Chapter 6: Finding a Purpose and Selecting a Topic

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Jason Wrench, Anne Goding, Danette Ifert Johnson, and Bernardo Alexander Attias
Milne Library Publishing at SUNY

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A person in a business suit and red tie is pointing at the word "PURPOSE," which is displayed in large, bold white letters on a transparent horizontal banner. The background is a gradient of soft blue. The image conveys the concept of intentionality, goal-setting, or mission focus, often used in professional or motivational contexts. — Image by Nick Youngson on Pix4free

In the 2004 Tony Award–winning musical Avenue Q, the lead character sings a song about finding his purpose in life: “I don’t know how I know / But I’m gonna find my purpose / I don’t know where I’m gonna look / But I’m gonna find my purpose.” Although the song is about life in general, the lyrics are also appropriate when thinking about the purpose of your speech. You may know that you have been assigned to deliver a speech, but finding a purpose and topic seems like a formidable task. You may be asking yourself questions like, “What if the topic I pick is too common?”; “What if no one is interested in my topic?”; “What if my topic is too huge to cover in a three- to five-minute speech?”; or many others.

Finding a speech’s purpose and topic isn’t as complex or difficult as you might believe. This may be hard to accept right now, but trust us. After you read this chapter, you’ll understand how to go about finding interesting topics for a variety of different types of speeches. In this chapter, we are going to explain how to identify the general purpose of a speech. We will also discuss how to select a topic, what to do if you’re just drawing a blank, and four basic questions you should ask yourself about the speech topic you ultimately select. Finally, we will explain how to use your general purpose and your chosen topic to develop the specific purpose of your speech.

General Purposes

Learning Outcomes

Differentiate among the three types of general speech purposes.
Describe the basics of informative speech topics and common forms of informative speeches.
Explain the basics of persuasive speech topics and common forms of persuasive speeches.
Identify the basics of entertaining speech topics and common forms of entertaining speeches.

This diagram visually represents the three general purposes of public speaking: to inform, to persuade, and to entertain. At the center is a red inverted triangle labeled "General Purposes." Each of the three purposes is shown in a separate circle connected to the triangle. The top circle, outlined in purple, says "To Inform." The bottom left circle, outlined in navy blue, says "To Entertain." The bottom right circle, outlined in gold, says "To Persuade." The image emphasizes that all public speaking typically falls under one or more of these three general purposes. — FIGURE 6.1 General Purposes

What do you think of when you hear the word “purpose”? Technically speaking, a purpose can be defined as why something exists, how we use an object, or why we make something. For the purposes of public speaking, all three can be applicable. For example, when we talk about a speech’s purpose, we can question why a specific speech was given; we can question how we are supposed to use the information within a speech; and we can question why we are personally creating a speech. For this specific chapter, we are more interested in that last aspect of the definition of the word “purpose”: why we give speeches.

Ever since scholars started writing about public speaking as a distinct phenomenon, there have been a range of different systems created to classify the types of speeches people may give. Aristotle talked about three speech purposes: deliberative (political speech), forensic (courtroom speech), and epideictic (speech of praise or blame). Cicero also talked about three purposes: judicial (courtroom speech), deliberative (political speech), and demonstrative (ceremonial speech—similar to Aristotle’s epideictic). A little more recently, St. Augustine of Hippo also wrote about three specific speech purposes: to teach (provide people with information), to delight (entertain people or show people false ideas), and to sway (persuade people to a religious ideology). All these systems of identifying public speeches have been attempts at helping people determine the general purpose of their speech, which is the broad goal a speaker has when creating and delivering a speech.

These typologies or classification systems of public speeches serve to demonstrate that general speech purposes have remained pretty consistent throughout the history of public speaking. Modern public speaking scholars typically use a classification system of three general purposes: to inform, to persuade, and to entertain.

To Inform

The first general purpose that some people have for giving speeches is to inform. Simply put, this is about helping audience members acquire information that they do not already possess. Audience members can then use this 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 skills (e.g., how to swing a golf club, how to assemble a layer cake). The most important characteristic of informative topics is that the goal is to gain knowledge. Notice that the goal is not to encourage people to use that knowledge in any specific way. When a speaker starts encouraging people to use knowledge in a specific way, they are no longer informing but is persuading.

Let’s look at a real example of how an individual can accidentally go from informing to persuading. Let’s say you are assigned to inform an audience about a new vaccination program. In an informative speech, the purpose of the speech is to explain to your audience what the program is and how it works. If, however, you start encouraging your audience to participate in the vaccination program, you are no longer informing them about the program but rather persuading them to become involved in the program. One of the most common mistakes new public speaking students make is to blur the line between informing and persuading.

Why We Share Knowledge

Knowledge sharing is the process of delivering information, skills, or expertise in some form to people who could benefit from it. In fact, understanding and exchanging knowledge is so important that an entire field of study, called knowledge management, has been created to help people (especially businesses) become more effective at harnessing and exchanging knowledge. In the professional world, sharing knowledge is becoming increasingly important. Every year, millions of people attend some kind of knowledge sharing conference or convention in hopes of learning new information or skills that will help them in their personal or professional lives.^[1]

People are motivated to share their knowledge with other people for a variety of reasons.^[2] For some, the personal sense of achievement or of responsibility drives them to share their knowledge (internal motivational factors). Others are driven to share knowledge because of the desire for recognition or the possibility of job enhancement (external motivational factors). Knowledge sharing is an important part of every society, so learning how to deliver informative speeches is a valuable skill.

Common Types of Informative Topics

O’Hair et al. identified six general types of informative speech topics: objects, people, events, concepts, processes, and issues.^[3] The first type of informative speech relates to objects, which can include how objects are designed, how they function, and what they mean. For example, a student of one of our coauthors gave a speech on the design of corsets, using a mannequin to demonstrate how corsets were placed on women and the amount of force necessary to lace one up.

The second type of informative speech focuses on people. People-based speeches tend to be biography-oriented. Such topics could include recounting an individual’s achievements and explaining why they are important in history. Some speakers, who are famous themselves, will focus on their own lives and how various events shaped who they ultimately became. Dottie Walters is most noted as being the first female in the United States to run an advertising agency. In addition to her work in advertising, Dottie also spent a great deal of time as a professional speaker. She often would tell the story about her early years in advertising when she would push around a stroller with her daughter inside as she went from business to business trying to generate interest in her copywriting abilities. You don’t have to be famous, however, to give a people-based speech. Instead, you could inform your audience about a historical or contemporary hero whose achievements are not widely known.

The third type of informative speech involves explaining the significance of specific events, either historical or contemporary. For example, you could deliver a speech on a specific battle of World War II or a specific presidential administration. If you’re a history buff, event-oriented speeches may be right up your alley. There are countless historical events that many people aren’t familiar with and would find interesting. You could also inform your audience about a more recent or contemporary event. Some examples include concerts, plays, and arts festivals; athletic competitions; and natural phenomena, such as storms, eclipses, and earthquakes. The point is to make sure that an informative speech is talking about the event (who, what, when, where, and why) and not attempting to persuade people to pass judgment upon the event or its effects.

The fourth type of informative speech involves concepts, or “abstract and difficult ideas or theories.”^[4] For example, if you want to explain a specific communication theory, E. M. Griffin provides an excellent list of communication theories on his website, www.afirstlook.com/edition_9/theory_list. He also has a great series of interviews with many top communication theorists that are definitely worth watching: www.youtube.com/channel/UCyuYLy-vgiqxHQysvt21VkA. Whether you want to discuss theories related to business, sociology, psychology, religion, politics, art, or any other major area of study, this type of speech can be very useful in helping people to understand complex ideas.

The fifth type of informative speech involves processes. The process speech can be divided into two unique types: how-it-functions and how-to-do. The first type of process speech helps audience members understand how a specific object or system works. For example, you could explain how a bill becomes a law in the United States. There is a very specific set of steps that a bill must go through before it becomes a law, so there is a very clear process that could be explained to an audience. The how-to-do speech, on the other hand, is designed to help people come to an end result of some kind. For example, you could give a speech on how to quilt, how to change a tire, how to write a résumé, and millions of other how-to oriented topics. In our experience, the how-to speech is probably the most commonly delivered informative speech in public speaking classes.

The final type of informative speech involves issues, or “problems or matters of dispute.”^[5] This informative speech topic is probably the most difficult for novice public speakers because it requires walking a fine line between informing and persuading. If you attempt to deliver this type of speech, remember the goal is to be balanced when discussing both sides of the issue. To see an example of how you can take a very divisive topic and make it informative, check out the series Point/Counterpoint published by Chelsea House (www.infobasepublishing.com).

This series of books covers everything from the pros and cons of blogging to whether the United States should have mandatory military service.

The Journey from Silicon to Smartphone: Understanding the Manufacturing Process

The following text is a sample of an informative speech. While this speech is written out as a text for purposes of analysis, in your public speaking course, you will most likely be assigned to speak from an outline or notes, not a fully written script. As you read through this sample speech, notice how the speech uses informative strategies to present the information without trying to persuade an audience.

Introduction

The smartphone in your pocket contains materials from at least 30 different countries, traveled through the hands of hundreds of workers, and required the coordination of over 200 companies just to exist. Sound impossible? It’s not. According to Karen Hui for the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada in their 2024 report “China’s Role in Global Smartphone Supply Chains Remains Resilient,” the coordination of hundreds of companies across dozens of countries reflects the reality of modern smartphone manufacturing’s incredible complexity. Today, I want to help you understand the process that transforms raw materials into the smartphones we depend on every day. As someone who has researched this topic extensively using the latest industry reports and manufacturing analyses, I’ve discovered that smartphone manufacturing represents one of the most sophisticated global supply chain operations in human history. In fact, according to market analysts Runar Bjørhovde and Sanyam Chaurasia at Canalys in their 2025 study, “Global smartphone market soared 7% in 2024 as vendors prepare for tricky 2025,” the global smartphone market growth reached 1.22 billion units, marking the industry as the highest annual shipment volume post-pandemic. The smartphone manufacturing process involves a carefully orchestrated global network that transforms raw materials into finished devices through four critical stages of production. Like products moving through a sophisticated assembly line, we’ll trace smartphones through four critical manufacturing stations: first, the design floor where concepts transform into prototypes; second, the global marketplace where components are strategically sourced; third, the production line where precision assembly brings devices to life; and finally, the quality control checkpoint that ensures every phone meets consumer expectations.

So, to help us understand how this remarkable transformation occurs, let’s start by exploring how smartphones begin their journey in the design phase

Body

The smartphone manufacturing journey begins long before any factory starts production. According to both Ali Hassan 2025 article “How are Smartphones Made in Factories 2024: Complete Process” published on Vocal Media, the process starts in corporate boardrooms where executives workshop ideas and cost considerations, with numerous factors including commercial dynamics, fashion trends, and technical advancements influencing design decisions.

First, during the design phase, electronics engineering departments determine crucial specifications like processing power, memory capabilities, and display requirements. As documented by Yackulic Khristopher from Android Headlines in his 2024 analysis, “How your smartphone is made – the making of modern mobile phones,” this phase involves selecting System-on-Chip processors from major companies, which essentially become “the brains of the machine.” According to manufacturing expert Christian Bourgeois in his StudioRed article, “Understanding prototype manufacturing [2024],” prototype manufacturing serves as the crucial bridge between concept and reality, allowing designers to evaluate form, fit, function, manufacturability, and market viability before committing to mass production.

Additionally, the prototyping process transforms initial concepts into testable devices. The prototype undergoes extensive testing – from drop tests at various heights to water submersion and rigorous functionality checks. According to Hassan’s 2025 article, this testing phase is crucial because companies must make any necessary adjustments before expensive mass production begins, with this stage involving creating non-functional prototypes that allow developers to test both aesthetics and basic functionality before moving to functional models.

Now that we understand how smartphones are designed and tested, let’s investigate how manufacturers source the hundreds of components needed for production.

Modern smartphones require an intricate web of suppliers across multiple continents. According to supply chain experts at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada in their 2024 analysis, each company’s supply chain is unique, with manufacturers maintaining complex networks spanning multiple countries. As documented by Apple’s official supplier information and verified by multiple industry sources, Apple alone uses components from 43 countries and works with over 200 businesses worldwide, with its top 200 suppliers accounting for 98% of its procurement spending.

To begin with, smartphones contain an incredible diversity of materials. According to Heather Webb in her 2024 article “The Global Supply Chain of a Mobile Phone” for the Ethical Consumer, an average smartphone contains approximately 25% silicon, 23% plastic, 20% iron, 14% aluminum, 7% copper, and smaller percentages of lead, zinc, tin, and nickel from mines worldwide.

Furthermore, the supply chain complexity is staggering. According to Heather Webb and confirmed by Ali Hassan, an iPhone contains components from more than 200 suppliers, representing one of the most complex supply chains in modern manufacturing. As documented by Apple’s supply chain information, components are shipped from locations including China, Taiwan, Japan, India, South Korea, and Germany to assembly facilities worldwide.

Additionally, certain regions dominate component production. Research from the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada indicates that Chinese smartphone brands, such as Xiaomi, source 75% of their components domestically. Meanwhile, even phones labeled “Made in Vietnam” or “Made in India” rely on roughly 90% of their components from China. According to Khristopher’s 2024 analysis, China leads the industry, exporting 822 million smartphones in 2022, which showcases its unparalleled dominance in the global market. Manufacturing hubs are concentrated in key regions, with China leading through Shenzhen as a critical hub that houses major manufacturing giants like Foxconn and BYD. Meanwhile, South Korea hosts Samsung’s extensive production facilities, and Vietnam and India are rapidly growing as manufacturing powerhouses.

With components sourced globally, let’s now observe how these hundreds of parts come together on assembly lines.

The assembly process represents a fascinating blend of human skill and automated precision. According to Khristopher’s 2024 research and confirmed by Hassan’s 2025 analysis, major facilities like Foxconn’s assembly line in Zhengzhou can produce 500,000 iPhones daily, exemplifying the scale and efficiency of modern mobile phone manufacturing. This facility, appropriately nicknamed “iPhone City,” can employ up to 350,000 people and occupies an astounding 2.2 million square miles, with production organized into approximately 94 production lines.

Initially, smartphone assembly lines are divided into specialized units. Khristopher describes how assembly lines blend automation and skilled labor, with robots handling repetitive tasks like soldering and component placement, while human workers perform intricate assembly and quality control checks. According to Festo USA’s 2024 online documentation on smartphone assembly, manufacturing typically involves specialized systems including electric linear actuators, mini slides, and rotary drives that handle nearly all manufacturing operations, with processes divided into key units: preparation, production, quality assurance, and packaging.

Subsequently, the assembly follows specific steps. According to Festo’s technical documentation, workers first insert circuit boards into smartphone housings using automated screw-driving systems. They then apply precise adhesive beading to smartphone casings, carefully place displays using up to 17 kilonewtons of controlled pressure from servo press systems, and finally apply protective films before the devices move to testing stations. The process involves sophisticated pick-and-place systems and high-speed automation to ensure precision and efficiency.

Modern facilities increasingly rely on automation. According to the Khristopher 2024 analysis, industrial robots handle nearly all manufacturing operations, enabling facilities to assemble hundreds of thousands of phones per day while maintaining consistent quality across large volumes. This automation integration has not only improved output but also allowed manufacturers to maintain consistent quality standards across large production volumes, with some assembly workers performing single tasks 600 to 700 times per day.

Finally, with the production line in full operation, let’s witness how manufacturers ensure every device meets strict quality standards before reaching consumers.

The final manufacturing phase involves comprehensive testing and preparation for global distribution. According to quality control experts at Worldwide Quality Control in their undated article “Smartphone / Mobile Phone Quality Control Services,” factories implement strict quality control measures throughout manufacturing, including regular inspections, component testing for durability and performance, and adherence to industry standards. As documented in Pro QC International’s 2024 smartphone inspection guidelines, the quality control process encompasses multiple critical checkpoints, spanning from component validation to final packaging.

First, each smartphone undergoes multiple testing phases. According to Festo’s 2024 documentation, devices are secured in test stations using specialized equipment, while electrical systems precisely connect testing apparatus to smartphones for comprehensive electrical function tests and touch display responsiveness verification. Worldwide Quality Control’s analysis details how rigorous testing includes screen testing for dead pixels and touch responsiveness, battery testing for capacity and charging speed, operating system testing for stability and compatibility, and comprehensive durability testing, including drop tests, waterproof testing, and thermal testing to ensure devices can withstand real-world usage conditions.

Then, quality assurance measures identify and correct issues before phones reach consumers. According to Jonble’s 2024 article, “How to maintain quality control in electronics manufacturing?”, this process includes multiple inspection points throughout the manufacturing line to catch defects early in production. These include Hi-pot tests for insulation strength, earth continuity tests for proper grounding, and power consumption tests to measure electrical demand. Pro QC International’s guidelines specify additional tests, including four-hour continuous function tests, frequency range compliance verification, and comprehensive safety inspections using specialized equipment.

Finally, packaging and distribution complete the manufacturing journey. According to Pro QC International’s quality control checklist, devices undergo final packaging validation including compression tests where export cartons are stacked to 2.5 meters for four hours, drop tests following International Safe Transit Association 1A procedures, and comprehensive packaging inspections before entering global logistics networks that deliver finished smartphones to consumers worldwide, with companies perfecting packaging processes to ensure products arrive in optimal condition while maintaining cost efficiency.

Conclusion

The smartphone manufacturing process truly demonstrates how a carefully orchestrated global network transforms raw materials into finished devices through the four critical stages we’ve examined today. Like products completing their journey through a sophisticated assembly line, we’ve traced smartphones through four critical manufacturing stations: first, we explored the design floor where concepts transform into testable devices through rigorous testing and iteration; second, we investigated the global marketplace where component sourcing spans 43 countries and over 200 suppliers for a single device; third, we observed the production line where human expertise combines with robotic precision in facilities capable of producing 500,000 units daily; and finally, we witnessed the quality control checkpoint where comprehensive testing ensures devices meet strict performance and safety standards before reaching consumers. Remember that smartphone I described at the beginning? The one containing materials from 30 countries, traveling through hundreds of workers’ hands, and requiring the coordination of over 200 companies? The next time you hold your smartphone, you’ll know you’re holding the culmination of one of humanity’s most remarkable manufacturing achievements, where global cooperation transforms raw materials into the small miracle of technology that connects us all.

References

Hui, K. (2024, March 14). China’s role in global smartphone supply chains remains resilient. Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. https://www.asiapacific.ca/publication/despite-de-risking-chinas-role-global-smartphone-supply

Bjørhovde, R., & Chaurasia, S. (2025, February 3). Global smartphone market soared 7% in 2024 as vendors prepare for tricky 2025. Canalys Newsroom. https://canalys.com/newsroom/worldwide-smartphone-market-2024

Bourgeois, C. (2024, June 28). Understanding prototype manufacturing [2024]. StudioRed. https://www.studiored.com/blog/prototyping/prototype-manufacturing/

Festo USA. (2024). Smartphone assembly. Festo Corporation. https://www.festo.com/us/en/e/solutions/industries/electronics-industry/assembly-and-test/smartphone-assembly-id_253053/

Hassan, A. (2025, January). How are smartphones made in factories 2024: Complete process. Vocal Media Education. https://vocal.media/education/how-are-smartphones-made-in-factories-2024-complete-process

Jonble. (2024, May 31). How to maintain quality control in electronics manufacturing? Jonble Quality Control. https://www.jonble.com/blog/quality-control-in-electronics-manufacturing/

Khristopher, Y. (2024, June 25). How your smartphone is made – the making of modern mobile phones. Android Headlines. https://www.androidheadlines.com/2024/06/how-your-smartphone-is-made-the-making-of-modern-mobile-phones.html

Pro QC International. (2023, November 2). Inspecting a smartphone: A quality control checklist. Pro QC International. https://proqc.com/blog/inspecting-a-smartphone-a-quality-control-checklist/

Webb, H. (2024, July 11). The global supply chain of a mobile phone. Ethical Consumer. https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/technology/global-supply-chain-mobile-phone

Worldwide Quality Control. (n.d.). Smartphone/mobile phone quality control services. Worldwide Quality Control. https://worldwidequalitycontrol.com/smartphone-mobile-phone-quality-control-services/

To Persuade

The second general purpose people can have for speaking is to persuade. When we speak to persuade, we attempt to get listeners to embrace a point of view or to adopt a behavior that they would not have done otherwise. A persuasive speech can be distinguished from an informative speech by the fact that it includes a call for action for the audience to make some change in their behavior or thinking.

Why We Persuade

The reasons behind persuasive speech fall into two main categories, which we will call “pure persuasion” and “manipulative persuasion.” Pure persuasion occurs when a speaker urges listeners to engage in a specific behavior or change a point of view because the speaker truly believes that the change is in the best interest of the audience members. For example, you may decide to give a speech on the importance of practicing good oral hygiene because you truly believe that oral hygiene is important and that bad oral hygiene can lead to a range of physical, social, and psychological problems. In this case, the speaker has no ulterior or hidden motive (e.g., you are not a toothpaste salesperson).

Manipulative persuasion, on the other hand, occurs when a speaker urges listeners to engage in a specific behavior or change a point of view by misleading them, often to fulfill an ulterior motive beyond the face value of the persuasive attempt. We call this form of persuasion manipulative because the speaker is not being honest about the real purpose for attempting to persuade the audience. Ultimately, this form of persuasion is perceived as highly dishonest when audience members discover the ulterior motive. For example, suppose a physician who also owns a large amount of stock in a pharmaceutical company is asked to speak before a group of other physicians about a specific disease. Instead of informing the group about the disease, the doctor spends the bulk of his time attempting to persuade the audience that the drug his company manufactures is the best treatment for that specific disease. Obviously, this type of speaking practice is clearly unethical because the speaker promised an informative message and instead delivered a persuasive message that was highly biased.

Obviously, the key question for persuasion is the speaker’s intent. Is the speaker attempting to persuade the audience because of a sincere belief in the benefits of a certain behavior or point of view? Or is the speaker using all possible means—including distorting the truth—to persuade the audience because they will derive personal benefits from their adopting a certain behavior or point of view? Unless your speech assignment specifically calls for a speech of manipulative persuasion, the usual (and ethical) understanding of a “persuasive speech” assignment is that you should use the pure form of persuasion.

Persuasion: Behavior Versus Attitudes, Values, and Beliefs

As we’ve mentioned in the preceding sections, persuasion can address behaviors—observable actions on the part of listeners—and it can also address intangible thought processes in the form of attitudes, values, and beliefs.

When the speaker attempts to persuade an audience to change behavior, we can often observe and even measure how successful the persuasion was. For example, after a speech attempting to persuade the audience to donate money to a charity, the charity can measure how many donations were received. The following is a short list of various behavior-oriented persuasive speeches we’ve seen in our own classes: washing one’s hands frequently and using hand sanitizer, adapting one’s driving habits to improve gas mileage, using open-source software, or drinking one soft drink or soda over another. In all these cases, the goal is to make a change in the basic behavior of audience members.

The second type of persuasive topic involves a change in attitudes, values, or beliefs. An attitude is defined as an individual’s general predisposition toward something as being good or bad, right or wrong, negative or positive. If you believe that dress codes on college campuses are a good idea, you want to give a speech persuading others to adopt a positive attitude toward campus dress codes.

A speaker can also attempt to persuade listeners to change some value they hold. Value refers to an individual’s perception of the usefulness, importance, or worth of something. We can value a college education, we can value technology, and we can value freedom. Values, as a general concept, are fairly ambiguous and tend to be very lofty ideas. Ultimately, what we value in life actually motivates us to engage in a range of behaviors. For example, if you value protecting the environment, you may recycle more of your trash than someone who does not hold this value. If you value family history and heritage, you may be more motivated to spend time with your older relatives and ask them about their early lives than someone who does not hold this value.

Lastly, a speaker can attempt to persuade people to change their personal beliefs. Beliefs are propositions or positions that an individual holds as true or false without positive knowledge or proof. Typically, beliefs are divided into two basic categories: core and dispositional. Core beliefs are beliefs that people have actively engaged in and created over the course of their lives (e.g., belief in a higher power, belief in extraterrestrial life forms). Dispositional beliefs, on the other hand, are beliefs that people have not actively engaged in; they are judgments based on related subjects, which people make when they encounter a proposition. Imagine, for example, that you were asked the question, “Can gorillas speak English?” While you may never have met a gorilla or even seen one in person, you can make instant judgments about your understanding of gorillas and fairly certainly say whether you believe that gorillas can speak English.

When it comes to persuading people to alter beliefs, persuading audiences to change core beliefs is more difficult than persuading audiences to change dispositional beliefs. If you find a topic related to dispositional beliefs, using your speech to help listeners alter their processing of the belief is a realistic possibility. But as a novice public speaker, you are probably best advised to avoid core beliefs. Although core beliefs often appear to be more exciting and interesting than dispositional ones, you are very unlikely to alter anyone’s core beliefs in a five- to ten-minute classroom speech.

Sample: Why High School Athletes Should Be Drug Tested: A Persuasive Speech

The following speech mirrors the common persuasive speech given by undergraduates around the world. As with our earlier example, while this speech is written out as a text for purposes of analysis, in your public speaking course, you will most likely be assigned to speak from an outline or notes, not a fully written script.

Take a few minutes and compare this persuasive speech to the informative speech presented earlier in this chapter. What similarities do you see? What differences do you see? Does this speech seek to change the audience’s behavior? Attitudes? Values? Dispositional or core beliefs? Where in the speech do you see one or more calls for action?

Introduction

Taylor Hooton was a star pitcher on his high school baseball team. The 17-year-old from Plano, Texas, seemed to have everything going for him. But in July 2003, after being confronted by his family about stealing and his increasingly violent mood swings, Taylor went to his room and hanged himself. According to Jere Longman in his November 26, 2003, article “An Athlete’s Dangerous Experiment” in The New York Times, the police and medical examiner later found anabolic steroids in his room and his body. Taylor had fallen victim to the deep depression that steroid users experience when they suddenly stop taking these drugs. Unfortunately, neither Taylor nor his parents fully understood until it was too late. Could this horrific and preventable death have been stopped if his family, friends, and coaches had known about his drug use before it was too late?

Today, I want to discuss why implementing mandatory drug testing for high school athletes is not just important—it’s essential for protecting our young people. Through extensive research into this critical issue, I’ve analyzed numerous peer-reviewed studies and expert reports that reveal disturbing trends. According to Kyle Ganson and Jason Nagata in their 2022 study, “Prevalence and correlates of appearance- and performance-enhancing drugs and substances use among a national sample of college students aged 18-30,” in the Journal of American College Health, appearance- and performance-enhancing drug use have become alarmingly common among young adults, with nearly one in four college students reporting lifetime use of protein supplements. Furthermore, as Berrin Ergun-Longmire and colleagues warn in their 2023 Pediatric Annals article, “Ergogenic aids and testing in pediatric athletes,” more than 30,000 chemicals are sold worldwide as performance enhancers with unproven claims and unknown risks to young athletes. These findings, along with dozens of other studies, paint a clear picture of a growing crisis that demands immediate action.

Drug testing for high school athletes should be mandatory to protect their health, ensure fair competition, and provide a crucial deterrent against the dangerous temptation of performance-enhancing drugs. To examine mandatory drug testing for high school athletes, we are first going to explore the current crisis of drug use among young athletes, next we’ll examine the severe health consequences of performance-enhancing drugs on developing adolescents, and lastly, we’ll discuss how drug testing programs can effectively address this problem.

Body

So, to help us understand mandatory drug testing for high school athletes, let’s start by exploring the current crisis of drug use among young athletes.

The scope of this problem is staggering. According to Linn Goldberg and colleagues in their 2003 study “Drug testing athletes to prevent substance abuse: Background and pilot study results of the SATURN (Student Athlete Testing Using Random Notification) study” published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, performance-enhancing drug use has reached epidemic proportions in high schools. As Eisenberg and her colleagues noted in their 2012 article “Muscle-enhancing Behaviors Among Adolescent Girls and Boys” in Pediatrics, the use of synthetic human growth hormone among high school students more than doubled in just one year, jumping from 5 to 11 percent. Even more concerning, steroid use among teens increased from 5 to 7 percent during the same period.

What’s driving this crisis? According to Mary Mulcahey and colleagues in their 2010 article “Anabolic steroid use in adolescents” in The Physician and Sportsmedicine, the pressure to excel athletically has never been greater. Students face intense competition for college scholarships, with the dream of professional sports careers dangling before them. The Taylor Hooton Foundation, established after Taylor’s death, found that the average age when children start taking dietary supplements is just 10.8 years old … when they’re still in Little League.

Recent research confirms these alarming trends. According to Kyle Ganson and Jason Nagata in their 2022 study mentioned in the introduction, nearly 24% of college students reported lifetime protein supplement use and 7.7% reported creatine use, with males showing significantly higher rates.

The problem extends beyond just professional aspirations. According to the 2010 study by Thorlindsson and Halldorsson in Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy, “Sport, and Use of Anabolic Androgenic Steroids Among Icelandic High School Students: A Critical Test of Three Perspectives,” many adolescents use these substances to improve their appearance and gain peer approval. As Simona Zaami and colleagues note in their 2021 article “Effects of Appearance- and Performance-Enhancing Drugs on Personality Traits” in Frontiers in Psychiatry, the use of these substances is linked to perfectionism, body image disorders, and the dark triad personality traits (psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism). We’re dealing with a perfect storm of competitive pressure, body image issues, and easy accessibility to dangerous substances.

Now that we’ve talked about the scope of the drug problem among high school athletes, let’s switch gears and look at the devastating health consequences these substances can have on young bodies.

The health risks of performance-enhancing drugs for adolescents are particularly severe because their bodies are still developing. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics’ 1997 policy statement published in Pediatrics, anabolic steroids can cause irreversible damage when used during adolescence.

Let me paint a clear picture of these risks. According to Richard Cunningham and colleagues in their 2013 article “Androgenic Anabolic Steroid Exposure During Adolescence” in Hormones and Behavior, steroid use during this critical developmental period can alter brain structure and function permanently. The adolescent brain is still maturing, making it especially vulnerable to these substances.

The physical consequences are equally alarming. According to the Mayo Clinic’s 2023 report “Performance-Enhancing Drugs: Know the Risks,” steroid use can lead to stunted growth in teenagers. When artificial hormones flood the body, they signal the bones to stop growing prematurely—robbing young athletes of their full height potential. Additionally, cardiovascular problems including heart attacks and strokes have been documented in athletes younger than 30 who use these substances.

Recent research further illuminates these dangers. According to Berrin Ergun-Longmire and colleagues in their 2023 article “Ergogenic Aids and Testing in Pediatric Athletes” in Pediatric Annals, anabolic steroids can cause severe acne, mood swings, liver damage, and cardiovascular issues, including heart failure and sudden death. The article emphasizes that research on these substances is typically conducted on elite adult male athletes, not high school students, making the risks for young athletes even more unpredictable. Furthermore, the paper “Sudden Cardiac Death in Anabolic-Androgenic Steroid Users” published in 2020 by the National Center for Biotechnology Information, documented 19 deaths directly linked to steroid use between 1990 and 2012—and experts believe this number significantly underrepresents the true toll.

But perhaps most tragically, as we saw with Taylor Hooton, the psychological effects can be fatal. The National Institute on Drug Abuse’s 2023 research shows that steroid withdrawal can cause severe depression, mood swings, and suicidal ideation.

Now that we’ve talked about the devastating health consequences of performance-enhancing drugs, let’s switch gears and look at how mandatory drug testing can effectively address this crisis.

Mandatory drug testing for high school athletes provides a comprehensive solution to this crisis. The legal framework already exists to support such programs. In the landmark 1995 case Vernonia School District 47J v. Acton, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld schools’ right to implement random drug testing for student athletes. The Court recognized that student-athletes have a lower expectation of privacy because of the nature of sports participation and that schools have a compelling interest in protecting their health and safety.

Drug testing programs work on multiple levels. According to Alexandra Pannoni 2014 article “Doping Rises Among High Schoolers, but Few Districts Test” in US News and World Report, the prospect of drug testing serves as a powerful deterrent. Athletic directors report that fear of being selected for testing gives students what they call an “out,” a legitimate excuse to resist peer pressure to use these substances.

When implemented properly, these programs focus on helping students, not punishing them. According to the 2023 article from PSI Background Screening on student athlete drug testing, schools can use positive tests as opportunities for intervention, connecting students with counseling and support services before their drug use escalates to dangerous levels.

The cost concerns often raised about drug testing are addressable. Today, basic over-the-counter drug tests cost five dollars. For a school with 300 athletes tested once per year, that’s a maximum of $1,500—a small price to pay for potentially saving lives. Many schools have found creative funding solutions, including partnerships with local businesses and health organizations. Admittedly, anabolic steroid tests are still not cheap, costing anywhere from $150 to $200. So, if that same school district tested only 10 percent of their student athletes, that would be an additional $6000 a year. Isn’t it worth $7,500 a year to protect student lives?

Imagine a future where young athletes like Taylor Hooton receive help before it’s too late. Picture high school sports programs where students compete on a level playing field, where success comes from dedication and training rather than dangerous chemicals. Envision parents who can rest easier knowing their children have one more layer of protection against the temptation of performance-enhancing drugs.

Without action, we face a darker future. Data from Eisenberg and her colleagues shows usage rates climb year after year. More young lives will be cut short. More families will be devastated by preventable tragedies. The integrity of high school sports will continue to erode as those willing to risk their health gain unfair advantages over those who play clean.

The time for action is now. School boards must implement comprehensive drug testing programs that balance student privacy with the urgent need for intervention. Parents must support these initiatives and engage in open conversations with their children about the dangers of performance-enhancing drugs. Coaches must create team cultures that celebrate natural achievement and provide support for athletes who may be struggling with pressure to use these substances.

Most importantly, we must remember that behind every statistic is a young person like Taylor Hooton—someone’s child, teammate, and friend. We owe it to them to take every reasonable step to protect their health and their futures.

Conclusion

Over the past several minutes, we have discussed why mandatory drug testing for high school athletes is essential. To help us understand why mandatory drug testing for high school athletes is critical, we initially explored the current crisis of drug use among young athletes; next, we examined the severe health consequences of performance-enhancing drugs on developing adolescents; and lastly, we discussed how drug testing programs can effectively address this problem.

Taylor Hooton’s story doesn’t have to be repeated. His parents established a foundation in his memory, working tirelessly to educate others about the dangers that claimed their son’s life. Don Hooton, Taylor’s father, put it simply on the foundation’s website: “We formed the foundation to address this issue; to raise awareness about how widespread this drug use is and to educate people about how dangerous steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs can be.”

We have the knowledge, the legal framework, and the moral imperative to act. The question isn’t whether we should implement drug testing for high school athletes—it’s whether we can afford not to. Every day we delay is another day young athletes remain at risk. Let’s honor the memory of those we’ve lost by protecting those we still can. The time for mandatory drug testing in high school athletics is now.

References

American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Sports Medicine and Fitness. (1997). Adolescents and anabolic steroids: A subject review. Pediatrics, 99(6), 904-908. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.99.6.904

Cunningham, R. L., Lumia, A. R., & McGinnis, M. Y. (2013). Androgenic anabolic steroid exposure during adolescence: Ramifications for brain development and behavior. Hormones and Behavior, 64(2), 350-356. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2012.12.009

Eisenberg, M. E., Wall, M., & Neumark-Sztainer, D. (2012). Muscle-enhancing behaviors among adolescent girls and boys. Pediatrics, 130(6), 1019-1026. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2012-0095

Ergun-Longmire, B., Greydanus, D. E., & Patel, D. R. (2023). Ergogenic aids and testing in pediatric athletes. Pediatric Annals, 52(6), e207-e212. https://doi.org/10.3928/19382359-20230411-02

Ganson, K. T., & Nagata, J. M. (2022). Prevalence and correlates of appearance- and performance-enhancing drugs and substances use among a national sample of college students aged 18-30. Journal of American College Health, 72(5), 1336-1340. https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2022.2076104

Goldberg, L., Elliot, D. L., MacKinnon, D. P., Moe, E., Kuehl, K. S., Nohre, L., & Lockwood, C. M. (2003). Drug testing athletes to prevent substance abuse: Background and pilot study results of the SATURN (Student Athlete Testing Using Random Notification) study. Journal of Adolescent Health, 32(1), 16-25. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1054-139x(02)00444-5

Longman, J. (2003, November 26). Drugs in sports: An athlete’s dangerous experiment. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/26/sports/drugs-in-sports-an-athlete-s-dangerous-experiment.html

Mayo Clinic. (2023, June 27). Performance-enhancing drugs: Know the risks. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/performance-enhancing-drugs/art-20046134

Mulcahey, M. K., Schiller, J. R., & Hulstyn, M. J. (2010). Anabolic steroid use in adolescents: Identification of those at risk and strategies for prevention. The Physician and Sportsmedicine, 38(3), 105-113. https://doi.org/10.3810/psm.2010.10.1815

National Institute on Drug Abuse. (2023, May). Anabolic Steroids and Other Appearance and Performance Enhancing Drugs (APEDs). https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/anabolic-steroids

PSI Background Screening. (2023, October 23). The purpose behind student athlete drug testing. https://www.psibackgroundcheck.com/news/the-purpose-behind-student-athlete-drug-testing/

Thorlindsson, T., & Halldorsson, V. (2010). Sport, and use of anabolic androgenic steroids among Icelandic high school students: A critical test of three perspectives. Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy, 5, 32. https://doi.org/10.1186/1747-597X-5-32

Torrisi, M., Pennisi, G., Russo, I., Amico, F., Esposito, M., Liberto, A., Cocimano, G., Salerno, M., Li Rosi, G., Di Nunno, N., & Montana, A. (2020). Sudden cardiac death in anabolic-androgenic steroid users: A literature review. Medicina, 56(11), 587. https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina56110587

Pannoni, A. (2014, August 11). Doping rises among high schoolers, but few districts test. U.S. News & World Report. https://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/high-school-notes/2014/08/11/testing-high-school-athletes-for-doping-uncommon

Vernonia School District 47J v. Acton, 515 U.S. 646 (1995). https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/515/646/

Zaami, S., Minutillo, A., Sirignano, A., & Marinelli, E. (2021). Effects of appearance- and performance-enhancing drugs on personality traits. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 12, 730167. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.730167

To Entertain

The final general purpose people can have for public speaking is to entertain. Whereas informative and persuasive speechmaking is focused on the end result of the speech process, 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 speakers to think about the speech primarily in terms of audience enjoyment.

Why We Entertain

Entertaining speeches are very common in everyday life. The fundamental goal of an entertaining speech is audience enjoyment, which can come in a variety of forms. Entertaining speeches can be funny or serious. Overall, entertaining speeches are not designed to give an audience a deep understanding of life but instead to function as a way to divert an audience from their day-to-day lives for a short period of time. This is not to say that an entertaining speech cannot have real content that is highly informative or persuasive, but its goal is primarily about the entertaining aspects of the speech and not focused on the informative or persuasive quality of the speech.

Common Forms of Entertainment Topics

There are three basic types of entertaining speeches: the after-dinner speech, the ceremonial speech, and the inspirational speech. The after-dinner speech is a form of speaking where a speaker takes a serious speech topic (either informative or persuasive) and injects a level of humor into the speech to make it entertaining. Some novice speakers will attempt to turn an after-dinner speech into a stand-up comedy routine, which doesn’t have the same focus.^[6] After-dinner speeches are first and foremost speeches.

A ceremonial speech is a type of entertaining speech where the specific context of the speech is the driving force of the speech. Common types of ceremonial speeches include introductions, toasts, and eulogies. In each of these cases, there are specific events that drive the speech. Maybe you’re introducing an individual who is about to receive an award, giving a toast at your best friend’s wedding, or delivering the eulogy at a relative’s funeral. In each of these cases, the speech and the purpose of the speech is determined by the context of the event and not by the desire to inform or persuade.

The final type of entertaining speech is one where the speaker’s primary goal is to inspire their audience. Inspirational speeches are based in emotion with the goal to motivate listeners to alter their lives in some significant way. Florence Littauer, a famous professional speaker, delivers an emotionally charged speech titled “Silver Boxes.” In the speech, Mrs. Littauer demonstrates how people can use positive comments to encourage others in their daily lives. The title comes from a story she tells at the beginning of the speech where she was teaching a group of children about using positive speech, and one of the children defined positive speech as giving people little silver boxes with bows on top: ().

Sample: Charting Our Course: A Valedictory Address (Entertainment Speech)

The following speech is a typical valedictory address, or the speech a valedictorian is asked to give at graduation. It’s a type of entertainment speech. Specifically, this speech is a ceremonial speech. As with our earlier examples, while this speech is written out as a text for purposes of analysis, in your public speaking course, you will most likely be assigned to speak from an outline or notes, not a fully written script. Notice that the tenor of this speech is persuasive, but that it persuades in a more inspiring way rather than building and supporting an argument.

Distinguished faculty, proud families, esteemed guests, and to the incredible, indomitable, and perhaps slightly sleep-deprived graduating class of [Year] – look at us! We made it. We’ve officially reached the point where our collective caffeine intake could power a small city, our sleep schedules have become the stuff of legend, and our ability to locate free food on campus is an Olympic-level skill. And if you’re anything like me, you’ve probably checked your cap for a hidden cheat sheet on ‘how to adult’ at least twice today. It’s a common anxiety, this feeling of standing on a precipice, but it’s also a moment brimming with excitement.

Today, as we stand on this threshold between cherished memories and uncharted futures, my purpose is not just to reminisce, but to reflect together on the incredible journey we’ve shared and to look forward with a sense of optimism, preparedness, and perhaps a little bit of that ‘we-got-this’ spirit we’ve honed so well through countless late nights and challenging assignments. Like each of you, I’ve navigated the late-night study sessions, the triumphs of discovery, and the occasional “is this really due tomorrow?!” panic. It’s from this shared vantage point, as a fellow traveler on this academic adventure, that I offer these reflections.

Our future success and fulfillment, as yet unwritten chapters of our lives, will be profoundly shaped by our ability to adapt to new horizons, our resilience in the face of inevitable challenges, and our unwavering pursuit of our unique purpose.

To examine how we can best chart our course, we’ll first explore the power of adaptability in our new endeavors. Next, we’ll examine the crucial role of resilience in overcoming obstacles. Lastly, we’ll discuss the importance of finding and fueling our purpose.

So, to help us understand how we can best chart our course, let’s start by exploring the power of adaptability in our new endeavors.

We’re stepping out into a world that’s evolving at lightning speed. During our time here at college, we’ve encountered new technologies, shifting industries, and unexpected global events. This type of change will not stop because we’re graduating. The career path you envision today might look very different tomorrow, and that’s not just okay, it’s an opportunity. The one constant is change, and our ability to adjust is paramount. According to Yale University in a 2025 web article titled ‘What is Adaptability in the Workplace?’, they define it as quote “a person’s ability to adjust to changes in their environment” unquote. And adaptability is crucial. The authors further note, quote “new innovative systems, managers, and employees with different views necessitate adaptability to take on any challenge” unquote. They even suggest practical strategies like being responsive to new information and remaining open to new roles and responsibilities. This isn’t just about passively reacting to change; it’s about proactively engaging with it, showing initiative, and even contributing to shaping that change. Think about how many times we had to adapt in our studies—a surprise quiz that tested our recall under pressure, a group project with… well, let’s say interesting dynamics that required us to adjust our working styles, or even just adapting to a new professor’s unique teaching approach. We’ve been training for this! Each time we successfully adjusted, we weren’t just surviving; we were building a skill that opens new doors. This commitment to personal development and openness to new roles doesn’t just help us cope; it actively creates new pathways and opportunities that might remain hidden to those less flexible. Embracing new roles, learning new skills, and maintaining an open mind will be our greatest assets.

Now that we’ve talked about the power of adaptability in our new endeavors, let’s switch gears and look at the crucial role of resilience in overcoming obstacles.

Let’s be real: life after graduation won’t be a perfectly curated Instagram feed. There will be challenges. Projects will falter, dream jobs might not materialize on the first try, and sometimes, despite our best efforts, things won’t go according to our meticulously crafted five-year plans. This is where resilience becomes our superpower. It’s not about avoiding failure, but about our ability to bounce back, learn from setbacks, and keep moving forward. As Mariama Amoadu and her colleagues discussed in their 2025 article, “Academic Resilience and Motivation as Predictors of Academic Engagement Among Rural and Urban High School Students in Ghana,” published in the journal Youth, resilience significantly predicts engagement, which involves maintaining focus and effort even in difficult conditions. This concept extends powerfully into all areas of life, referring to our ability to achieve our objectives while confronting unfavorable or distressing situations. Resilience isn’t some fixed trait we’re born with; it’s a dynamic process, a skill that can be developed and strengthened through our experiences and our interactions. Think back to a tough semester or a collective challenge our class faced; we adapted, we supported each other, and we overcame it. Those experiences built our resilience. It’s important to remember, too, that resilience isn’t solely an individual burden. Resilience is fostered by supportive environments and the networks we build, including our friends, families, and mentors, who help us navigate the storms.

Now that we’ve discussed the crucial role of resilience in overcoming obstacles, let’s shift our focus to the importance of discovering and nurturing our purpose.

Adaptability helps us navigate the ever-changing terrain of life, and resilience helps us climb the inevitable mountains we encounter. But what direction are we heading? That’s where purpose comes in. It’s the ‘why’ behind our efforts, the internal compass that guides our choices, the passion that fuels our journey even when the path is difficult and the climb is steep. Purpose isn’t always some grand, singular revelation that strikes like lightning. It can be found in the quiet dedication to contributing to something larger than oneself; in the pursuit of passions that make our hearts sing; or in making a difference in ways both small and large. According to Íris M. Oliveira and Carmen Marques, in their 2024 article ‘The Role of Career Adaptability and Academic Engagement in College Student’s Life Satisfaction’ published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, while their focus was on college students, the underlying principle is profoundly relevant to us now: career adaptability, which is deeply connected to finding a fitting and meaningful path which is a predictor of life satisfaction. That sense of fit, contribution, and meaning—our purpose—is intrinsically linked to our satisfaction and drive. It’s also important to recognize that purpose can be an evolving construct. It’s not necessarily something you find once and for all, but rather something that can grow and change as you do. So, explore, be curious, listen to that inner voice. Your purpose might not be a job title; it might be a way of living, a set of values you bring to everything you do. And hey, it’s okay if your initial purpose is just to figure out how to pay off student loans while still affording avocado toast. That’s a noble quest in itself! But keep exploring beyond that. When you have that strong sense of ‘why,’ it actually fuels your ability to adapt and to be resilient in the face of obstacles encountered while pursuing that purpose.

Over the past few minutes, we have discussed how to chart our course effectively. We’ve seen how our journey forward, this grand adventure that awaits each of us, will be significantly enriched and successfully navigated by embracing adaptability, by cultivating deep wells of resilience, and by living lives ignited by purpose.

Charting our course isn’t about having a perfect, laminated map from day one. It’s about having the skills to adjust the sails (our adaptability) when conditions change; a sturdy vessel (our resilience) to weather the storms, and a reliable compass (our purpose) to guide us toward our true destination as the winds of change inevitably blow.

So, Class of [Year], as we step out from these familiar halls, let’s do so with courage, with curiosity, and with conviction. Let’s embrace the unknown, learn from every stumble, and strive to make our unique mark on the world. Remember the lessons learned within these walls, the friendships forged in late-night study groups, and the incredible, untapped potential that resides within each and every one of us. To quote the great Eleanor Roosevelt, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” Let’s go out there and build futures even more beautiful than we can currently imagine.

Congratulations, we did it!

References

Amoadu, M., Hagan, J. E., Obeng, P., Agormedah, E. K., Srem‐Sai, M., & Schack, T. (2025). Academic resilience and motivation as predictors of academic engagement among rural and urban high school students in Ghana. Youth, 5(1), 11. https://doi.org/10.3390/youth5010011

Oliveira, Í. M., & Marques, C. (2024). The role of career adaptability and academic engagement in college student’s life satisfaction. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 21(5), Article 596. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph21050596

Yale University. (2025). What is adaptability in the workplace? Yale University. https://your.yale.edu/learn-and-grow-what-adaptability-workplace

Key Takeaways

There are three general purposes that all speeches fall into: to inform, to persuade, and to entertain. Depending on what your ultimate goal is, you will start by picking one of these general purposes and then selecting an appropriate speech pattern that goes along with that general purpose.
Informative speeches can focus on objects, people, events, concepts, processes, or issues. It is important to remember that your purpose in an informative speech is to share information with an audience, not to persuade them to do or believe something.
There are two basic types of persuasion: pure and manipulative. Speakers who attempt to persuade others for pure reasons do so because they actually believe in what they are persuading an audience to do or think. Speakers who persuade others for manipulative reasons do so often by distorting the support for their arguments because they have an ulterior motive in persuading an audience to do or think something. If an audience finds out that you’ve been attempting to manipulate them, they will lose trust in you.
Entertainment speeches can be after-dinner, ceremonial, or inspirational. Although there may be informative or persuasive elements to your speech, your primary reason for giving the speech is to entertain the audience.

Exercises

Imagine you’re giving a speech related to aardvarks to a group of fifth graders. Which type of informative speech do you think would be the most useful (objects, people, events, concepts, processes, and issues)? Why?
Imagine you’re giving a speech to a group of prospective voters supporting a specific political candidate. Which type of persuasive speech do you think would be the most useful (change of behavior, change of attitude, change of value, or change of belief)? Why?
Imagine that you’ve been asked to speak at a business luncheon and the host has asked you to keep it serious but lighthearted. Which type of entertainment speech do you think would be the most useful (the after-dinner speech, the ceremonial speech, or the inspirational speech)? Why?

Selecting A Topic

Learning Outcomes

Describe the four primary constraints of topic selection.
Demonstrate an understanding of how a topic is narrowed from a broad subject area to a manageable specific purpose.

A person in a white oversized shirt reaches for a book on a high shelf in a large, colorful library. They hold a red book in their other hand and stand in front of a wall of neatly arranged books of various colors and genres. The scene visually symbolizes decision-making or exploration, making it a fitting metaphor for selecting a speech or research topic—carefully browsing through many choices to find the one that resonates best. — Image by Darina Belonogova on Pexels

One of the most common stumbling blocks for novice public speakers is selecting their first speech topic. Generally, your public speaking instructor will provide you with some fairly specific parameters to make this a little easier. You may be assigned to tell about an event that has shaped your life or to demonstrate how to do something. Whatever your basic parameters, at some point you as the speaker will need to settle on a specific topic. In this section, we’re going to look at some common constraints of public speaking, picking a broad topic area, and narrowing your topic.

Common Constraints of Public Speaking

When we use the word “constraint” with regard to public speaking, we are referring to any limitation or restriction you may have as a speaker. Whether in a classroom situation or in the boardroom, speakers are typically given specific instructions that they must follow. These instructions constrain the speaker and limit what the speaker can say. For example, in the professional world of public speaking, speakers are often hired to speak about a specific topic (e.g., time management, customer satisfaction, entrepreneurship). In the workplace, a supervisor may assign a subordinate to present certain information in a meeting. In these kinds of situations, when a speaker is hired or assigned to talk about a specific topic, they cannot decide to talk about something else.

Furthermore, the speaker may have been asked to speak for an hour, only to show up and find out that the event is running behind schedule, so the speech must now be made in only thirty minutes. Having prepared sixty minutes of material, the speaker now has to determine what stays in the speech and what must go. In both of these instances, the speaker is constrained as to what they can say during a speech. Typically, we refer to four primary constraints: purpose, audience, context, and time frame.

Purpose

The first major constraint someone can have involves the general purpose of the speech. As mentioned earlier, there are three general purposes: to inform, to persuade, and to entertain. If you’ve been told that you will be delivering an informative speech, you are automatically constrained from delivering a speech with the purpose of persuading or entertaining. In most public speaking classes, this is the first constraint students will come in contact with because generally teachers will tell you the exact purpose for each speech in the class.

Audience

The second major constraint that you need to consider as a speaker is the type of audience you will have. As discussed in the chapter on audience analysis, different audiences have different political, religious, and ideological leanings. As such, choosing a speech topic for an audience that has a specific mindset can be very tricky. Unfortunately, choosing what topics may or may not be appropriate for a given audience is based on generalizations about specific audiences. For example, maybe you’re going to give a speech at a local meeting of Democratic leaders. You may think that all Democrats are liberal or progressive, but there are many conservative Democrats as well. If you assume that all Democrats are liberal or progressive, you may end up offending your audience by making such a generalization without knowing better. Obviously, the best way to prevent yourself from picking a topic that is inappropriate for a specific audience is to really know your audience, which is why we recommend conducting an audience analysis, as described in Chapter 5.

Context

The third major constraint relates to the context. For speaking purposes, the context of a speech is the set of circumstances surrounding a particular speech. There are countless different contexts in which we can find ourselves speaking: a classroom in college, a religious congregation, a corporate boardroom, a retirement village, or a political convention. In each of these different contexts, the expectations for a speaker are going to be unique and different. The topics that may be appropriate in front of a religious group may not be appropriate in the corporate boardroom. Topics appropriate for the corporate boardroom may not be appropriate at a political convention.

Time Frame

The last—but by no means least important—major constraint that you will face is the time frame of your speech. In speeches that are under ten minutes in length, you must narrowly focus a topic to one major idea. For example, in a ten-minute speech, you could not realistically hope to discuss the entire topic of the US Social Security program. There are countless books, research articles, websites, and other forms of media on the topic of Social Security, so trying to crystallize all that information into ten minutes is just not realistic.

Instead, narrow your topic to something that is more realistically manageable within your allotted time. You might choose to inform your audience about Social Security disability benefits, using one individual disabled person as an example. Or perhaps you could speak about the career of Robert J. Myers, one of the original architects of Social Security.^[7] By focusing on information that can be covered within your time frame, you are more likely to accomplish your goal at the end of the speech.

Selecting A Broad Subject Area

Once you know what the basic constraints are for your speech, you can then start thinking about picking a topic. The first aspect to consider is what subject area you are interested in examining. A subject area is a broad area of knowledge. Art, business, history, physical sciences, social sciences, humanities, and education are all examples of subject areas. When selecting a topic, start by casting a broad net because it will help you limit and weed out topics quickly.

Furthermore, each of these broad subject areas has a range of subject areas beneath it. For example, if we take the subject area “art,” we can break it down further into broad categories like art history, art galleries, and how to create art. We can further break down these broad areas into even narrower subject areas (e.g., art history includes prehistoric art, Egyptian art, Grecian art, Roman art, Middle Eastern art, medieval art, Asian art, Renaissance art, modern art). As you can see, topic selection is a narrowing process.

Narrowing Your Topic

Narrowing your topic to something manageable for the constraints of your speech is something that takes time, patience, and experience. One of the biggest mistakes that new public speakers make is not narrowing their topics sufficiently given the constraints. In the previous section, we started demonstrating how the narrowing process works, but even in those examples, we narrowed subject areas down to fairly broad areas of knowledge.

Think of narrowing as a funnel. At the top of the funnel are the broad subject areas, and your goal is to narrow your topic further and further down until just one topic can come out the other end of the funnel. The more focused your topic is, the easier your speech is to research, write, and deliver. So let’s take one of the broad areas from the art subject area and keep narrowing it down to a manageable speech topic. For this example, let’s say that your general purpose is to inform, you are delivering the speech in class to your peers, and you have five to seven minutes. Now that we have the basic constraints, let’s start narrowing our topic. The broad area we are going to narrow in this example is Middle Eastern art. When examining the category of Middle Eastern art, the first thing you’ll find is that Middle Eastern art is generally grouped into four distinct categories: Anatolian, Arabian, Mesopotamian, and Syro-Palestinian. Again, if you’re like us, until we started doing some research on the topic, we had no idea that the historic art of the Middle East was grouped into these specific categories. We’ll select Anatolian art, or the art of what is now modern Turkey.

You may think that your topic is now sufficiently narrow, but even within the topic of Anatolian art, there are smaller categories: pre-Hittite, Hittite, Uratu, and Phrygian periods of art. So let’s narrow our topic again to the Phrygian period of art (1200–700 BCE). Although we have now selected a specific period of art history in Anatolia, we are still looking at a five-hundred-year period in which a great deal of art was created. One famous Phrygian king was King Midas, who according to myth was given the ears of a donkey and the power of a golden touch by the Greek gods. As such, there is an interesting array of art from the period of Midas and its Greek counterparts representing Midas. At this point, we could create a topic about how Phrygian and Grecian art differed in their portrayals of King Midas. We now have a topic that is unique, interesting, and definitely manageable in five to seven minutes. You may be wondering how we narrowed the topic down; we just started doing a little research using the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s website (www.metmuseum.org).

Overall, when narrowing your topic, you should start by asking yourself four basic questions based on the constraints discussed earlier in this section:

Does the topic match my intended general purpose?
Is the topic appropriate for my audience?
Is the topic appropriate for the given speaking context?
Can I reasonably hope to inform or persuade my audience in the time frame I have for the speech?

Sidebar: Does Passion for Your Topic Actually Improve Your Speech?

Public speaking textbooks often advise students to “choose something you feel passionate about” and select topics with a personal connection and strong opinions. But does caring deeply about your topic actually lead to better speeches?

Researchers tracked 164 college students through their informative and persuasive speeches, measuring their “ego-involvement” (how much they cared about their topics) at multiple points, along with preparation time and final grades.^[8]

Three Types of Investment

Value-relevant – Topic connects to core principles guiding your life
Outcome-relevant – Topic affects your daily life and has personal consequences
Impression-relevant – Concern about how others judge you based on your topic stance

How Students Actually Prepare

Informative speech: Average 5 days, ~2 hours total
Persuasive speech: Average 4 days, ~1.5 hours total
Most time devoted to: outlining, research, and practice (in that order)
Surprisingly, ego-involvement showed NO relationship to preparation time

What Predicted Speech Grades

The strongest predictor wasn’t passion—it was outline grade (accounting for 26-28% of variance in informative speeches). Among ego-involvement factors, only outcome-relevant involvement (believing the topic affects your life) predicted persuasive speech grades.

The Complication

Results varied dramatically based on timing:

Students who rated ego-involvement before receiving grades showed different patterns than those rating after seeing their scores.
By the persuasive speech, students appeared more ego-involved with their grades than their topics.

The Bottom Line

The textbook advice oversimplifies reality. While caring about your topic can help, the relationship between passion and performance is complex—and students may become more strategic about topic selection (choosing what will earn good grades) than genuinely passionate. The best predictor of speech success? A well-constructed outline, regardless of how much you care about the subject.

Key Takeaways

Selecting a topic is a process. We often start by selecting a broad area of knowledge and then narrowing the topic to one that is manageable for a given rhetorical situation.
When finalizing a specific purpose for your speech, always ask yourself four basic questions: (1) Does the topic match my intended general purpose?; (2) Is the topic appropriate for my audience?; (3) Is the topic appropriate for the given speaking context?; and (4) Can I reasonably hope to inform or persuade my audience in the time frame I have for the speech?

Exercises

Imagine you’ve been asked to present on a new technology to a local business. You’ve been given ten minutes to speak on the topic. Given these parameters, take yourself through the narrowing process from subject area (business) to a manageable specific purpose.
Think about the next speech you’ll be giving in class. Show how you’ve gone from a large subject area to a manageable specific purpose based on the constraints given to you by your professor.

What if You Draw a Blank?

Learning Objectives

Conduct a basic personal inventory to generate potential speech topics.
Utilize finding aids for effective topic selection.
Assess the importance of polling an audience to refine speech topics.

A pair of black and white sneakers stands on a gravel surface facing a large white question mark drawn in chalk. The perspective suggests the viewer is looking down at the ground, symbolizing uncertainty or a decision point. The image conveys themes of choice, curiosity, or contemplation—often used to represent moments of reflection or the beginning of a new journey. — Image by Ann H on Pexels

Uh-oh, what if you have no clue what to speak about at all? Thankfully, there are many places where you can get help finding a good topic for you. In this section, we’re going to talk about a range of ways to find the best topic.

Conduct a Personal Inventory

The first way to find a good topic is to conduct what we call a personal inventory. A personal inventory is a detailed and descriptive list about an individual. In this case, we want you to think about you. Here are some basic questions to get you started:

What’s your major?
What are your hobbies?
What jobs have you had?
What extracurricular activities have you engaged in?
What clubs or groups do you belong to?
What political issues interest you?
Where have you traveled in life?
What type of volunteer work have you done?
What goals do you have in life?
What social problems interest you?
What books do you read?
What movies do you watch?
What games do you play?
What unique skills do you possess?

After responding to these questions, you now have a range of areas that are unique to you that you could realistically develop into a speech. Here are some unique inventory items that could be turned into speeches for some of the authors of this textbook:

Jason S. Wrench

Grew up as an Air Force dependent and lived on the island of Crete
Is a traditionally published novelist
Has two puggles (half pug/half beagle) named Max and Branch

Anne Goding

Worked as a teacher for the Medicine Chief of the Bear Tribe Medicine Society in Spokane, Washington
Was codirector of Bear Tribe Publishing Company
Specializes in storytelling

Danette Ifert Johnson

Is an avid fan of the Baltimore Orioles
Spent a month in South Korea as part of a study/travel group
Is a history buff who likes visiting historic sites and national parks

Bernardo Attias

Briefly lived in the Dominican Republic with his family as a young boy
Is a DJ
Occasionally practices yoga

We wanted to note these interesting facts about our personal lives to illustrate the fact that each and every one of us has done unique and interesting things in our lives that could make really interesting and informative, persuasive, or entertaining speeches.

Use Finding Aids

If you’re still just stumped after conducting a personal inventory, the next recommendation we have for helping you find a good topic is to use a finding aid. A finding aid is a tool that will help you find lists of possible topics. Let’s look at four of them: best-seller lists, organizations that tally information, media outlets, and the Internet.

Best-Seller Lists

A best-seller list is a list of books that people are currently buying. These lists often contain various subdivisions including fiction, nonfiction, business, advice, or graphic novels. Table 6.1 contains a range of best-seller lists to examine:

TABLE 6.1 Best-Seller Lists
Name	Website
New York Times	www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers/
Amazon.com	www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/books
USA Today	www.usatoday.com/booklist
American Booksellers	www.bookweb.org/indiebound/bestsellers.html
Publisher’s Weekly	www.publishersweekly.com/pw/nielsen/index.html
The Washington Post	www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/artsandliving/books/bestsellers-list

It is important to realize that your goal in looking at best-seller lists is not to choose a book to serve as the topic of your speech—unless you’ve been assigned to give a book review! The point is that while all these lists indicate what people are reading, you can use them to find out what topics people are generally interested in right now.

Polling Organizations

In addition to numerous sources for best sellers, there are also a number of polling organizations that regularly conduct research on the American public. Not only are these organizations good for finding interesting research, but generally the most recent polls are an indication of what people are interested in understanding today. For example, The Gallup Organization regularly conducts polls to find out Americans’ perceptions of current political issues, business issues, social issues, and a whole range of other interesting information. Often just looking at the Gallup Organization’s website can help you find very interesting speech topics.

TABLE 6.2 Tallied Information
Name	Website
The Gallup Organization	www.gallup.com
US Census Bureau	www.census.gov
Polling Report	www.pollingreport.com
Rasmussen Reports	www.rasmussenreports.com
Zogby Analytics	www.zogbyanalytics.com
Pew Research Center	pewresearch.org
Statista	www.statista.com

Media Outlets

The next great ways to find interesting topics for your speeches are watching television and listening to the radio. The evening news, the History Channel, and the National Geographic channel can all provide ideas for many different speech topics. There are even a host of television shows that broadcast the latest and most interesting topics weekly (e.g., Dateline, 20/20, 60 Minutes). Some segments from 20/20 that could make interesting speeches include former Tarzan actor, Steve Sipek, has lived with tigers for forty years; the science behind the Bachelor phenomenon; the world of childhood schizophrenia; and a girl born with a rare “mermaid” condition.

As for listening to the radio, talk radio is often full of interesting possibilities for speech topics. Many of the most prominent talk radio shows have two or three hours to fill five days a week, so the shows’ producers are always looking for interesting topics. Why not let those producers do the investigative work for you? If you’re listening to talk radio and hear an interesting topic, write it down and think about using it for your next speech.

As with the best-seller list, it is important to realize that your goal is not to use a given television or radio program as the basis for your speech, much less to repeat the exact arguments that a talk radio host or caller has made. We are not advocating stealing someone’s ideas—you need to do your own thinking to settle on your speech topic. You can certainly use ideas from the media as contributions to your speech; however, if you do this, it is only ethical to make sure that you correctly cite the show where you heard about the topic by telling your audience the title, station, and date when you heard it.

The Internet

You can, of course, also look for interesting speech topics online. While the Internet may not always provide the most reliable information, it is a rich source of interesting topics. For example, to browse many interesting blogs, check out blogcatalog.com or indblogs.com. Both websites link to hundreds of blogs you could peruse, searching for a topic that inspires you.

If you find yourself really stumped, there are even a handful of websites that specialize in helping people, just like you, find speech topics. Yes, that’s right! Some insightful individuals have posted long lists of possible topics for your next speech right on the Internet. Here are some we recommend:

Using the Internet is a great way to find a topic, but you’ll still need to put in the appropriate amount of your own thinking and time to really investigate your topic once you’ve found one that inspires you.

Poll Your Audience for Interests and Needs

The last way you can find a great topic is to conduct a simple poll of your audience to see what their interests and needs are. Let’s handle these two methods separately. When you ask potential audience members about their interests, it’s not hard to quickly find that patterns of interests exist in every group. You can find out about interests by either formally handing people a questionnaire or just asking people casually. Suppose it’s your turn to speak at your business club’s next meeting. If you start asking your fellow club members and other local business owners if there are any specific problems their businesses are currently facing, you will probably start to see a pattern develop. While you may not be an expert on the topic initially, you can always do some research to see what experts have said on the topic and pull together a speech using that research.

The second type of poll you may conduct of your potential audience is what we call a needs analysis. A needs analysis involves a set of activities designed to determine your audience’s needs, wants, wishes, or desires. The purpose of a needs analysis is to find a gap in information that you can fill as a speaker. Again, you can use either informal or formal methods to determine where a need is. Informally, you may ask people if they have problems with something specific like writing a business plan or cooking in a wok. The only problem that can occur with the informal method is that you often find out that people overestimate their own knowledge about a topic. Someone may think they know how to use a wok even though they’ve never owned one and never cooked in one. For that reason, we often use more formal methods of assessing needs.

The formal process for conducting a needs analysis is threefold: (1) find a gap in knowledge or skill, (2) figure out the cause, and (3) identify solutions. First, you need to find that a gap in knowledge or skill actually exists. Overall, this isn’t very hard to do. You can have people try to accomplish a task or just orally have them explain a task to you, and if you find that they are lacking you’ll know that there is a possible need. Second, you need to figure out what is causing the gap. One of the mistakes that people make is assuming that all gaps exist because of a lack of information. This is not necessarily true—it can also be because of lack of experience. For example, people may have learned how to drive a car in a driver education class, but if they’ve never been behind the wheel of a car, they’re not really going to know how to drive. Would giving a speech on how to drive a car at this point be useful? No. These people need practice, not another speech. Last, when you determine that the major cause of the need is informational, it’s time to determine the best way to deliver that information.

Artificial Intelligence

In the digital age, AI tools have emerged as powerful finding aids for brainstorming and discovering speech topics. AI language models, such as ChatGPT, Cladue, Gemini, Grok, etc., can quickly generate ideas tailored to your interests, audience, or current events, serving as an efficient starting point for finding a topic.

To use AI effectively, begin by crafting clear prompts. For instance, if you’re preparing a persuasive speech on environmental issues, you might query: “Suggest five unique speech topics on climate change impacts, suitable for a college audience.” The AI could respond with ideas like “The Role of Urban Green Spaces in Mitigating Heat Waves” or “How Individual Consumer Choices Can Drive Corporate Sustainability.” This process leverages AI’s ability to draw from vast datasets, providing diverse, timely suggestions that might not immediately occur to you.

If you’re not even sure where to begin, ask your favorite ChatBot a simple question like, “What are 50 appropriate informative speech topics for a college public speaking class?” Even if you don’t use one of the topics generated, it may help spur your own thinking.

The benefits of AI include speed (generating dozens of ideas in seconds) and breadth (incorporating global perspectives or interdisciplinary angles). However, treat AI outputs as aids, not final products. Always verify facts through reliable sources to ensure accuracy. From an ethical standpoint, it’s important to adapt ideas to your voice to avoid unintended plagiarism. More importantly, before using any AI tool in your class, double check on your professor’s or school’s policy on using AI in the classroom.

Key Takeaways

Conducting a personal inventory is a good way to start the topic selection process. When we analyze our own experiences, interests, knowledge, and passions, we often find topics that others will also find interesting and useful.
A speaker can investigate finding aids when searching for a good topic. Various finding aids have their positives and negatives, so we recommend investigating several different finding aids to see what topic ideas inspire you.
One way to ensure a successful speech is to identify your audience’s interests or needs. When the speaker’s topic is immediately useful for the audience, the audience will listen to the speech and appreciate it.

Exercises

Look at the questions posed in this chapter related to conducting a personal inventory. Do you see any potential speech ideas developing from your personal inventory? If yes, which one do you think would impact your audience the most?
Take a broad subject area and then use two of the different finding aids to see what types of topics appear. Are you finding similarities or differences? The goal of this activity is to demonstrate how taking a very broad topic can be narrowed down to a more manageable topic using finding aids.
For an upcoming speech in your public speaking class, create a simple survey to determine your audience’s needs. Find out what your audience may find interesting. Remember, the goal is to find out what your audience needs, not necessarily what you think your audience needs.

Specific Purposes

Learning Objectives

Describe the process of extending a general purpose into a specific purpose.
Integrate the seven tips for creating specific purposes.

Once you have chosen your general purpose and your topic, it’s time to take your speech to the next phase and develop your specific purpose. A specific purpose starts with one of the three general purposes and then specifies the actual topic you have chosen and the basic objective you hope to accomplish with your speech. Basically, the specific purpose answers the who, what, when, where, and why questions for your speech.

When attempting to get at the core of your speech (the specific purpose), you need to know a few basic things about your speech. First, you need to have a general purpose. Once you know whether your goal is to inform, persuade, or entertain, picking an appropriate topic is easier. Obviously, depending on the general purpose, you will have a range of different types of topics. For example, let’s say you want to give a speech about hygiene. You could still give a speech about hygiene no matter what your general purpose is, but the specific purpose would vary depending on whether the general purpose is to inform (discussing hygiene practices around the globe), to persuade (discussing why people need to adopt a specific hygiene practice), or to entertain (discussing some of the strange and unique hygiene practices that people have used historically). Notice that in each of these cases, the general purpose alters the topic, but all three are still fundamentally about hygiene.

Getting Specific

Now, when discussing specific purposes, we are concerned with who, what, when, where, why, and how questions for your speech. Let’s examine each of these separately.

First, you want to know who is going to be in your audience. Different audiences, as discussed in the chapter on audience analysis (Chapter 5), have differing desires, backgrounds, and needs. Keeping your audience first and foremost in your thoughts when choosing a specific purpose will increase the likelihood that your audience will find your speech meaningful.

Second is the “what” question, or the basic description of your topic. When picking an effective topic, you need to make sure that the topic is appropriate for a variety of constraints or limitations within a speaking context.

Third, you need to consider when your speech will be given. Different speeches may be better for different times of the day. For example, explaining the importance of eating breakfast and providing people with cereal bars may be a great topic at 9:00 a.m. but may not have the same impact if you’re giving it at 4:00 p.m.

Fourth, you need to consider where your speech will be given. Are you giving a speech in front of a classroom? A church? An executive meeting? Depending on the location of your speech, different topics may or may not be appropriate.

The last question you need to answer within your speech is why. Why does your audience need to hear your speech? If your audience doesn’t care about your specific purpose, they are less likely to attend to your speech. If it’s a topic that’s a little more off-the-wall, you’ll really need to think about why they should care.

Once you’ve determined the who, what, when, where, and why aspects of your topic, it’s time to start creating your actual specific purpose. First, a specific purpose, in its written form, should be a short, declarative sentence that emphasizes the main topic of your speech. Let’s look at an example:

Topic: The military

Narrower Topic: The military’s use of embedded journalists

Narrowed Topic: The death of British reporter Rupert Hamer in 2010 in a roadside bombing in Nawa, Afghanistan, along with five US Marines

In this example, we’ve quickly narrowed a topic from a more general topic to a more specific topic.

Let’s now look at that topic in terms of a general purpose and specific purpose:

General Purpose: To inform

Specific Purpose: To inform my audience about the danger of embedded journalism by focusing on the death of British reporter Rupert Hamer.

General Purpose: To persuade

Specific Purpose: To persuade a group of journalism students to avoid jobs as embedded journalists by using the death of British reporter Rupert Hamer as an example of what can happen.

For the purpose of this example, we used the same general topic area, but demonstrated how you could easily turn the topic into either an informative speech or a persuasive speech. In the first example, the speaker is going to talk about the danger embedded journalists face. In this case, the speaker isn’t attempting to alter people’s ideas about embedded journalists, just make them more aware of the dangers. In the second case, the specific purpose is to persuade a group of journalism students (the audience) to avoid jobs as embedded journalists.

Your Specific Statement of Purpose

To form a clear and succinct statement of the specific purpose of your speech, start by naming your general purpose (to inform, to persuade, or to entertain). Follow this by a capsule description of your audience (my peers in class, a group of kindergarten teachers, etc.). Then complete your statement of purpose with a prepositional phrase (a phrase using “to,” “about,” “by,” or another preposition) that summarizes your topic. As an example, “My specific purpose is to persuade the students in my residence hall to protest the proposed housing cost increase” is a specific statement of purpose, while “My speech will be about why we should protest the proposed housing cost increase” is not.

Specific purposes should be statements, not questions. If you find yourself starting to phrase your specific purpose as a question, ask yourself how you can reword it as a statement. Table 6.3 provides several more examples of good specific purpose statements.

TABLE 6.3 My Specific Purpose Is…
General Purpose	Audience	Topic
To inform	my audience	about the usefulness of scrapbooking to save a family’s memories.
To persuade	a group of kindergarten teachers	to adopt a new disciplinary method for their classrooms.
To entertain	a group of executives	by describing the lighter side of life in “cubicle-ville.”
To inform	community members	about the newly proposed swimming pool plans that have been adopted.
To persuade	my peers in class	to vote for me for class president.
To entertain	the guests attending my mother’s birthday party	by telling a humorous story followed by a toast.

Basic Tips for Creating Specific Purposes

Now that we’ve examined what specific purposes are, we are going to focus on a series of tips to help you write specific purposes that are appropriate for a range of speeches.

Audience, Audience, Audience

First and foremost, you always need to think about your intended audience when choosing your specific purpose. In the previous section, we talked about a speech where a speaker is attempting to persuade a group of journalism students to not take jobs as embedded journalists. Would the same speech be successful, or even appropriate, if given in your public speaking class? Probably not. As a speaker, you may think your topic is great, but you always need to make sure you think about your audience when selecting your specific purpose. For this reason, when writing your specific purpose, start off your sentence by including the words “my audience” or actually listing the name of your audience: a group of journalism students, the people in my congregation, my peers in class, and so on. When you place your audience first, you’re a lot more likely to have a successful speech.

Matching the Rhetorical Situation

After your audience, the second most important consideration about your specific purpose pertains to the rhetorical situation of your speech. The rhetorical situation is the set of circumstances surrounding your speech (e.g., speaker, audience, text, and context). When thinking about your specific purpose, you want to ensure that all these components go together. You want to make sure that you are the appropriate speaker for a topic, the topic is appropriate for your audience, the text of your speech is appropriate, and the speech is appropriate for the context. For example, speeches that you give in a classroom may not be appropriate in a religious context and vice versa.

Make It Clear

The specific purpose statement for any speech should be direct and not too broad, general, or vague. Consider the lack of clarity in the following specific purpose: “To persuade the students in my class to drink more.” Obviously, we have no idea what the speaker wants the audience to drink: water, milk, orange juice? Alcoholic beverages? Furthermore, we have no way to quantify or make sense of the word “more.” “More” assumes that the students are already drinking a certain amount, and the speaker wants them to increase their intake. If you want to persuade your listeners to drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water per day, you need to say so clearly in your specific purpose.

Another way in which purpose statements are sometimes unclear comes from the use of colloquial language. While we often use colloquialisms in everyday life, they are often understood only by a limited number of people. It may sound like fun to have a specific purpose like, “To persuade my audience to get jiggy,” but if you state this as your purpose, many people probably won’t know what you’re talking about at all.

Don’t Double Up

You cannot hope to solve the entire world’s problems in one speech, so don’t even try. At the same time, you also want to make sure that you stick to one specific purpose. Chances are it will be challenging enough to inform your audience about one topic or persuade them to change one behavior or opinion. Don’t put extra stress on yourself by adding topics. If you find yourself using the word “and” in your specific topic statement, you’re probably doubling up on topics.

Can I Really Do This in Five to Eight Minutes?

When choosing your specific purpose, it’s important to determine whether it can be realistically covered in the amount of time you have. Time limits are among the most common constraints for students in a public speaking course. Usually, speeches early in the term have shorter time limits (three to five minutes), and speeches later in the term have longer time limits (five to eight minutes). While eight minutes may sound like an eternity to be standing up in front of the class, it’s actually a very short period of time in which to cover a topic. To determine whether you think you can accomplish your speech’s purpose in the time slot, ask yourself how long it would take to make you an informed person on your chosen topic or to persuade you to change your behavior or attitudes.

If you cannot reasonably see yourself becoming informed or persuaded during the allotted amount of time, chances are you aren’t going to inform or persuade your audience either. The solution, of course, is to make your topic narrower so that you can fully cover a limited aspect of it.

Key Takeaways

Moving from a general to specific purpose requires you to identify the who, what, when, where, and why of your speech.
State your specific purpose in a sentence that includes the general purpose, a description of the intended audience, and a prepositional phrase summarizing the topic.
When creating a specific purpose for your speech, first, consider your audience. Second, consider the rhetorical situation. Make sure your specific purpose statement uses clear language, and that it does not try to cover more than one topic.
Make sure you can realistically accomplish your specific purpose within the allotted time.

Exercises

You’ve been asked to give a series of speeches on the importance of health care in poverty-stricken countries. One audience will consist of business men and women, one audience will consist of religious leaders, and another audience will consist of high school students. How would you need to adjust your speech’s purpose for each of these different audiences? How do these different audiences alter the rhetorical situation?
For the following list of topics, think about how you could take the same topic and adjust it for each of the different general purposes (inform, persuade, and entertain). Write out the specific purpose for each of your new speech topics. Here are the three general topic areas to work with: the First Amendment to the US Constitution, iPods, and literacy in the twenty-first century.

Chapter Exercises

Speaking Ethically

Rona is a huge supporter of Gerry Mitchell in the mayoral campaign. Rona decides to volunteer for Mitchell’s campaign and is soon asked to speak at various rallies when Mitchell can’t attend.

One Saturday evening, Rona is asked to speak before a group of retirees at a local retirement center. As a campaign insider, Rona knows that Mitchell has privately acknowledged that he’s probably going to have to drastically cut city support for a number of programs that help the elderly. Of course, this information hasn’t been made public. Rona also realizes that the group she is speaking before would not vote for Mitchell if they knew what his future plans are.

If Rona attempts to persuade the retirees without divulging the information about the future cuts, is she a pure persuader or a manipulative persuader?
Does a political operative have an ethical obligation to be honest when the information being disseminated to a group of people isn’t complete?
If you were Rona, what would you do?

End of Chapter Assessment

Modern scholars generally describe the three general purposes of speaking as
1. entertain, persuade, and debate
2. persuade, inform, and perpetuate
3. celebrate, perpetuate, and inform
4. inform, persuade, and entertain
5. deliberative, epideictic, and forensic
“To persuade a group of local residents to buy a car from Mitken’s Car Dealership” is an example of which type of purpose?
1. celebratory
2. specific
3. systematic
4. supplemental
5. general
Benji wanted to speak on the elements of jazz music, but his instructor told the class that they could only choose from a specific list of topics. This is an example of
1. poor topic selection
2. constraints
3. a bad speech
4. poor narrowing
5. topic shortage aversion
Which of the following would be a good scope for a speech that is five to seven minutes in length?
1. the history of the United States
2. military maneuvers in the nineteenth century
3. women in the Battle of Lewisburg
4. religion in Asia
5. changes in state-sponsored militias
Tika is speaking on the benefits of sleep, but does not include a call for action to get more sleep. Which type of general purpose does Tika have?
1. to inform
2. to persuade
3. to entertain
4. to console
5. to educate

Answer Key

1. d
2. b
3. b
4. c
5. a

Atwood, C. G. (2009). Knowledge management basics. ASTD Press.
Hendriks, P. (1999). Why share knowledge? The inﬂuence of ICT on the motivation for knowledge sharing. Knowledge and Process Management, 6(2), 91–100. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-1441(199906)6:2%3C91::AID-KPM54%3E3.0.CO;2-M
O’Hair, D., Stewart, R., & Rubenstein, H. (2007). A speaker’s guidebook: Text and reference (3rd ed.). Bedford/St. Martins.
O’Hair, D., Stewart, R., & Rubenstein, H. (2007). A speaker’s guidebook: Text and reference (3rd ed.). Bedford/St. Martins, p. 95
O’Hair, D., Stewart, R., & Rubenstein, H. (2007). A speaker’s guidebook: Text and reference (3rd ed.). Bedford/St. Martins.
Roye, S. (2010). Austan Goolsbee a funny stand-up comedian? Not even close… http://www.realfirststeps.com/1184/austan-goolsbee-funny-standup-comedian-close
See, for example, Social Security Administration (1996). Robert J. Myers oral history interview. http://www.ssa.gov/history/myersorl.html
Mazer, J. P., & Titsworth, S. (2012). Passion and preparation in the basic course: The influence of students’ ego-involvement with speech topics and preparation time on public-speaking grades. Communication Teacher, 26(4), 236–251. https://doi.org/10.1080/17404622.2012.668203

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Text Color

Text Size

Margin Size

Font Type

Why We Share Knowledge

Common Types of Informative Topics

The Journey from Silicon to Smartphone: Understanding the Manufacturing Process

Introduction

Body

Conclusion

References

Why We Persuade

Persuasion: Behavior Versus Attitudes, Values, and Beliefs

Sample: Why High School Athletes Should Be Drug Tested: A Persuasive Speech

Introduction

Body

Conclusion

Purpose

Audience

Context

Time Frame

Jason S. Wrench

Anne Goding

Danette Ifert Johnson

Bernardo Attias

Best-Seller Lists

Polling Organizations

Media Outlets

The Internet

Poll Your Audience for Interests and Needs

Artificial Intelligence

Audience, Audience, Audience

Matching the Rhetorical Situation

Make It Clear

Don’t Double Up

Can I Really Do This in Five to Eight Minutes?