Week 3 — Selecting a Topic, Purpose & Thesis

Why this matters

A shift-change briefing for the next team of nurses, a toast at a cousin's wedding, and a two-minute pitch at a neighborhood meeting all land only when the speaker knows what the talk is for and says its one message out loud.

In plain language

This week is about deciding what your speech is for before you decide what to say. You start with a topic (the subject, named in a word or phrase) and pick a general purpose (the broad aim: to teach, to move, or to celebrate). You cut the topic down until it fits your listeners and your time. Then you write two sentences that guide everything else: a specific purpose (your goal for this audience, which you keep on your planning page) and a central idea (the one-sentence message you say out loud).

• Already covered: Week 1's six-element model and Week 2's three-lens audience profile.
• This week: general purposes, narrowing, the specific purpose, and the central idea.
• How they connect: your Week 2 audience profile becomes the audience filter.
• Where we're going next: Week 4, Research & Supporting Materials.

Focus

What is your speech for, and what is its one message?

By the end of this module, you should be able to:

• [ ] narrow a topic through the four filters
• [ ] write a specific purpose that passes the four tests
• [ ] write a central idea and say it out loud

To-do

Plan your week

1. Read Chapter 3 (about 40 minutes), then the lecture and slides.
2. Do the tutorial (60–90 minutes) and the practice set (about 20 minutes).
3. Do the Speech Workshop (about 90 minutes), the discussion, and the assignment.
4. Take the quiz.

This week's checkpoint: write a specific purpose and a central idea for your next speech, and check each against its tests.

You've got this

Ask your instructor if a step snags.

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