Ch 4: Speech Topic, Purpose & Thesis: Help & Review
About This Chapter
Who's it for?
Anyone who needs help understanding college public speaking material will benefit from taking this course. You will be able to grasp the subject matter faster, retain critical knowledge longer and earn better grades. You're in the right place if you:
- Have fallen behind in understanding the general reasons for speaking events or distinguishing between the general and specific purposes of speeches.
- Need an efficient way to learn about the topic, purpose and thesis of a speech.
- Learn best with engaging auditory and visual tools.
- Struggle with learning disabilities or learning differences, including autism and ADHD.
- Experience difficulty understanding your teachers.
- Missed class time and need to catch up.
- Can't access extra public speaking resources at school.
How it works:
- Start at the beginning, or identify the topics that you need help with.
- Watch and learn from fun videos, reviewing as needed.
- Refer to the video transcripts to reinforce your learning.
- Test your understanding of each lesson with short quizzes.
- Submit questions to one of our instructors for personalized support if you need extra help.
- Verify you're ready by completing the Topic, Purpose and Thesis of Your Speech chapter exam.
Why it works:
- Study Efficiently: Skip what you know, review what you don't.
- Retain What You Learn: Engaging animations and real-life examples make topics easy to grasp.
- Be Ready on Test Day: Use the Topic, Purpose and Thesis of Your Speech chapter exam to be prepared.
- Get Extra Support: Ask our subject-matter experts any relevant question. They're here to help!
- Study With Flexibility: Watch videos on any web-ready device.
Students will review:
In this chapter, you'll learn the answers to questions including:
- What steps should you follow when choosing an appropriate speech topic?
- How do you tailor a topic to fit within a given amount of time?
- What methods can help you develop the main points of your speech?
- How can you transform your speech topic into a thesis statement?
1. Understanding Reasons for a Public Speaking Event
In this lesson, you'll learn how to prepare for a speaking event. Learn how to tailor your speech to be appropriate for the event based on your background, the occasion and the audience.
2. General Purpose vs. Specific Purpose of a Speech
Understanding the general and specific purpose of your speech will help you develop and focus your speech to meet the needs of your delivery and of your audience. This lesson will help you understand the differences and how to create a specific purpose statement.
3. Choosing an Appropriate Speech Topic: Steps & Characteristics
In this lesson, learn tips and tricks for generating ideas for a speech. We'll explore how to select an appropriate topic and the methods of finding a good topic for your speech.
4. Public Speaking with Time Limits: How to Prepare
It can be overwhelming at times to find a topic that is just right for the speech you are giving. A great way to decide upon the best topic for time limits is to determine if your topic is too broad, too narrow, or if it is a focused topic.
5. Turning Your Topic into Main Points for Your Speech: Tips & Ideas
Once you have a topic in mind, it can sometimes be difficult to decide on main ideas. This lesson will show you brainstorming techniques to help when you get stuck in the speech writing process.
6. Developing a Thesis Statement from Your Speech Topic
The thesis statement is a vital part of your speech. In this lesson, learn how to create a thesis statement and identify problems in existing thesis statements.
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Other Chapters
Other chapters within the Public Speaking 101: Help and Review course
- Introduction to Public Speaking: Help and Review
- Analyzing Your Audience: Help and Review
- Listening and Feedback: Help and Review
- Researching the Speech: Help and Review
- Organizing The Speech: Help and Review
- Outlining The Speech: Help and Review
- Language and Style: Help and Review
- Speech Delivery: Help and Review
- Selecting and Incorporating Visual Supports: Help and Review
- Types of Speeches: Help and Review
- Reasoning and Rhetorical Proof: Help and Review
- Speech Evaluation: Help and Review
- Preparing For an Impromptu Speech: Help and Review
