Assignment: Speech Organization,”Assignment: Speech OrganizationAssignment: Speech OrganizationAssignment: Speech OrganizationCONFIDENTLY CONNECTING WITH YOUR AUDIENCEOrganize Your Message Taking the time to plan a well-organized message can boost your confidence. A jumble of ideas and information without a logical structure is more dif- ficult to remember and present than a well-organ- ized speech. Researchers have discovered that the less organized you are, the more apprehen- sive you may feel.1 A logically organized speech can help you feel more confident about the con- tent you’re presenting.topical organization Organization of the natural divisions in a central idea according to recency, primacy, complexity, or the speaker’s discretionprimacy Arrangement of ideas from the most to the least important164 CHAPTER 7 Organizing Your SpeechRecency According to the principle of recency, the point discussed last is the one audiences will remember best. If your audience is at least somewhat knowledgeable about and generally favorable toward your topic and central idea, you should proba- bly organize your main points according to recency.For example, if your speech is on the various living arrangements available to college students, and you want your audience of fellow students to consider living at home because of the savings involved, you would probably discuss that possibility as the fourth and last option. Your speech might have the following structure:PURPOSE STATEMENT: At the end of my speech, the audience will be able to discuss the pros and cons of four living arrangements for college students.CENTRAL IDEA: College students have at least four living arrange- ments available to them.MAIN IDEAS: I. Living in a dormitoryII. Renting an apartmentIII. Joining a fraternity or sororityIV. Living at homeComplexity One other set of circumstances may dictate a particular order of the main ideas in your speech. If your main ideas range from simple to complicated, it makes sense to arrange them in order of complexity, progressing from the simple to the more complex. If, for example, you were to explain to your audience how to com- pile a family health profile and history, you might begin with the most easily accessi- ble source and proceed to the more involved.PURPOSE STATEMENT: At the end of my speech, the audience will be able to compile a family health profile and history.CENTRAL IDEA: Compiling a family health profile and history can be accomplished with the help of three sources.MAIN IDEAS: I. Elderly relativesII. Old hospital records and death certificatesIII. National health registries3Teachers, from those in the very early elementary grades on up, use order of complexity to organize their courses and lessons. The kindergartner is taught to trace circles before learning to print a lowercase a. The young piano student practices scales and arpeggios before playing Beethoven sonatas. The college freshman practices writing 500-word essays before attempting a major research paper. You have learned most of your skills in order of complexity.Ordering Ideas Chronologically If you decide that your central idea could be explained best by a number of steps, you will probably organize those steps chronologically. Chronological organization is organization by time or sequence
that is, your steps are ordered according to when each step occurred or should occur. Historical speeches and how-to speeches are the two kinds of speeches usually organized chronologically.
You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker
