Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Informative Speech Outline

Hello all,

We have arrived at the outline of your informative speech. Note that we will try to look for your feedback on our posts and, more specifically, the accuracy and helpfulness of our “template” outline. Thanks, and we hope you will enjoy it.
To start us off, you have your:

1. Introduction

And the parts in it:
-Attention Getter (better known as the “hook”)
-Significance (Why is your topic significant, and worth caring about?)
-Credibility (better known as evidence- what can you show your audience that makes your topic “legit,” or in other words interesting and believable? Why should it be worth their time? Why should you be worth their time? Your evidence and credibility should stand behind the significance of your speech. Prove it to them here)
-Thesis Statement (what are you going to talk about? This is slightly similar to your preview, but may contain information such as surprising statistics or other information)
-Preview (this gives an overall “outline” of what you’re going to talk about in your speech. This is also the last parts of information before you go into your transition, and, essentially, your first body paragraph.)
-Transition (your last sentence of your introduction that takes you into your first paragraph)


Example: Hook
(a very valuable part of your speech, if not the most valuable part- this is what pulls your audience in and is the foundation for a good grade or a bad one)
For the example topic, we’ll talk about writing contests and blogging. First of all, an example of the hook:
Imagine. Imagine at a young age, learning and earning more over a weekend than you could over three months of babysitting the kids next door, or your neighbors most loved cat.

Example: Significance (why should your audience be interested)
I notice some people are looking at me with interest, others without. What drives a person to work, to earn, and to learn? It’s their ambition. But why should you, at such a young age, try to learn and earn at the same time?

Example: Credibility (do you really stand behind your topic? This is also known as evidence. Statistics, a story, whatever- just make sure you show evidence, and your credibility that back up your topic)
I remember three months ago, when I was just like you. Just like you, with half the will and drive to go the extra yard and try to get some pocket change, but didn’t have the other half. Three months ago, I was a different person.
I did not know what it was like to submit stories, poetry, talk with publishers both online and by the phone. I did not know what it could possibly be like to feel as though I could actually be making a difference in the world. I liked writing, and I liked to connect with people, but I couldn’t think of one simple way that could turn a young eighth grader into a succeeding entrepreneur fast on the track to a successful career.

Example: Thesis Statement (what do you propose? Parts of your thesis statement could be “startling statements” and interesting background information. This should also describe what you’re going to go into later in your speech)
- And then something clicked.
- I realized that society has undermined the power of the youth. The power of the youth in which can be as strong as a college graduate with a degree in writing, or as professional as a journalist working for the New York Times. I grew frustrated as I went around town, looking for anyone, anyone at all that might at least consider a young writer, and see my true potential. I’d already looked online, and found nothing. Or so I thought.

Example: Preview
- Blogs, when continually written in, could be accepted by publishers and published in magazines/newspapers and could bring in money ranging anywhere from $1.50 to $40.00 a post.
- Essay contests, short story contests, poetry contests, and translations all weighed the possibility of also being published and winning earnings that could range anywhere between $50-$25,000 per win.

Thank you for reading; you now have a basic introductory paragraph with examples and explanations walking you through each step of an informative speech introduction. Comments are appreciated, and, as always, welcomed; next week, we’ll go into your first body paragraph.

Hope to see you next week!

-Fresh Writing

Monday, June 22, 2009

Informative Speeches

Hello all,
This week we are delving into the style and poignant writing of informative speeches.
First objective:
The first objective is to, obviously, select your topic.
Second objective:
The second objective is to do a bit of research. Conduct interviews, chat with your parents, chat with your boyfriend or girlfriend, look through books, search the internet- anything, really, so that you can gather enough Intel and background on your topic to successfully create a high-quality informative speech.
Third objective:
Once you have done enough research, start drawing up some basic ideas, and, essentially, an outline. I personally never have enjoyed writing outlines, as they tend to come out more as basic paragraphs. But full sentences in outlines, remember, saves you from having to do more work later. Either way, an outline of your informative speech will come in handy.
We are taking a pause here as developing your outline is probably the most valuable part of your preliminary speech- next week, we will go through the specifics of writing a helpful outline, whether it has full sentences in it or not. Thanks for reading!
-Fresh Writing

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Overview of Continuation

Greetings!
I am soon going to open up a different blog for humor so that we can all get a laugh off of that at a separate location: here, I will make sure to focus on public speaking only.
We’ve talked about body language, we’ve talked about connecting with your audience, and we’ve talked about being nervous. We have not, however, gone over how to write a speech.
Speech writing is a nerve-racking business. Some argue it’s worse than standing up there and speaking, and some argue that it’s better to be the speaker than the writer. But, in the event that you happen to have to be both (most likely for a school project or business presentation), this production is for you.
There are, to start us off, many types of speeches you can write. You could write:
-An informative speech
-An inspirational speech
-A persuasive speech (can apply to inspirational speeches but not always)
-An impromptu speech (although you won’t really have time to write up an improvisation speech as the key word is improvisation)
In our next post, we will go into detail of each- from how to survive on the podium in an impromptu speech to how to write a blow-away speech that can win both the smiles of your teacher and perhaps a girl in your class you’ve been hoping to impress…?
Looking forward to seeing you next week!
-Fresh Writing