Preparing to Write a Speech

As you begin writing your speech, you must understand the speech genre, conduct research, and develop an outline.

Understanding the speech genre

Understanding the type of speech you’re giving is the first step in the speech writing process.

If you already know the genre of your speech, then feel free to move on towards the next step. If not, start with the prompt. The prompt often identifies the genre of speech. Does your prompt give the speech genre?

If not, here are a few principles to help you figure out the speech genre:

• Highlight keywords. Words such as analyze, explain, and argue tell you something about the nature of the speech. Look up the keywords in a dictionary to be precise.
• Look for goals laid out in the prompt. Does the prompt tell you to “Update the classroom on the political events in Syria,” “Report your research on the Epstein–Barr virus,”or “Explain how to do something you do well”? These prompts exemplify informative goals. “Persuade the audience of what you think is the best way to succeed on a mission trip” is explicitly a prompt for a persuasive/argumentative speech.
• If you’re completely lost, ask your professor or visit the Rhetoric Center—and bring your prompt!

The two most common types of speeches are informative and argumentative.

For further information on the fundamentals of these different types of speeches, we recommend Public Speaking - Oakland Campus: Types of Speeches by University Library System, University of Pittsburgh. Click on either “Informative” or “Argumentative.”

However, because more speaking genres exist (stories, tributes, eulogies, etc.) it’s imperative to highlight keywords, look for goals in the prompt, and seek help when needed.

Research

After understanding the assignment you’ll know better what you need to research. At this stage it’s important to remember principles and goals of information literacy. Ensuring credibility of the resources used is a primary goal of information literacy.

It’s important that when researching, you consider the credibility of the resources you’re using. Unreliable sources will send your audience a message that you are unreliable. This Tedx Talk breaks down how to identify a fake news article; the principles can be applied to any research.

Ask yourself the following questions:

• Who is this publication and are they credible?
• Who is the author? Do they have accessible information about them and are they a credible source?
• With both of these in mind, is this article/journal/website credible? If you have any doubt, then err on the safe side.

In addition, you’ll need to find enough sources with enough varying perspectives that you can build your own expertise and credibility.

The resources available on Hekman Library will prove useful in the research process. In particular, we recommend you use the following links on Hekman’s page:

• “How to ‘Search Start’”
• “Finding Databases”
• “Accessing Articles”
• “Research Help”

Additional Resources Related to Research

• Yale College Writing Center: Eight Strategies for Using Sources.
• Colorado State University, WAC Clearinghouse: Evaluating Sources.
• Calvin University—What Not To Do: a document about what not to do while researching.
• Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL): Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing.

Outlines

For most speech classes, the outline is the closest thing to a full script you will have. Some speeches are read from a printed text; some are memorized. But most academic speeches are extemporaneous: the speaker knows the speech well enough to deliver it without reading it, and an outline makes this possible.

(Please note: we’re talking about the final structure of the full-bodied speech, not the keyword notecards you deliver the speech from.)

The outline is a version of the complete speech and is your most important planning document. It is your draft of the full speech, just like a full draft of a paper. For papers an outline simply guides the writer in the writing process. For speeches the outline is reasonably identical with the speech (with slight wording changes).

A speech outline includes the general wording of every sentence, including transitions, and is written in complete sentences (the exact format may different from one teacher to another). If you’re turning the speech in to an instructor, the instructor will usually ask you to include a “specific purpose” and “thesis” before the introduction.

You don’t use the speech outline during the speech. For information regarding the version of the outline used during the speech itself, please see the notecard section on Delivery.

Example 1

This is an informative speech on the differences between Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. This outline isn’t perfect: it should include more transition sentences, and the introduction and conclusion are too short. But overall, it displays the content and structure.

Example 2

This next outline, on the medicinal and culinary properties of dandelions, was put together by the Calvin CAS department as an example outline. Notice how this outline identifies the transition sentences and provides further information for the supporting points.

Your outline doesn’t have to look exactly like either of these examples as long as it accomplishes the main function of an outline: to set out a full written version of your speech.