Lecture 4 – Persuasive Speech Persuasive speaking

• Convince your audience to believe something • Convince your audience to do something

o Question of Policy

Persuade your audience to take action •

o Question of Fact Persuade your audience that one thing or another is a fact

• Man landed on the moon • Bird flu will be a pandemic

o Question of Value Persuade your audience something is good or bad, evil or humane

• Ignoring poverty is wrong • War in Iraq is unjust • The legal system is unfair to poor people

Audience Analysis

• Who is your audience? -- age, group, beliefs, etc. o (Can survey audience to find out feelings on subject and how much they need to

be swayed).

• Types of audiences: o Supportive Audience

• Already agree with you but are looking for affirmation of their belief. • Keep them enthusiastic about your idea.

o Uncommitted Audience • Need information in order to decide whether to be against or for the issue. • Wants to be convinced one way or the other and needs to be be convinced • It is very important to appeal to them.

o Indifferent audience • Bored, apathetic – don’t care about subject or you • It is hard to be enthusiastic with this group because they give you no

feedback, no encouragement • This audience might a Captive Audience – they be forced to listen

to you. o Opposed Audience

• Against your particular view – hostile audience • Goal: compromise and convince this audience just to listen to your side.

• They don’t have to believe you. You just want them to understand you

o Let them know: You know how they feel – opposition is worthy

Avoid needless confrontation No winners or losers

Audience Appeals:

• Logical appeals / Logos o Offer reason and evidence o Be organized

• Your researched evidence will appeal to your audience’s logic • Statistics • Facts • Expert opinions

• Emotional Appeals / Pathos o Hit the hearts of your audience

• Show emotion through your words/tone/gestures. If you are asking for anger feel angry. If you asking for excitement, be excited.

• Character appeal / ethical appeal / personal appeal / ethos o Build trust, credibility

• Be genuine Preparing a Persuasive speech

• Choosing a topic o Your topic must be specific and offer a debatable solution to controversial

problem. “Should not drink and drive” – Not a good topic because everyone agrees. “The state should lower the alcohol level that determines it illegal to

drive” – O.K. because not everyone would agree. o Best place to look is at the Opposing Viewpoints site that the library subscribes to.

Look at the headlines and get ideas, especially on how narrow the topics can be.

• Example: “The Dangers of smoking are exaggerated” o “Smoking should be banned from all public places.” o Education

“An emphasis on diversity has harmed education” “An emphasis on gender equality has harmed male

students” “Computers cannot teach children basic skills.”

o Gangs Communities should provide economic and social

support for potential and past gang members • Once you have looked at different titles, you should have a better

idea of how narrow you can make a topic o Plus, this is a really good place to get information. A large

portion of your research can come from this source.

• Organizing the speech o Introduction

Should be the same • Attention-getter • Thesis/proposition • Explanation of the relevancy • Preview of main points

o Body (different possible ways) 1st way

• Present a history of the problem • Discuss the present day effects of the problem • Discuss the causes that brought about the effects • List possible solutions to the problem; show that they do not work. • Give your solution • Show how your proposal will benefit your audience

2nd way • Present a history of the problem • Show that your proposal is needed • Show that your proposition is needed • Show that your proposition is practical • Show that your proposition is desirable

o Conclusion Restatement of thesis Summary of main points Clincher/Lasting impression/Round off

• Go over visual aid handout • Watch Standard Deviants: Public Speaking • Go over Works Cited • Go over finding information for a thesis handout • Watch student examples of persuasive speech -- College competition; IHSA competition