Sample Outline for Public Speaking

Bloomsburg University
James Tomlinson

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PART A:  Speech Requirements
PART B:  Outline Organization
PART C:  Sample Outline
PART D:  Connectives and transition statements


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Speech Assignment Requirements

    For each speech in this class you must:

            1.  Provide the   instructor with a typed outline on the day
                 you speak.  This outline will be in the format assigned.

            2.  Provide a list of references used in researching the speech.

            3.   Speak extemporaneously.   You may use note
                 cards or speak from an outline.

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Outline Organization
(what an outline MUST contain)


1.  Attract the attention and interest of the audience
2.  Establish the speaker's good-will and credibility
3.  Reveal the topic in an interesting/intriguing manner
4.  Preview the body of the speech


1.  Organized series of 3-5 main ideas
2.  Support in the form of testimony, illustrations, examples, statistics


1. Emphasize the main points of the speech.
2. Give a sense of finality to the presentation.

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Here is a sample outline - using the format assigned for your speeches.

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Name:      Sara Slocum
Date:        November 5, 1997
(Sample used with permission)

Title:                                        Voting: Our Legal Right

Specific Purpose:    To persuade my audience to vote in elections


                I.         Gain audience's attention by asking questions
                II.        Establish credibility - I vote
                III.       Explain what voting is
                IV.      Preview the body:
                                A.   Why we vote
                                B.   Why we don't vote
                                C.   Why we should vote


                I.         Why we vote
                                A.   To elect representatives
                                B.   Constitutional right
                                            1.   Article 1
                                            2.   Amendment 15
                                            3.   Amendment 19

                II.         Why we don't vote
                                A.   Figures on low voter turnout
                                B.   Some don't care
                                C.   Some are not educated about candidates

                III.         Why we should vote
                                A.   To voice our opinions
                                B.   To guarantee our freedom


                I.         Summarize main points

                II.         Explain how to register

                III.         End with Quotation

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Transition Statements

Remember when you first learned to drive a car?  If you learned to drive a stick-shift, then one of the most difficult things to remember was to use the clutch.  Without doing this, shifting from one gear to another not only made the gears grind, but your Dad probably went ballistic as well !!!!! 

Moving from one point or part of a speech is much like shifting gears in a car.  Think how many times you have listened to presentations, where the speaker finished one thing, and then immediately went off on another point.   A well prepared speech will have a transition - a connecting statement which relates what has just been mentioned, to the next part of the speech.  When you are done with the Introduction, you need a transition statement to "lead" into the Body, then from the Body into the Conclusion.  Even movement from one main point to another in the Body of the speech requires some type of connection.

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