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CHAPTER 6
RESEARCHING, ORGANIZING, AND OUTLINING YOUR TOPIC
Chapter Objective: The chapter introduces students to the two types of outlines, providing
benefits of using an outline and tips for developing an outline. The chapter also provides an
extremely helpful and succinct guide to efficient yet thorough research using library, Internet,
interview, and other sources. Online resources and tips receive particular attention as well as
practical advice on proper evaluation and use of Internet sources. Advice on how to carefully
record research information and avoid unintentional plagiarism is also discussed. This chapter
should promote the concept that meticulous research is absolutely crucial to speaking success
but need not be an arduous task. In addition, the research strategies and procedures imparted in
this chapter can be extremely useful in any class or endeavor requiring research.
To use this chapter most effectively, identify specific ways to conduct quality research while
avoiding plagiarism. Explain the role that organizing plays in a successful speech. Identify
several informative and persuasive patterns students can use for organizing the body of their
speeches. List the main steps included in speech introductions and conclusions. Summarize the
role of outlining as it relates to researching and preparing a topic.
Chapter Outline
I. You can start researching your topic by preparing a rough-draft outline.
1. A rough-draft outline is a working outline of main points and needed
information to refer to while researching.
A. Follow these suggested guidelines for rough-draft outlines:
1. Keep it simple.
2. Concentrate on main points and subpoints, indicating what supports are
needed.
3. Leave introductions and conclusions out of the rough-draft outline.
4. Update your outline as you research.
5. As each support is located, put a check mark by it.
III. Begin researching your topic.
5. Quotation books such as The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations can be a
rich source of embellishment.
6. Yearbooks such as Facts on File or the Statistical Abstract of the United
States can provide helpful statistical support.
7. Other library sources like government documents or DVDs may be
relevant to your topic; ask the reference librarian for advice.
C. Use electronic databases when possible.
D. Use the Internet with care.
6. Use Boolean operators to improve search effectiveness.
7. Blogs and tweets may provide helpful information.
E. Conduct Personal Interviews
1. Establish rapport in your introduction.
2. Ask your planned questions in the body of the interview.
3. Use the conclusion to verify information and give closure.
4. Follow up after the interview with a thank you note.
IV. Record your research information in order to stay organized and to avoid unintentional
plagiarism.
There are four key reasons why organization is important in a speech.
A. Organized information is easier for listeners to comprehend.
B. Organized information is easier for speakers to remember.
C. Organized information gives the speaker confidence.
D. Organized information improves the speaker’s credibility.
VI. Some organizational patterns work best for informative speeches and some work best
for persuasive speeches.
A. There are four basic informative speech patterns of organization.
1. The topical pattern is often used when each main point is one of several
aspects of the topic.
a.) Arrange with your most important or interesting point first.
2. The spatial or geographic pattern arranges main points according to
location in space, such as front to back, or in terms of geographical
perspective.
3. The chronological pattern arranges points in a step-by-step order or by
dates.
4. The causal pattern is used when there is a cause-effect relationship.
B. There are six basic persuasive speech patterns of organization.
1. The claim or reason pattern is a variation of the topical pattern.
a.) Main points are the claims (or reasons) for believing a particular
fact, holding a particular value, or advocating a particular plan.
b.) The claim pattern can be ordered inductively or deductively.
2. The cause-effect pattern uses cause-effect reasoning to persuade and
ends with a solution or call to action.
3. The problem-solution pattern takes a variety of forms, the two most
popular being the problem-solution-benefits and the problem-solution-
action patterns.
6. Monroe’s motivated sequence involves five steps.
a.) Attention step: Grab your listeners’ attention by introducing the
problem your speech will address.
b.) Need step: Describe the problem using credible, logical, and
psychological appeals.
c.) Satisfaction step: Satisfy the need by presenting one or more
solutions to the problem.
d.) Visualization step: Vividly picture the future for the audience if
they do or do not implement your proposal.
e.) Action step: Challenge your audience to take a particular action.
VII. Organizing the introduction of the speech successfully depends on four basic steps:
A. Begin with an attention-getter. This can be:
l. Providing a definition or explanation.
2. Giving a brief demonstration or a procedure or skill.
3. Opening with a piece of folklore—a fable, saying, poem, or rhyme.
4. Providing brief or detailed instances or examples.
5. A joke or humorous instance, if appropriate.
6. Asking a rhetorical or actual question to involve the audience.
7. Quoting or paraphrasing a well-known source.
8 Referring to the occasion.
9. Revealing a startling fact related to the topic.
B. Motivate your audience to listen by demonstrating an advantage for the listener.
C. Establish credibility and rapport.
VIII. Organizing the conclusion helps make sure your audience understood and will
remember all points, and it provides closure.
A. A conclusion includes at least a summary of the main ideas and a final
refocusing thought.
B. An effective conclusion should take no more than 10 to 15 percent of the total
speaking time.
C. Summarizing the main ideas should be the first step.
D. The conclusion should provide a memorable ending. Some ways to accomplish
this are:
1. Offer a closing thought.
2. Refer to the introduction.
3. Issue a challenge.
4. Visualize the future.
E. Question and answer periods require the speaker to fully know their topic and to
anticipate audience questions; following are tips for speakers to remember:
1. Repeat each question before answering to ensure all heard the question.
2. Rephrase negative or unclear questions in a clear and positive way.
3. Think before answering, and if you don't know the answer refer the
questioner to a source or someone who can answer the query.
4. If a question is irrelevant or will take too long to answer, thank the
questioner and suggest speaking with them individually after the
presentation.
5. Avoid getting angry or defensive, even with hostile questions.
6. In your introduction, mention a short Q&A will follow and ask audience
members to write out questions during the speech and choose three or
four good ones, ignoring the less desirable ones.
7. Monitor time and close the session with a final conclusion that refocuses
on your speech intent.
IX. Outlines are important.
A. They serve as a map of the presentation.
B. They make getting suggestions from others much easier.
C. They make it easy to tell where extra research and supporting materials are
needed.
X. A preparation outline is more detailed, including an introduction and conclusion; use
these tips to develop your outline:
1. Add subpoints and supporting material to the main points of your rough-
draft outline using complete sentences.
2. Write out transitions between main points in sentence form.
3. Include a list of references at the end of the outline using the correct
style.
4. Indicate sources used within the outline.
5. Identify the locations of visual aids in your speech with boldface and
brackets.
6. Write the introduction and conclusion in complete sentences, partial
sentences, or phrases.
7. Check your outline for readability.
B. Polish by adding transitions and connectors.
1. Transitions are words, phrases, or brief sentences used to link main
points and ideas together as a lucid whole.
2. A signpost is a specific type of transition that clearly indicates where a
speaker is going next.
3. Internal summaries provide occasional closure at key junctures.
4. Repetition and restatement can be used to promote retention of
particularly important points you wish the audience to retain.
Classroom Exercises
Active Critical Thinking Activity
To think further about the rough-draft outline, ask students to complete the following:
1. After you have selected and narrowed a topic for your next speech, prepare a
rough-draft outline.
2. Make sure your outline includes main points, subpoints, and notations of where to
find information and needed research material.
To think further about researching a topic, ask students to complete the following:
1. Begin researching for your next speech by finding a print source, a database
source, and an Internet site that relate to your topic. Also, locate a knowledgeable
person on your topic to interview.
2. Select a main point to research and locate information on that point from each of
the above sources. Compare your findings. Which seem to be the most helpful?
Which seem to be the most accurate? Why?
6.1 Internet Scavenger Hunt*
This exercise helps develop familiarity with online research. Using whatever access to the
Internet you have available (either a commercial server or your institution's gateway), have
pairs of students gather the following information. Allocate twenty to thirty minutes for the
exercise. Consider conducting a contest to see which pair finds the most correct answers in the
assigned time. After the exercise is complete, review with students how to find each item so
they will be equipped to complete searches on their own. Beside each item is a suggestion for
locating the information.
ITEM
HINT
The Congressional committees on which
a congressional representative from your
state serves
Keyword C-SPAN
The name and number of a bill that has
passed in the past six months in the U.S.
House or Senate
navigate to THOMAS, the home page of
the U.S. Congress
The exact population of the United States
find U.S. Census Bureau
Tomorrow’s weather forecast for a city in
your state
keyword WEATHER; find National
Weather Service maps and forecasts
The year your institution was founded
go to your institution’s home page
*This exercise was adapted from C-SPAN in the classroom (online).
6.2 Conventional Library Scavenger Hunt
This exercise adapts the exercise above to a more conventional library setting. (Actually, if
your library has Internet access, both exercises can be merged and the class can be split into
online and conventional resource pairings.) This activity shows the rewards of persistence, and
as it is in real world contexts, students won't always be able to dictate or select the subjects
they must research.
ITEM
HINT
Location where a paper by the instructor
or other speech was presented.
Search ERIC database
The title and author of the first article to
appear in The Quarterly Journal of
Speech
See Index to Journals in Communications
Studies
The exact population of your state
Facts on File or Statistical Abstracts
An ISBN code for any textbook
Books in Print
(Of course, you can extend the list to include any sources you particularly wish to emphasize in
your course.)
6.3 Library Hunt*
To help students learn to navigate the library while having fun in the process, develop a
scavenger hunt of sources you’d like your students to know (and find), such as books,
magazines, journals, or reference materials. Place a stack of playing cards at the location of
each of these specific sources before the activity begins. At the beginning of the activity,
*This exercise was adapted from Holl, A., McIntyre, J. J., Tuckner, C., & Brown, A.,
“Getting to know your friendly neighborhood library,” presented at National Communication
Association G.I.F.T.S. Session, 2005, Boston, MA.
6.4 Internet Scavenger Hunt
This activity can be done during class time in your school library. Divide the class into teams
and give each person on the team a copy of the Internet Scavenger Hunt. The first team that
correctly completes the scavenger hunt wins a few points of extra credit. By this time, I know
my students well enough to know their interests. I devise different scavenger hunts each
semester and have used toy themes, for example…When was Barbie invented? Who was her
inventor? Where did she get her name? When did Barbie first meet Ken? When were Lego’s
invented? Who created them?
