978-1457663536 Chapter 11

11

Organizing the Body of the Speech

<A> OBJECTIVES



To understand the value of organization in a speech.



To recognize the parts of a speech.



To create main points that express your major claims.



To use supporting points to substantiate or prove your main point.



To pay attention to coordination and subordination.



To create speech points that are unified, coherent, and balanced.



To create speech points that are unified, coherent, and balanced.



To use transitions to signal movement from one point to another.



To use internal previews and summaries as transitions.

<A> CHAPTER CONTENT OUTLINE

I. Organizing the body of the speech

A. Speakers whose speeches are well-organized appear more understandable,

believable, and trustworthy than those who present poorly organized speeches.

B. Organizing the speech, a stage also called the canon of arrangement, is the

strategic process of deciding how to order speech points into a coherent and

convincing pattern for your topic and audience.

C. In an outline, you determine how to order your ideas and evidence into larger and

smaller logical categories, or divisions and subdivisions.

II. Beyond the speech: Organizing as a life skill

A. Skill in arranging and outlining information can have far-reaching positive effects

in your academic and professional life.

B. Employers seek employees who can communicate ideas logically and

convincingly, and most professional-level jobs require you to prepare well-

organized oral reports.

III. Basic structure of a speech

A. A well-crafted speech contains three main parts: introduction, body, and

conclusion.

1. The introduction establishes the purpose of the speech and shows its

relevance to the audience. It serves as a preview of things to come.

2. The body presents the main points intended to fulfill the speech purpose.

3. The conclusion ties together the main points and the speech purpose. The

conclusion brings closure to the speech by restating the purpose and

reiterating why it is important.

B. You should use main points to express key ideas.

1. Main points express the key ideas and major themes of the speech.

2. The function of main points is to represent each of the main elements or

claims being made in support of the speech thesis.

3. The first step in creating main points is to identify the central ideas and

themes of the speech.

C. You can also use the specific speech purpose and thesis statement as guideposts to

help generate main points. Main points should flow from these two statements.

1. Two to five main points are sufficient for almost any speaking occasion,

even though research has shown that audiences can process between two

and seven.

2. Listeners remember more of the main points made at the beginning of a

speech, a phenomenon termed the primacy effect, and at the end of a

speech, a phenomenon termed the recency effect, than most points made in

between. If you have too many main points, consider whether your topic is

narrow enough.

D. In terms of form, main points should never introduce more than one idea or topic.

All of the main points should be presented in parallel form, or in a similar

grammatical form and style.

IV. Using supporting points to substantiate your claims

A. Supporting points represent the supporting material evidence you have gathered to

explain or justify the main points.

1. In an outline, supporting points appear in a subordinate position to main

points and are indicated by an indentation.

2. Supporting points should be arranged in order of their importance or

relevance to the main point.

B. The most common format is the roman numeral outline; it uses indentation

among main and supporting points to clearly indicate the direction of a speech,

helping the speaker to recollect points and making it easier to follow an outline as

he or she speaks.

V. Paying close attention to coordination and subordination

A. Outlines are based on the principles of coordination and subordination, which

refers to the logical placement of ideas relative to their importance to one another.

B. Ideas that are coordinate are given equal weight and are indicated by parallel

alignment.

C. Ideas that are subordinate to another are given less weight and are indicated by

their indentation below more important points.

D. Always review your outline, and evaluate whether any main points are more

appropriate as subpoints of other main points.

VI. Striving for a unified, coherent, and balanced outline

A. Well-organized speeches are characterized by unity, coherence, and balance.

1. A speech contains unity when it contains only those points that are implied

by the purpose and thesis statements.

2. A coherent speech is one that is logically organized. You can ensure

coherence by adhering to the principle of subordination and coordination.

3. The principle of balance suggests that appropriate emphasis or weight be

given to each part of the speech relative to the other parts and to the thesis.

VII. Using transitions to give direction to the speech

A. Transitions, also called connectives, are words, phrases, or sentences that tie the

speech ideas together and enable the speaker to move smoothly from one point to

the next.

B. Transitions should be used between speech points.

1. Full-sentence transitions are most effective to move from one main point

to another.

2. Transitions can also be stated as rhetorical questions to make the audience

think.

3. Transitions should also be used between supporting points, in the form of

single words, phrases, or full sentences.

C. Speakers can use previews and summaries as transitions.

1. Preview statements briefly describe the main points and thesis of the

speech.

2. Within the body of a speech, internal previews can be used.

3. Internal summaries draw together ideas before proceeding to another

speech point.

<A> KEY

TERMS

canon of arrangement the process of devising a logical and convincing structure for a message.

outline A document in which main and supporting points—the major speech claims and the

evidence to support them—are separated into larger and smaller divisions and subdivisions. See

also outlining and Roman numeral outline.

introduction (of speech) The first part of a speech, in which the speaker establishes

the speech purpose and its relevance to the audience and previews the

topic and the main points.

body (of speech) the part of the speech in which the speaker develops the main points

intended to fulfill the speech purpose.

conclusion (of speech) the part of the speech in which the speaker reiterates the speech

theme, summarizes main points, and leaves the audience with something to think about or act

upon.

main points statements that express the key ideas and major themes of a speech.

Their

function is to make claims in support of the thesis. See also subordinate points.

primacy effect psychological principle in which listeners have

a better recall

of the main points made

at the beginning of a speech than of those made later (unless the ideas

made later are

far more striking than the others).

recency effect psychological principle in which listeners have a better recall

of the most recent points in the speech (unless the

ideas made earlier are

far more striking than

the others).

supporting points information (examples, narratives, testimony, and facts and statistics)

that clarifies, elaborates, and verifies the speaker’s assertions.

indentation

in an outline, the plotting of speech points to indicate their weight relative to

one another; subordinate

points are placed underneath and to the right of higher-order points.

roman numeral outline

a form of outline in which main points are enumerated with

uppercase roman numerals (I, II, III, . . . ), supporting points are

enumerated with capital letters

(A, B, C, . . . ), third-level points with are enumerated with Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, . . . ), and

fourth-level points with lowercase letters (a, b, c, . . . ).

coordination and subordination

the logical placement of ideas relative to their

importance to one another. Ideas that are coordinate

are

given equal weight.

An idea that is subordinate to another is given relatively less weight.

coordinate points Ideas that are

given the same weight in an outline and are aligned with one

another; thus, Main Point

II is coordinate

with Main Point

I.

subordinate points indicated by their indentation below the more important points, and given

relatively less weight.

transitions (connectives) words, phrases, or sentences that tie speech ideas together and

enable a speaker to move smoothly

from one point to the next.

rhetorical question

a question that does not invite an actual response but is used to

make the audience think.

preview statement statement included in the introduction of a speech in which the

speaker alerts the

audience to the main speech points.

internal preview

an extended transition used within the body of a speech that alerts

audience members to ensuing speech content.

internal summary an extended transition that draws together important ideas before

proceeding to another speech point.

CHAPTER STUDY GUIDE

I. SUMMARY QUESTIONS

What are the three general parts that make up speech structure, and what are their functions?

What is the function of main points? How are they generated?

Main points express the key ideas and major themes of a speech. Their function is to represent

What should speakers keep in mind when forming main points?

How can the specific purpose and thesis statements help generate main points?

Because the specific purpose statement expresses what you want the audience to learn or do as

What is the function of supporting points?

Supporting points represent the supporting material or evidence you have collected to explain

What is the principle of coordination and subordination?

The principle of coordination and subordination refers to the logical placement of ideas

How do the principles of unity, coherence, and balance apply to the organization of a

speech?

A well-organized speech is characterized by unity, coherence, and balance. A speech exhibits

What are transitions, and how are they used in speeches?

Transitions are words, phrases, or sentences that tie the speech ideas together and enable the

II. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Have you ever listened to and/or viewed a speech that was not organized well? If so, how

did you respond to the speaker and his or her speech material?

Why is it important that speeches be organized in a coherent and meaningful way?

The audience’s understanding of the speech is directly linked to how well it is organized and

Why is it important that transition statements be used in the body of speeches?

III. ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITIES

QUESTIONS

The following questions may help you illustrate important points in the chapter and facilitate

students’ learning of this material. These questions can be used as:



homework questions



quizzes



in-class work (individually or in groups)



topics to generate discussion



question-and-answer sessions between instructor and students

What

are the three general parts of a speech?

What are main points? What can you use to develop main points? How many main points

should you use? What grammatical form should they be in?

It is not enough for speakers to simply state the main points. What other two items need to

be present in the body of the speech?

What are the principles of coordination and subordination? How are coordinate and

subordinate points indicated on an outline?



Coordination and subordination refer to the logical placement of ideas relative to their

What are the three principles of organizing main and supporting points? Give an example

of a speech or speeches that do not follow these principles.

Unity is a

characteristic of a speech that contains only those points that are implied by the

What are transitions? Give two forms of transitions.

ACTIVITIES

Be Supportive: Subpoints

Purpose: To provide students with an opportunity to implement supporting materials, including

examples, narratives, testimony, facts, and statistics.

Instructions: Either provide students with a list of five to ten topics, or have them choose their

own. Provide students with information about the rule of three, and then ask them to generate a

list of three points for each of the topics (and the subpoints for each). Have students specifically

identify which supporting materials (examples, narrative, testimony, facts, and statistics) would

be best for each of the main topics. You can also ask them where they might find each of the

suggested supporting materials. This activity can be done in class individually, with partners, or

as a homework assignment.

Critiquing a Speech

Purpose: To allow students the opportunity to evaluate the organization of a well-known speech.

Instructions: Prior to class, locate several manuscripts and/or videos of famous or historically

significant speeches. Try to use speeches that will be somewhat familiar to your students. After

asking students to read and/or view the speech, have them work in groups to evaluate the

organization and structure of the speech. You can ask them to write a critique, complete a speech

evaluation rubric, or simply discuss their feedback with the class. Make sure to require students

to be specific in their evaluations and provide tangible examples of chapter material.

Once Upon a Time . . . Transitions

Purpose: To become familiar with transitions when writing a speech outline and orally

presenting a speech.

Instructions: Write transition words on the board, or put them on presentation software or a

handout. Following is a list of some transitions that you can use. Ask one student to volunteer to

go first. Either give this student the starting line of a story, or have him or her make one up (e.g.,

“Once upon a time there was a princess and a frog”; “I was walking along a beach when I found

a bottle, rubbed it, and a genie appeared”; “A long time ago, there were three children who just

got new shoes, and their first trip with those shoes was to . . . ”). Direct students to continue the

story for two or three lines; then ask them to use a transitional word from the list and pass the

story on to another student. The next student then picks up the story (after the transition) and

continues for two or three lines; he or she uses another transitional word or phrase and passes the

story to another classmate. This can continue for as long as the instructor desires.

Transitional Words:



To add to a point: in addition, moreover, furthermore, besides, not only . . . but also,

accordingly, equally important, another, as well as, similarly, likewise



Summarizing: therefore, finally, in short, as stated, thus, in brief, in conclusion, as a

result, as shown, as said, to sum up, in other words



Results: as a result, thus, because, since, hence, accordingly, therefore, consequently



Emphasizing: surely, certainly, to be sure, undoubtedly, indeed, truly, in fact, above all,

by all means, of course, overwhelmingly, without question, as a matter of fact,

significantly



Examples: for example, for instance, as proof, specifically, as an illustration, in particular



Contrasting ideas: but, however, on the contrary, notwithstanding, though/although, on

the other hand, otherwise, while this may be true, still/yet, nevertheless, after all, even

though, unlike, in contrast, conversely, rather/instead



Comparing ideas: in the same way, similarly, likewise, in comparison, have in common,

in relation to, also/too, either . . . or, despite, furthermore, as well as, the same, equally

important, at the same time, just as, in like manner, granted, both/and



Conclusion:

in short, in conclusion, in summary, in closing, as a result



Occurring in time: first, second, then, next, last, meanwhile, shortly, immediately, earlier

Writing a Specific Speech Purpose and Main Points

Purpose: To give students practice at composing a specific speech purpose and main points for a

specific speech topic.

Instructions: Assume that you have been asked to deliver a speech to incoming freshmen on the

topic of social life at your college. Write a specific speech purpose for this speech and then write

three main points that flow logically from this specific purpose.

Before students write their specific speech purposes, it may be helpful for the entire class to

brainstorm several aspects of college life, and to review the discussion of specific speech

purposes. Then ask students to pick three of these aspects to use as the main points of a speech.

The three aspects should reflect what each student thinks is important and also what a first-year

audience may want to hear. During this activity, it might be important to establish some ground

rules about what constitutes inappropriate speech content. This activity is also a good exercise in

audience analysis.

Fortune Cookie

Fiction

Purpose: To teach students to consider what type of supporting material is appropriate for a

given topic.

Instructions: Each student should receive a fortune cookie. Write three main points for a speech

on the topic of the fortune found in the cookie. Then develop fictitious evidence for supporting

points to back up each main point.

Students may be creative in their responses to this assignment. The three main points should be

relevant to the topic from the fortune cookie, but the supporting evidence does not have to be

real. Encourage students to think about possibilities for supporting evidence. Where might they

look to find the evidence for their supporting points?

Writing Full-Sentence

Transitions

Purpose: To give students experience writing full-sentence transitions.

Instructions: Pretend that you are going to give a speech about your three most vivid childhood

memories. After formulating three main points, write three full-sentence transitions: one that

moves smoothly from the first main point to the second, another that shifts between the second

and third main point, and a final transition that moves between the third main point and

conclusion.

Students often find constructing effective transitions difficult; this activity allows students the

opportunity to practice this crucial aspect of speech organization while using familiar material.

You may want to emphasize that transition statements should enable a speaker to move smoothly

from point to point.

IV. GROUP ACTIVITIES

Reverse Outlining

Purpose: To challenge students to find the parts of an outline in a delivered speech.

Instructions: Together with four or five of your classmates, locate and view a speech on

television or online. Working individually, try to outline the speech, beginning with elements of

the introduction. Note the main points, supporting ideas, and transitions used by the speaker.

Compare your findings with those of your classmates. What similarities and differences are

evident in your observations?

This activity can be used as an in-class writing assignment. Some speeches are organized well

enough to lend themselves to an outline. This type of speech can be used as an assignment to

assess how well students recognize the basic organizational structure of a speech. Have students

write down how the speaker used transitions to get from one main point to the next. You might

also consider showing a speech video in class so that you can give immediate feedback to correct

any misunderstandings about effective speech organization.

Building the Skeleton of a Speech

Purpose: To give students experience selecting a topic and writing a specific speech purpose,

thesis statement, and main points.

Instructions: In a group of four to five students, select a speech topic that relates to all of the

members in your group. Next, write a specific speech purpose, a thesis statement, and three main

points for this speech topic. Remember that your main points should flow logically from your

purpose and thesis statement. Finally, write full-sentence transitions that could be used between

your three main points.

This assignment is helpful because it allows students the opportunity to work together, which

often results in peer instruction and feedback. You might also consider asking students to create

a brief outline for this assignment, using the principles of coordination and subordination.

Creating a Blended Speech

Purpose: To challenge students to connect topics by using creative transitions.

Instructions: Have each student write down a speech topic of his or her choice. Then have

students form groups of four or five, and ask them to blend their topics into one speech through

the use of creative transitions. Have each group of students make a list of the original speech

topics and the transitions they create to get from one topic to the next.

When every group has finished, ask students to present their “blended speech” to the class. How

difficult was it to create transitions from one topic to the next? How might this be easier when

writing transitions for the main points of a speech on one topic? Remind students that

experiencing difficulty in creating transitions can be a sign of logical flaws in speech content.

Some transitions students may want to use include:

 previously, following, as soon as, seldom/usually, before/after, meanwhile, occasionally,

subsequently, never/always