Developing Purpose and Thesis Statements
Objectives
- Prepare purpose statements and thesis statements for speech topics
- Apply standard methods for creating fully developed speech topics
Assignment Overview
In this writing assignment, you will practice selecting a topic and developing purpose and thesis statements for different types of speeches.
Deliverables
A 250-word table
Step 1 Consider the scenario.
Imagine that you need to submit a proposal for an informative speech about three potential topics of your choice. If your proposal is accepted, you will have 30 minutes to present your speeches.
Step 2 Use a table to get started
.
For each of the three topics, use this table to plan your speech.
Topic |
General Purpose |
Thesis |
Question |
Main Points |
Inform |
Step 3 Enter a topic.
Enter a topic suitable for each scenario presented in Step 1 in the Topic column of the table.
Step 4 Enter the general purpose.
For example, “To inform my audience about skin cancer” (with the topic being skin cancer).
Step 5 Enter the thesis.
Enter a thesis based on the corresponding topic and purpose.
Step 6 Generate a question
The answer to this question should be the thesis.
THIS IS THE ACTUAL DELIVERABLE (STEPS 7 & 8)
Step 7 Identify and generate main points.
Enter the thesis statement, question, and main points into your word processing document using the format in the example shown here:
Example
Thesis Statement: The government should (or should not) provide health insurance coverage to all citizens.
Question: Why should the government provide health insurance coverage to all citizens?
Main Points:
- Health care is prohibitively expensive for citizens without health insurance.
- The first question you are asked when you call most doctors’ offices in the United States is, “What type of insurance do you have?”
- People without health insurance may be unable to get the health care they need.
Step 8 Repeat the above steps until you have three sets of thesis statement, question and main points.
Step 9 Save and submit your assignment.
When you have completed the assignment, save a copy for yourself in an easily accessible place and submit a copy to your instructor using the dropbox.
*You can find the chapter.
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