UNIVERAPRO

The general function of your speech might be to inform listeners, to persuade them, or to celebrate some occasion with them. Your specific purpose identifies the kind of response you would like from your audience. Your thesis statement is the hub of your message, expressed in a single sentence. It is followed by the preview, which highlights the main points of your speech.
Acquiring Responsible Knowledge. Responsible knowledge implies that you have a good grasp of the main issues surrounding a topic, what experts say about it, the most recent developments, and how it applies specifically to your listeners. You can acquire responsible knowledge horn personal experience, Internet and library research, and interviews. Personal experience can make your speech seem credible and authentic, but you should not rely on it as your only source of information. Internet and library research can add objective, authoritative information to your speech. The knowledge you obtain through interviews can add freshness, vitality, and local relevance to your speech.

To give a successful speech, you must find a good topic, realize the general function and specific purpose of your speech, frame a clear thesis statement, and expand your knowledge so that you can speak responsibly. A good topic is one that involves and fascinates both you and your audience. It will be limited so that you can research it adequately and develop a speech that will fit within the allotted time.
Finding a Good Topic. One way to discover promising topic areas is to chart your interests by using prompt questions and by scanning the media. Next, chart audience interests as disclosed in previous speeches and class discussions and match them with your own. To develop topic possibilities, use an analysis based on six questions: who, what, when, where, why, and how. When applied to a topic area, these questions can guide you to specific topics. As you move toward your selection, consider whether a given topic fits the assignment, whether you can speak on it within the time limits, and why you would want to speak on it.

Thoroughness of information is also an important consideration. Don’t be satisfied with reading just one or two articles. Read until you stop being surprised by what you discover. Regency is essential when knowledge on a subject is changing rapidly. Last year’s readings on the state of the economy are today’s old news. If someone in your audience points Out that more recent data contradict your point, you’ll have to pick your credibility up off the floor. Precision is important if you are speaking on a topic that varies widely from place to place, such as unemployment rates or the incidence of AIDS. You must be certain that your information applies in the locale where you are speaking. We show you in the next chapter how to apply such tests specifically to the different types of supporting materials.

A speech that meets the requirement of order follows a consistent pattern of development from beginning to end. It should start with an introduction, present the main ideas in the body of the speech, then end with a conclusion. You should develop the body of the speech first because it contains the essence of your message. Once you have organized the body of your speech, you can prepare an introduction and conclusion tailored to your message.
Order also applies to the way you arrange your main points. If you propose a solution, you should first present the problem. Why? Because that is
how our minds work. We don’t normally come up with solutions, then look for problems to fit them. An orderly arrangement is also important when you are presenting the steps in a process. Begin with the first step, then cover the rest in the order they occur. If you jump around, the audience may get lost.

When medical schools receive an applicant’s grades, they look at the overall grade point average, as well as the CPA derived exclusively from science courses.
Now, you non-science majors probably realize your potential disadvantage in this procedure. That is, if an English major gets a C in freshman chemistry, he’ll have a pitiful science grade point average, because he won’t have many science courses to average with the C. That lone C will stand as indicative of mediocre scientific ability— though it may in fact be a false representation.
We know all the sob stories about your bad semester that year. You had family problems, girl- or boyfriend problems, a lingering case of beriberi, etc. Unfortunately, while these stories are often true and relevant, medical schools give little if any consideration to such deficiencies unless you show marked improvement and progress later in your transcript.
So if you’re a non-science major and you’ve got a poor science grade, you’ll need to spend extra effort to raise your science average. If your grade is poor in a course, take the course again if you can get the bad grade erased. If you can’t get it erased but merely averaged with the new grade, we don’t advise taking the course over. Instead, take a more advanced science course, which will average the low grade plus look better and more purposeful on your transcript.