Updated 6 June 2021

NEW ERA UNIVERSITY COLLEGE

2021 MAY SEMESTER
ENGB200 PUBLIC SPEAKING

UNIT 4: SELECTING A TOPIC AND PURPOSE STATEMENTS

1. INTRODUCTION

One of our first tasks in preparing any speech is to select a topic and purpose for
speaking that are appropriate to our audience and occasion. Generally, all speeches are
brought into existence as a result of circumstances or activities happening at any one
given moment. Even if the topic is assigned, as often happens in the classrooms and
workplaces, we must still adapt it to suit the unique audience and speech situation.
Thus, we’ve to make our speeches appropriate and useful for our audience. Consider
our audience to whom we’ll speak to, the scope of our presentation, and the outcome we
wish to achieve.

2. SELECTING THE SPEECH TOPIC

When picking a topic, the first thing to consider is what subject area we are interested in
examining. A subject area is a broad area of knowledge, such as art, business, history,
physical sciences, social sciences, humanities, education, etc. When selecting a topic,
start by casting a broad net because it’ll help us limit and narrow our topics quickly.

Generally, there are three broad categories of topics that we can chose:

⦁ Firstly, those which we already know a lot about

⦁ Secondly, those which we would like to know more about, and
⦁ Lastly, those which we hold strong opinions and beliefs in.

Firstly are topics which we already know a lot about. Most of us speak best about topics
which we’re most familiar by drawing on our own experiences and knowledge. For
example, on the topic ‘My High School Days’, we can very quickly draw upon our unusual
experiences, our embarrassing moments, or our most memorable memories while we
were in high school as we’ve knowledge of them, and have personally encountered them
ourselves.

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Secondly are topics which we would like to more about. We may want to make our
speeches a learning experience for ourselves and for our audiences by selecting topics
we already have some knowledge or expertise, but not enough to prepare a speech
without doing additional research. For example, on the topic ‘Say NO to Plastic Bags’. Or
if we’re the adventurous type, we may even select a topic that hasn’t touched us at all
before, but we want to explore.

Finally are topics which we care deeply about. These are more for persuasive speeches.
They may include local, national or international concerns such as rise in road bullies,
or protection of the environment.

If we still have trouble selecting a topic for our speech, there are a number of
procedures we can follow to get started.

⦁ First, make a quick list of our experiences, interests, hobbies, skills, beliefs, and
others. Jot down everything and anything that comes to our mind, no matter how
silly or irrelevant they may seem. From the list, there may be a general subject area
which we can create a speech topic.

⦁ If the first method doesn’t work, try the second. This is called ‘brainstorming’. On a
sheet of paper, divide it into several columns such as: People, Places, Events,
Problems, etc. In each column, list a few items that come to mind regarding the
general topics. By brainstorming, we may be able to come up with a speech topic
rather quickly.

⦁ If that fails too, then we can resort to the library and browse through magazines,
newspapers, journal articles, academic resources, reference work, etc. until we
stumble upon one that might be a good speech topic.

The major problem students have difficulty choosing speech topics is that, like most
people, they tend to procrastinate. If we postpone it for too long, we may be digging
ourselves into a deep hole from which we cannot escape. Since choosing a topic is our
first step in the speech making process, it’s advisable to start early.

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3. NARROWING THE TOPIC

Once we’ve identified our general speech topic, we need to narrow our focus. To narrow
our general speech topic, try brainstorming. Narrow it to the specific speech topic.
Think of narrowing as a funnel. At the very top of the funnel is the broad subject area,
and our goal is to narrow our topic down until just one topic can come out the other end
of the funnel.

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The more focused our topic is, the easier our speech is to research, to write, and to
deliver. So let’ take one of the broad areas from the education subject area and keep
narrowing it down to a manageable speech topic. For this example, we can break it
down into broad categories like early childhood education, formal education, and
tertiary education. We can further break down ‘tertiary education’ into even narrower
subject areas according to the programmes offered, such as, foundation programmes,
undergraduate programme, and post-graduate programmes, or according to its setup,
such as public universities, private universities, foreign universities.

For example:

General Speech Topic: Education

Specific Speech Topic: My High School Days

Specific Speech Topic: The Education System in Malaysia today

Specific Speech Topic: The Three Major Benefits of Early Childhood Education

General Speech Topic: The Environment

Specific Speech Topic: The Four Types of Pollution Globally
Specific Speech Topic: The Three Simple Ways to Save the Environment

When we narrow a general speech topic to a specific speech topic, we focus on the
specific aspects of it to the exclusion of others. As we do so, carefully evaluate the
speech topic in light of our audience’s interests, knowledge, and needs:

• Consider what our audience is likely to know about the topic

• Consider what our audience is likely to want to learn from our speech
• Consider what aspects of the topic are most relevant to the occasion. (Restrict our
focus to what we can competently research and then report on in the time we’re
given to speak.)
• Pick a discrete topic category and cover it well
• Restrict our main points to between two and five

4. CONSIDERING OUR AUDIENCE

Different audiences, as discussed in Unit 3 Audience Analysis and Adaptation, have

differing desires, backgrounds, and needs. Keeping our audience first and foremost in
our thoughts when choosing a speech topic will increase the likelihood that our

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audience will find our speech meaningful. Therefore, a good speech topic must arouse
not only our own curiosity but also our audience’s. As we explore topics, consider each
one’s potential appeal to our audience, as well as its appropriateness for the occasion:

• Who is going to be in our audience?

• Will the topic be relevant to our audience’s specific attributes and motivations?
• Will it meet our audience’s expectations of the speech?

No matter how well we’ve researched on the topic of our speech, and how well we’ve
practiced, if we don’t consider our audience and adapt our speech to our audience, all
our efforts may disappoint us as well as our audience.

5. GENERAL SPEECH PURPOSE STATEMENT

Some of our presentations will have an assigned speech topic and/or purpose (e.g.,
deliver a persuasive speech about topic X). In others, the choice will be left to us. Even
when the speech topic is specified, we must still refine and adapt our speech topic to fit
our speech purpose and our audience.

The general speech purpose is what we want to do in our speech - to inform, to

persuade, to inspire, to celebrate, to mourn, or to entertain. Modern public speaking
scholars typically use a classification system of three general speech purposes: to
inform, to persuade, and to entertain. The general speech purpose answers the
question: “Why am I speaking on this topic to this particular audience on this occasion?”
Thus, the general speech purpose refers to the broad goal in creating and delivering a
speech.

⦁ The first general speech purpose is to inform, wherein we act as a teacher or

lecturer. Our aim is to explain, to report, or to demonstrate something. We do so by
conveying information clearly, accurately, and interestingly to our audience so as to
enhance their knowledge and understanding with new information they didn’t have
before.

Our audience can then use the information to understand something (e.g., speech on
a new technology, speech on a new virus) or to perform a new task or improve their
skill (e.g., how to improve conversational skills, how to assemble a layer of cake).
Generally, the general speech purpose is to increase our audience’s knowledge.
Notice that the goal isn’t to encourage our audience to use the information in any
specific way. If we do so, then we’re no longer informing, but persuading.

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⦁ The second general speech purpose is to persuade, wherein we act as an advocate or

a partisan. Our aim is to sell, to urge or to defend something. Alternatively, we try to
get our audience to embrace a point of view or to adopt a behaviour that they
wouldn’t have done otherwise.

Hence, we give information not only to support our case but also to change or
structure the attitudes, beliefs or actions of our audience to accept our views. We try
to persuade or convince our audience that they should do or refrain from doing
something. Our aim is to win over our audience to our point of view. Hence, the
general speech purpose is to influence the attitudes, beliefs, values, and behaviours
of the members of our audience.

A persuasive speech can be distinguished from an informative speech by the fact

that the former includes a call for action for our audience to make some changes in
their behaviours and thinking.
⦁ The final general speech purpose is to entertain. While informative and persuasive
speech making are focused on the end result of our speech, entertainment speaking
is focused on the theme and occasion of the speech. An entertaining speech can be
either informative or persuasive at its root, but the context or theme of the speech
requires us to think about the speech primarily in terms of our audience enjoyment,
such as after-dinner speeches, ceremonial speeches, or inspirational speeches.

6. SPECIFIC SPEECH PURPOSE

Once we’ve chosen our topic and our general speech purpose, it’s time to take our
speech to the next phase and develop our specific speech purpose. The specific speech
purpose is what we hope to accomplish. It starts with one of the three general speech
purposes and then specifies the actual topic we’ve chosen and the basic objective we
hope to accomplish with our speech. It lays out precisely what we want our audience to
get from our speech.

To form a clear and succinct statement of the specific speech purpose, start by naming
our general purpose, followed by a description of our audience, and complete it with a
prepositional phrase that summarises our topic. For example, “My specific purpose is to
persuade the residents in the hostel to protest the proposed increase in hostel fees ” is a
specific speech purpose statement, while “My speech will be about why we should,
protest the proposed increase in hostel fees” isn’t.

The table below provides several examples of how to create good specific speech
purpose statements:

General Purpose Audience Topic

To inform my audience about the usefulness of having a
personal monthly budget to control
spending
To persuade a group of kindergarten to adopt a new disciplinary method
teachers for their classrooms
To entertain a group of executives by describing the lighter side of life

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after a hard day’s work

To inform the neighbourhood about the newly proposed
playground plans
To persuade my classmates to vote for me for class president
To entertain guests attending my by telling a humorous story followed
brother’s birthday party by a toast

To determine the specific speech purpose, ask ourselves: “What do I want my audience
to learn/to do/to reconsider/to agree with?” Be specific about our aim, and then state
this aim in action form, as in the following for an informative speech:

General Speech Topic: Student Scholarships

Specific Speech Topic: Criteria for selection for student scholarships
General Speech Purpose: To inform
Specific Speech Purpose: To inform new registrants about the factors to consider
when awarding scholarships to students

The specific speech purpose statement is seldom expressed in the speech itself.
Nevertheless, it’s important to formulate it for ourselves in order to implant in our
minds exactly what we want our speech to accomplish.

Formulating a specific speech purpose is the most important early step in developing a
successful speech. In writing our specific speech purpose statement, try to follow the
general principles outlined below.

⦁ Write the specific speech purpose beginning with a full infinitive phrase, not as a
fragment

Ineffective: Buying a personal computer

More effective: To inform my peers in class of the best way to select a personal
computer suited to the individual needs

The ineffective statement above is adequate as an announcement of the speech topic,

but it is not thought out fully enough to indicate the specific speech purpose.

⦁ Express the specific speech purpose as a statement, not a question

Ineffective: What is Mid-autumn Festival?

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More effective: To inform my foreign guests attending the Mid-autumn Festival

dinner about the significance of the Festival among the Chinese
community in Malaysia

The question might make adequate title for a speech, but it is not effective as specific
speech purpose. It gives no indication about what direction the speech will take or what
the speaker hopes to achieve.

⦁ Avoid figurative language in the specific speech purpose

Ineffective: To persuade my audience that the college’s plan to reduce the

number of campus parking spaces assigned to students is a real
bummer
More effective: To persuade my audience to petition against the college’s plan
to reduce the number of campus parking spaces assigned to
students

Although the ineffective statement indicates something of the speaker’s viewpoint, it

doesn’t state concisely what the speaker hopes to accomplish. The term ‘bummer’ is a
figurative language meaning disappointment or annoyance which is too ambiguous for a
specific speech purpose.

⦁ Limit the specific speech purpose to only one distinct idea

Ineffective: To persuade my audience that the government should ban all

cigarette advertising and that smoking should be prohibited
in all public places
More effective: To persuade a group of activists that the government should
ban all cigarette advertising
More effective: To persuade a group of activists that smoking should
be prohibited in all public places
The ineffective specific speech purpose express two separate ideas (banning all
cigarette advertising, and prohibiting smoking in public places). The easiest remedy is
to select one or the other as the focus of our speech.

⦁ Ensure the specific speech purpose is not too vague or general

Ineffective: To inform my audience about the Movement Control Order

More effective: To inform my audience of teenagers of the purpose of
the Movement Control Order during the Covid-19 pandemic

The ineffective specific speech purpose is too broad and ill-defined. It gives no clues
about what aspect of the Movement Control Order the speaker will cover: the different
stages of the MCO, or the standard operating procedures during the MCO, or the

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monitoring authorities, etc. The more effective specific speech purpose is sharp and
concise. It reveals clearly what the speaker plans to discuss.

7. COMPOSING THE THESIS STATEMENT (CENTRAL IDEA)

While the specific speech purpose is what we hope to achieve, the thesis statement is
what we expect to say in our speech for our audience to remember after they’ve
forgotten everything else in the speech. So after narrowing our speech topic and
forming our specific speech purpose, our next step is to formulate a thesis statement
(also called the central idea).

The thesis statement is the theme or central idea of our speech stated in the form of a
single, declarative sentence that’s designed to give our audience a quick preview of
what our entire speech will be about. It briefly expresses what we’ll attempt to
demonstrate, to discuss, or to prove in the body of our speech. The main points, the
supporting materials, and the conclusion all relate to the thesis statement.

The thesis statement and the specific speech purpose are closely linked. Both state the
speech topic, but in different forms.

⦁ The specific speech purpose describes in action form what we want to achieve with
the speech; the thesis statement concisely identifies, in a single idea, what the entire
speech is about.
⦁ The specific speech purpose doesn’t have to be stated in the speech itself. The thesis
statement, on the other hand, must be clearly stated in our speech because the entire
speech rests on it.

The difference can be seen in the specific speech purpose and thesis statement for a
persuasive speech on ‘student internships’:

General Speech Purpose: To inform

Specific Speech Purpose: To explain to a group of final year business students that
internships are beneficial for their future careers
Thesis Statement: In case you may not know, internships are really
beneficial for students because they enhance your
resume, help prepare you for a difficult job market, and
expose you to valuable work experiences

Whether the speech is informative or persuasive, the thesis statement proposes that the
statement made is true or is believed to be true. The speech is then developed from this
premise; it presents facts and evidence to support that the thesis statement is true.

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In a persuasive speech, the thesis statement represents what we’re going to prove in
our speech. All the main points in the speech are arguments that help support the thesis
statement:

General Speech Purpose: To persuade

Specific Speech Purpose: To urge my audience of community leaders to help raise
money on behalf of the MAC Welfare Club of Kuala
Lumpur
Thesis Statement: As respected members in your respective fields, and in
society, I hope that you would donate to the Club to help
the Club put under-privileged children in schools, to
provide food and shelter for the homeless, and to build a
community hall in the neighbourhood.

Notice that after reading the thesis statement, we’ll find ourselves asking “Why?” or
saying “Prove it!” This’ll be accomplished by the main points we’ll elaborate in the body
of our speech.

In an informative speech, the thesis statement describes what our audience will learn:

General Speech Purpose: To inform

Specific Speech Purpose: To highlight to my audience of SPM students the
three benefits of preparing early for an exam
Thesis Statement: All of us know that preparing for a major exam is
time consuming, but only a few know that an early
preparation will give us more time to be well
prepared for the unknown, more time to study
important exam concepts, and more time with family
and friends.

Try to express the thesis statement in a way that will motivate our audience to listen to
us. In many cases, creating relevant statements can be accomplished by adding a few
key words or phrases to the claim. For example, we can introduce an informative thesis
statement with a phrase such as: “Few of us know …” or “Contrary to popular belief …”

Thesis statements for persuasive speeches can also be adapted to establish relevance
for our audience. Phrases such as “As most of you know” or “As knowledgeable members
of the community” or “As concerned adults” can help gain our audience’s interest and
make our audience see the relevancy of our topic.

Use information from our audience analysis to make the topic relevant to them.
Consider how the following thesis statement has been adapted for an audience
dissatisfied with the hostel facilities:

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Specific Speech Purpose: To persuade residents of the hostel to elect a new Head
of Student Affairs
Thesis Statement: A vote for Mr Ang Poh Ges is a vote for changes we’ve
been waiting for as residents.

Below is an example of the general speech purpose, specific speech purpose, thesis
statement, and the main points for an informative speech.

General Speech Purpose: To inform

Specific Speech Purpose: To educate my students about the four main steps in
making pottery
Thesis Statement: As easy as it may be, making pottery involves just four
main steps, namely, preparing the clay, shaping the clay,
decorating and glazing the clay, and finally firing the
finished product.
Main Points: (1) The first step in making pottery is preparing the
clay until it is soft and smooth
(2) Next is shaping the clay to the desired form
(3) This is then followed by decorating and glazing
the shaped clay
(4) The final step is firing the finished product to
make it hard and strong

Below is an example of the general speech purpose, specific speech purpose, thesis
statement, and the main points for a persuasive speech.

General Speech Purpose: To persuade

Specific Speech Purpose: To appeal a group of teachers to volunteer as a literacy
tutor
Thesis Statement: You should volunteer as a literacy tutor because it
helps children cognitively, strengthens the community,
and is rewarding.
Main Points: (1) The first reason why you should volunteer as a
literacy tutor is because it helps children under
your tutelage develop cognitively with your support.

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(2) The next reason is because it strengthens the

community.
(3) The final reason is because it is personally
rewarding.

8. SUMMARY

To sum up, choosing a topic is our first step in speechmaking. If we’ve trouble picking a
topic, we can follow at least three procedures. First, make an inventory of our hobbies,
interests, skills, experiences, beliefs, etc. Second, is to brainstorm. Third, browse
through reference books for ideas.

After choosing our speech topic, we need to settle on our general speech purpose, either
to inform wherein we communicate information clearly, accurately, and interestingly to
our audience; to persuade wherein we give information to win our audience to our
point of view; or to entertain wherein we focus on our audience enjoyment.

Once we know our specific speech topic and general speech purpose, we must narrow in
on our specific speech purpose in a single infinitive phrase to indicate exactly what our
speech seeks to achieve.

The thesis statement is a concise statement of what we will say in the body of our
speech from our research and the main points. The main points will form the body of
our speech.

References

Lucas, S.E. (2014). The Art of Public Speaking (12th ed.). NY: McGraw Hill
Wrench, J.S., Goding, A., Johnson, D.I., & Attias, B.A. (2011) Stand Up, Speak Out: The
Practice and Ethics of Public Speaking. University of Minnesota
https://learn.saylor.org/course/view.php?id=19&sectionid=167

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