Given that this is course is taught exclusively on line, you need to read and understand material that is presented. Please read Chapters 11 & 12 as indicated on the syllabus and then submit the five most important items found in each chapter. Large ess

chapter_11_-_introductions_matter.ppt

Home >English homework help >Given that this is course is taught exclusively on line, you need to read and understand material that is presented. Please read Chapters 11 & 12 as indicated on the syllabus and then submit the five most important items found in each chapter. Large ess

Introductions Matter: How to Begin a Speech Effectively

Chapter 11
The Importance of an Introduction

Introductions Matter

The introduction for a speech is generally only 10 to 15 percent of the entire time the speaker will spend speaking.
This means that if your speech is to be five minutes long, your introduction should be no more than forty-five seconds.
10 to 15 percent of your speech can either make your audience interested in what you have to say or cause them to tune out before you’ve really gotten started.

Five Functions of an Introduction

Gain Audience Attention and Interest

One of the biggest mistakes that novice speakers make is to assume that people will naturally listen because the speaker is speaking.
While many audiences may be polite and not talk while you’re speaking, actually getting them to listen to what you are saying is a completely different challenge.
If you do not get the audience’s attention at the outset, it will only become more difficult to do so as you continue speaking. You need a HOOK!

State the Purpose of
Your Speech

An introduction is important because it forces the speaker to be mindfully aware of explaining the topic of the speech to the audience.
Your specific purpose is the rudder that guides your research, organization, and development of main points.
A clear purpose provides the audience with a single, simple idea to remember even if they are temporarily distracted during the body of your speech.

Establish Credibility

The concept of credibility must be understood as a perception of receivers.
If your audience does not perceive you as credible, then your expertise and passion will not matter.

McCroskey and Teven’s Three Factors of Credibility

Competence: The degree to which a speaker is perceived to be knowledgeable or expert in a given subject by an audience member.
Trustworthiness: The degree to which an audience member perceives a speaker as honest.
Caring/goodwill: The degree to which an audience member perceives a speaker as caring about the audience member.

Provide Reasons to Listen

Explicitly tell your audience why they should listen to your speech.
Instead of assuming the audience will make their own connections to your material, explicitly state how your information might be useful to your audience.
You need to build a bridge to the audience by explicitly connecting your topic to their possible needs.

Preview Main Ideas

A preview establishes the direction your speech will take.
We sometimes call this process signposting because you’re establishing signs for audience members to look for while you’re speaking.

The Attention-Getter: The First Step of an Introduction

Attention-Getters
or Hooks

The device a speaker uses at the beginning of a speech to capture an audience’s interest and make them interested in the speech’s topic.
Examples:
Statistics
Real-life stories
Quotes
Photos or video clips
Visualizations of the future
An activity

Four Parts to Consider When Selecting an Attention-Getter

Appropriateness or Relevance to Audience

You want to make sure that the option you choose is actually appropriate and relevant to your specific audience.
Different audiences will have different backgrounds and knowledge, so you should use your audience analysis to determine whether specific information you plan on using would be appropriate for a specific audience.

Purpose of Speech

There are three basic purposes you can have for giving a speech: to inform, to persuade, and to entertain.
When selecting an attention-getter, you want to make sure that you select one that corresponds with your basic purpose.

Topic

Your attention-getting device should have a relevant connection to your speech.
Not every attention-getter is appropriate for a given topic.

Occasion

Different occasions will necessitate different tones, or particular styles or manners of speaking.
For Example
A persuasive speech about death and dying shouldn’t be happy and hilarious.
An informative speech on the benefits of laughing shouldn’t be dull, dreary, and depressing.

Miller’s Eleven Attention-Getting Devices

Reference to Subject

Tell your audience the subject of your speech.
This device is probably the most direct, but it may also be the least interesting of the possible attention-getters.

Reference to Audience

The speaker has a clear understanding of the audience.
The speaker points out that there is something unique about the audience that should make them interested in the speech’s content.

Quotation

Use the words of another person that relate directly to your topic.
Probably the most famous quotation book of all time is Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations.

Reference to
Current Events

Refer to a current news event that relates to your topic.
This device immediately makes the audience aware of how relevant the topic is in today’s world.

Historical Reference

Refer to a historical event related to your topic.
This strategy shows how your topic is timeless and can be equally relevant in history as it is today.

Anecdote

A brief account or story of an interesting or humorous event.
Two Types
A real story that emphasizes a speech’s basic message.
Parable or fable: An allegorical anecdote designed to teach general life lessons.

Startling Statement

Surprise your audience with startling information about your topic.
Startling statements come in the form of statistics and strange facts.
The goal of a good startling statistic is that it surprises the audience and gets them engaged in your topic.
A strange fact is a statement that does not involve numbers but is equally surprising to most audiences.

Question

Response question: A question that the audience is expected to answer in some manner.
Rhetorical question: A question to which no actual reply is expected.

Humor

We cannot begin to explain all the amazing facets of humor within this text, but we can say that humor is a great way of focusing an audience on what you are saying.
When using humor, you really need to know your audience and understand what they will find humorous.
One of the biggest mistakes a speaker can make is to use some form of humor that the audience either doesn’t find funny or finds offensive.

Personal Reference

Tell a story about yourself that is relevant for your topic.
Some of the best speeches are ones that come from personal knowledge and experience.
If you are an expert or have firsthand experience related to your topic, sharing this information with the audience is a great way to show that you are credible during your attention-getter.

Reference to Occasion

This attention-getter is only useful if the speech is being delivered for a specific occasion.
Because of its specific nature, this attention-getter is the least likely to be used for speeches being delivered for college courses.

Putting It Together: Steps to Complete Your Introduction

Five Remaining Parts of an Effective Introduction

Link to Topic

The link to topic is the shortest part of an introduction and occurs when a speaker demonstrates how an attention-getting device relates to the topic of a speech.
Some attention-getters need further explanation to get to the topic of the speech.

Reasons to Listen

You need to explain to your audience why your topic is important.
Sometimes you can include the significance of your topic in the same sentence as your link to the topic, but other times you may need to spell out in one or two sentences why your specific topic is important.

Appearing Credible

Credibility is ultimately a perception that is made by your audience.

Making Yourself Appear Competent

You can either clearly explain to your audience why you are competent about a given subject.
Demonstrate your competence by showing that you have thoroughly researched a topic by including relevant references within your introduction.

Making Yourself Appear Trustworthy

One way to increase the likelihood that a speaker will be perceived as trustworthy is to use reputable sources.
The worst thing you can do is to out-and-out lie about information during your speech.

Showing Your Audience That You Care

Ethical speakers truly do care about their audiences and have their audience’s best interests in mind while speaking.
If you know some audience members may disagree with your speech, acknowledge this disagreement from the start. By doing this, you are telling the audience that you understand their possible views and are not trying to attack their intellect or their opinions.

Thesis Statement

Thesis statement: A short, declarative sentence that states the purpose, intent, or main idea of a speech.

Basic Functions of a
Thesis Statement

Express Your Specific Purpose
To orient your audience, you need to be as clear as possible about your meaning.
A strong thesis will prepare your audience effectively for the points that will follow.
Provide a Way to Organize Your Main Points
A thesis statement should appear, almost verbatim, toward the end of the introduction to a speech.
A thesis statement helps the audience get ready to listen to the arrangement of points that follow.
You will know where you stand about your topic and where you intend to go with your speech.

Using your thesis statement, you can select only the information that:

Directly relates to the thesis.
Can be arranged in a sequence that will make sense to the audience and will support the thesis.
Make Your Research More Effective
When you conduct your research with a clear thesis statement in mind, you will be better able to zero in only on material that directly relates to your chosen thesis statement.
Focusing your thesis statement will help you narrow the scope of information you will be searching for while gathering information.
Enhance Your Delivery
When your thesis is not clear to you, your listeners will be even more clueless than you are.
When you have a good clear thesis statement, your speech becomes clear to your listeners.

How to Write a
Thesis Statement

Choose Your Topic

Narrow Your Topic

Narrow a topic to one that can be covered in a five- to ten-minute speech.
You can easily run out of time if your topic is too broad.
Three Questions to see if a Topic is Too Broad
Is your thesis statement narrow or is it a broad overgeneralization of a topic?
Is your speech’s topic one clear topic or multiple topics?
Does your topic have a clear direction?

Put Your Topic into a Sentence

Formalize the narrowed topic as a complete sentence.
Once you have a clear topic sentence, you can start tweaking the thesis statement to help set up the purpose of your speech.

Add Your Argument, Viewpoint, or Opinion

This function only applies if you are giving a speech to persuade.
If your topic is informative, your job is to make sure that the thesis statement is nonargumentative and focuses on facts.
For informative speeches, the goal of a thesis statement is to explain what the speech will be informing the audience about, not attempting to add the speaker’s opinion about the speech’s topic.
If your topic is persuasive, you want to make sure that your argument, viewpoint, or opinion is clearly indicated within the thesis statement.

Use the Thesis Checklist

A thesis statement is something that is constantly tweaked until the speech is given.
Use the Thesis Checklist in the book.

Preview of Speech

A preview foreshadows what the main body points will be in the speech.
A preview is a list of key phrases that represent the main points you will discuss in the speech.