Assignment: Effective Introductions,”Assignment: Effective IntroductionsAssignment: Effective IntroductionsAssignment: Effective IntroductionsTo end these crimes against color, we must first paint an accurate picture of the problem, then explore the causes, and finally establish solutions that will erase the practice of racial profiling.6CONSIDER THEAUDIENCEEffective Introductions 187Identifying your main ideas helps organize the message and enhances listeners’ learning.The introduction to your speech, then, should get your audience’s attention, give the audience a reason to listen, introduce the subject, establish your credibility, and preview your main ideas. All this—and brevity too—may seem impossible to achieve. But it isn’t!Effective Introductions With a little practice, you will be able to write satisfactory central ideas and pre- view statements. It may be more difficult to gain your audience’s attention and give them a reason to listen to you. Fortunately, there are several effective methods for developing speech introductions. Not every method is appropriate for every speech, but chances are that you can discover among these alternatives at least one type of introduction to fit the topic and purpose of your speech, whatever they might be.We will discuss ten ways of introducing a speech:● Illustrations or anecdotes ● Startling facts or statistics ● Quotations ● Humor ● Questions ● References to historical events ● References to recent events ● Personal references ● References to the occasion ● References to preceding speechesIllustrations or Anecdotes Not surprisingly, because it is the most inherently interesting type of supporting ma- terial, an illustration or anecdote can provide the basis for an effective speech intro- duction. In fact, if you have an especially compelling illustration that you had planned to use in the body of the speech, you might do well to use it in your introduction in- stead. A relevant and interesting anecdote will introduce your subject and almostanecdote An illustration or storyTABLE 8.1 Purposes of Your IntroductionPurpose MethodGet the audience’s attention. Use an illustration, a startling fact or statistic, a quotation, humor, a question, a reference to a historical event or to a recent event, a personal reference, a reference to the occasion, or a reference to a preceding speech.Give the audience a reason to listen. Tell your listeners how the topic directly affects them.Introduce the subject. Present your central idea to your audience.Establish your credibility. Offer your credentials. Tell your listeners about your commitment to your topic.Preview your main ideas. Tell your audience what you are going to tell them.188 CHAPTER 8 Introducing and Concluding Your Speechinvariably gain an audience’s attention. Student speaker Matt opened his speech on the dangers associated with the chemical BPA with this extended illustration:Three years ago Algeta McDonald’s life was taken by breast cancer. She was an absolutely amazing Italian-American woman, who was completely stubborn, but she always brought out the best in anyone she was around. Here was a woman who always ate proper foods and was conscientious of her health in general, every day of her life.Ask anyone who knew her well what their favorite memory of Algeta was, and I can almost guarantee it’s of her carrying around a bright red Nalgene water bottle. This way, she could get her 64 daily ounces of water with certainty. Unfortunately, this happy memory of how she always had her water bottle might change with some information that has come to light recently.*Matt’s story effectively captured the attention of his audience and introduced the subject of his speech.Startling Facts or Statistics A second method of introducing a speech is to use a startling fact or statistic. Star- tling an audience with the extent of a situation or problem invariably catches its members’ attention, motivates them to listen further, and helps them remember af- terward what you had to say. Merry’s audience must have come to attention quickly when they heard the following statistics in her introduction:The August 28, 2008, Globe and Mail estimates that the United States spends three billion dollars each year on cancer research, while the LA Times of February 16, 2009, reports the costs of cancer care are increasing by 15% annually—nearly three times the rate of other health care.†Quotations Using an appropriate quotation to introduce a speech is a common practice. Often another writer or speaker has expressed an opinion on your topic that is more au- thoritative, comprehensive, or memorable than what you can say. Terrika opened her speech on the importance of community with a quotation from poet Johari Kungufu:Sisters, Men What are we doin?What about the babies, our children? When we was real we never had orphans or children in joints.Come spirits drive out the nonsense from our minds and the crap from our dreamsmake us remember what we need, that children are the next life. bring us back to the real bring us back to the real”The Real.” Johari Kungufu, in her poem, specifically alludes to a time in African his- tory when children were not confused about who they were.7A different kind of quotation, this one from an expert, was chosen by another speaker to introduce the topic of the disappearance of childhood in America:“As a distinctive childhood culture wastes away, we watch with fascination and dis- may.” This insight of Neil Postman, author of Disappearance of Childhood, raised a poignant point. Childhood in America is vanishing.8You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker

failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

• The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

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