Overview of Persuasive Speech
Get others to understand your beliefWriting persuasive speech.
Introductory activity: In groups, design an argument based on one of the situations in this handout. Organizing_an_argument_group_activity.pdf
Step one. Decide on a topic. Begin by thinking about something you would like to see changed. This can be at home, at school, among your friends, in your church or other organization you belong to, or in the town, state, nation, or world. Fill out the Make a Point! worksheet: makepoint_planning_worksheet.pdf
Step two: Go to the Persuasion Map online to develop your outline. This will help you develop a good outline. You will need a thesis, three reasons your audience should agree with your thesis, and then for each of your reason you will need three facts or examples to support it. Each of these should be a complete sentence.
When you have filled in the “persuasion map” be sure to print it to hand in.
Step Three: You now have a “Make a Point” worksheet, which includes your ideas for your introduction and your conclusion, and your “persuasion map” which includes a complete outline for your three main points. It’s time to start writing!
Begin by writing a paragraph for each of the three main points you created in the “persuasion map,” using the details and examples you provided.
Both written and oral paragraphs are unified--that is, they focus on a single idea. Most of your paragraphs will begin with a general statement (the topic sentence) and then move on to give specific details or examples.
Here are important principles for oral paragraphs:
Express similar ideas in parallel structure. Here’s an example from John F. Kennedy:
“Let every generation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”
Build repetition into oral paragraphs. (Listeners need more repetition than readers. In good speeches, ideas are stated and restated, complicated ideas are elaborated on, and crucial statements are repeated. Here’s an example from Martin Luther King, Jr.:
“We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one.
We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating ‘for whites only.’ We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Then write any transitional paragraphs you may need. These are bridges from one point to the next. They are usually very brief paragraphs:
“That is one way this idea makes sense. Here’s another.”
“As convincing as that might be, it’s not the end of the story.”
Step Four: Write the introductory paragraph. In a short speech, the main purpose of the introductory paragraph is to state the central idea, or thesis. In longer speeches, the introductory paragraph is used to establish friendly contact between the audience and the speaker.
Organizing_an_argument_group_activity.pdf
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