Course: Public Speaking — Fundamentals of Oral Communication (COMM 1) · Silver Oak University (fictional sample) · Prof. Marchetti
Module: Week 3 of 16 · Fall 2026 · in-person, two 75-minute sessions + one weekly Speech Workshop
Objective covered: Objective 2 — Analyze audiences and adapt content, purpose, and language to meet audience needs; select and narrow a topic, write a general purpose, a specific purpose, and a thesis (central idea).
SLO: A (compose & deliver)

This file holds two pieces: (A) the Module 3 Overview page ("Start Here") and (B) the Week 3 Announcement that drips out when the module opens. Dates below assume a Tuesday/Thursday pattern with Week 3 meeting Tue Sep 15 and Thu Sep 17, a Speech Workshop that same week, and end-of-week work due Sunday Sep 20, 11:59 p.m. Adjust the day-of-week and times to match your section.

(A) Module 3 Overview — Start Here

Welcome to Week 3: Selecting a Topic, Purpose & Thesis

This is your home base for the week. Read it first, then work the checklist below from top to bottom. Everything you need is linked inside the module.

Two weeks in, you have a model of how communication works and a toolkit for listening to and analyzing your audience. Now comes the question every speech begins with: what exactly am I saying, and why? This week gives you a three-part planning tool — general purpose, specific purpose, and thesis — that you will use before you write a single word of every speech this term. Get this week right and every speech that follows gets easier.

The central skill: taking a subject that interests you (or that you have been assigned), narrowing it so it is achievable in your time limit, and then writing a clear, audience-centered message. By Friday you will be able to do that for any topic in about ten minutes.

The week's big question

"How do I turn a broad topic into a focused, speakable message — and what is the difference between what I want to do (specific purpose) and what I am saying (thesis)?"

By the end of the week you will be able to name the three general purposes, write a well-formed specific purpose, write a thesis, and explain exactly how the two differ.

By the end of this week, you can…

Use this as a checklist. If you can do all four out loud, you are ready for the quiz.

• [ ] Identify the general purpose of a speech (to inform, to persuade, to entertain/mark an occasion) and choose the right one for a given speaking situation.
• [ ] Write a well-formed specific purpose statement — a single infinitive phrase that is audience-centered, covers one idea, and is achievable in the time limit.
• [ ] Write a thesis (central idea) — a full declarative sentence that states the speech's main message.
• [ ] Explain the key difference between a specific purpose (the speaker's goal, not spoken verbatim) and a thesis (the message, spoken in the speech) — the week's signature distinction.

What's due this week, and when

Work these in order — each one gets you ready for the next.

Heads-up on the AI tools: the chatbot is great at brainstorming broad topics and suggesting angles. It is NOT reliable at writing a specific purpose that fits your actual audience, occasion, and time limit — only you know those things. This week's Workshop and Tutorial both ask you to catch that gap.

Late policy reminder: 10% off per day late. If life happens, reach out before the deadline — I would rather hear from you early.

How to succeed this week

• Learn the three-part sequence, not just the vocabulary. You do not need to memorize definitions to ace this week; you need to be able to do the progression: broad topic → narrow → general purpose → specific purpose → thesis. Walk through it once with a real topic and you own it.
• The specific purpose / thesis distinction is the week's load-bearing difference. Write it out: "Specific purpose = infinitive phrase, my goal, NOT spoken aloud. Thesis = declarative sentence, the message, spoken in the speech." If that sentence makes sense, you are ready for the quiz.
• Stress-test your specific purpose before you research anything. The four tests: one idea? infinitive phrase? audience-centered? achievable in the time limit? If any fails, fix it before you spend an hour looking up sources.
• Use your own life as the topic source. The best first speeches come from what you already know. What can you teach someone in five minutes? That is your topic.
• Treat this week's Workshop as a dress rehearsal for every subsequent speech. You will write a general purpose, specific purpose, and thesis for every graded speech from here on out. Get the habit now.

You do not need to have a "perfect" topic by Tuesday. You need a broad subject you care about and a willingness to narrow it. We do the narrowing together. See you then.

(B) Week 3 Announcement

Release setting: post on the module's start day (offset = 14 days from Day 1), i.e., Tue Sep 15, 2026 — not before. If your platform will not preserve the scheduled date on import, post this as a draft labeled "Release: Tue Sep 15."

Subject: Week 3 — the three questions every speech has to answer before you start writing

Hi everyone,

Welcome to Week 3. Before you write a single word of any speech — this week's or any other this term — you need three things: a general purpose (am I informing, persuading, or marking an occasion?), a specific purpose (exactly what do I want this audience to learn, believe, or do?), and a thesis (in one sentence, what does my speech say?). These three do not take long to write — but a speech without them almost always turns into a rambling mess. This week you build the habit of nailing all three before you research, outline, or practice.

This week's big question: How do I turn a broad topic into a focused, speakable message — and what is the difference between my goal and my message?

Three things not to miss:
1. Lecture Tutorial 3 — work through the week's concept with one approved chatbot and submit the share link. Due Sun Sep 20.
2. Speech Workshop 3 ("From Topic to Thesis") — take a broad topic through the whole progression, write all three, and self-assess the statements against the rubric. No recording required this week — this is a writing and structuring workshop. Due Sun Sep 20.
3. Assignment 3 — write two complete purpose-thesis progressions for two different topics, plus classify and fix a flawed specific purpose statement. This is the building block that sets you up for every graded speech on the rest of the calendar. Due Sun Sep 20.

One thing to notice this week: the single most common specific-purpose failure is the two-idea statement — "To inform my audience about nutrition AND sleep AND exercise." That is three speeches crammed into one. Fix: pick one and go deep. The audience will remember one clear idea far better than three half-explained ones.

See you Tuesday,
Prof. Marchetti