next section will show you the speakers’ responsibilities for preparing and presenting informative speeches.
Informative Speakers Are Objective
Most public speaking texts discuss three general purposes for speeches: to inform, to persuade, and to entertain. Although these general purposes are theoretically distinct, in practice, they tend to overlap. Even in situations when the occasion calls for an informative speech (one which enhances understanding), often persuasive and entertaining elements are present. First, all informative speeches have a persuasive component by virtue of the fact that the speaker tries to convince the audience that the facts presented are accurate (Harlan, 1993). Second, a well-written speech can make even the most dry, technical information entertaining through engaging illustrations, colorful language, unusual facts, and powerful visuals.
In spite of this caveat, when planning your informative speech your primary intent will be to increase listeners’ knowledge in an impartial way. For instance, in a speech about urban legends (Craughwell, 2000), your specific purpose statement may be: “At the end of my speech, my audience will understand what an urban legend is, how urban legends are spread, and common variations of urban legends.” The topic you choose is not as important as your approach to the material in determining whether your speech is informative or persuasive (Peterson, Stephan, & White, 1992). Can you imagine how speeches on witchcraft, stem cell research, the federal deficit, or hybrid cars could be written either to inform or persuade? Informative speeches need to be as objective, fair, and unbiased as possible. You are not asking your audience to take action or convincing them to change their mind. You are teaching them something and allowing them to decide for themselves what to do with the information. When writing your speech, present all sides of the story and try to remove all unrelated facts, personal opinions, and emotions (Westerfield, 2002).
Informative Speakers are Credible
Audience members have no motivation to listen to a speaker they perceive as lacking authority or credibility—except maybe to mock the speaker. To avoid this pitfall, there are at least three ways to boost your credibility as a speaker; by establishing your expertise, helping your audience identify with you, and showing you are telling the truth (see examples in Table 15.1). It seems to be common sense that we do not listen to speakers who do not know what they are talking about, who cannot relate to us, or who give the impression of being dishonest. However, in planning informative speeches, we can get so wrapped up in the topic that is easy to forget about the elements of credibility. Just remember that in order to teach, we first have to show that we are worthy of our audience’s attention.
Establish Expertise By: |
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Help the Audience Identify with You By: |
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Show You are Telling the Truth By: |
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In the end, you make your reputation and you have your success based upon credibility and being able to provide people who are really hungry for information what they want. – Brit Hume
Informative Speakers Are Knowledgeable
Good informative speeches contain a number of different source citations throughout the speech. To show that the information you present is accurate and complete, these sources should be up-to-date, reliable, unbiased, and directly relevant to your topic. Even if you plan to give a speech about an activity you have done all of your life, you will still need to seek out additional sources for your speech. By all means, you should cite and use your own experiences with the topic, but if you want to appear objective, you will need to show that your ideas and experiences correspond with others’. Using a variety of sound reference materials helps you appear well-informed and more trustworthy.
In our information age, people are fortunate to have unlimited and free access to information on virtually any topic they can imagine via the internet. Unfortunately, in addition to the credible information, the internet contains an abundance of garbage. Good speech writers know that it is important to avoid weak or questionable sources (e.g. Wikipedia, Britannica.com or Ask.com) when constructing their speeches. Start by asking what you know, find out what the experts know, and then move to find out what information other sources can provide (Gladis, 1999). You can search your library catalogue or Amazon.com to locate books (which provide details and depth), and then check out or order these books via interlibrary loan (often free) if they are not available in your library. Explain not only how something is done, but also why it is done for a great speech (MacInnis, 2006). This variety gives a speech depth and a level of interest that cannot be achieved merely by doing a Google search and using the first five websites that pop up. For additional ideas on locating sources, “Sources of interesting information” is provided at the end of this chapter.
The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity. – Dorothy Parker
Informative Speakers Make the Topic Relevant
When you are selecting your topic and thinking about what you want to accomplish in your informative speech, two factors should drive your decision. Foremost, you want to select a topic that holds a high degree of interest for you (i.e. the topic is meaningful to you). Students who feel at a loss for topic ideas should turn their attention to their own lives and activities. If you like to play video games, you might give a speech about how they are made. If you have a passion for ska reggae music, you might bring in MP3 cuts to help define the boundaries of this music genre. If you have to work three jobs to help pay for school, you could give a speech on effective time management. Genuine curiosity will make the research and preparation process easier. Further, when you have enthusiasm for a topic, it shows when you speak. On the other hand, if you do not really care about your topic, your audience is not likely to care either.
Making the topic relevant for your audience can also mean that you show them how to apply the information immediately. In a speech on relaxation techniques, a speaker can lead the audience through a simple stress reduction exercise they can use at home. For a speech on handwriting analysis, listeners can be given paper, asked to write a sample sentence and shown how to interpret some points on the sample. If the audience members have laptops, a speaker can show them how to improve one of their digital photos. If listeners can use the information they learn quickly, they tend to remember it longer, and they are more likely to try the action again later (Nelson, et al., 2010).