Week 5 · Readings & resources

Week 5 — Readings & Resources

Public Speaking Free sample edition

Your primary reading is Chapter 5 (in this module). Everything below is the optional, go-deeper layer — pick what helps, skip the rest.

How to use this page

This page has 11 items (5 readings and 6 videos). Allow 56–64 minutes for everything. Each group points back to the matching chapter section and class-session segment, so use the full menu when you want more, or take the quick path below.

Every video here has captions: turn them on with the CC button in the player. The chapter covers the same ideas in text.

Pick-one quick path (16–20 min total)

① Building the body around a few main points

Chapter 5, Section “The three-part frame: build the body first” · Session 1, Segment 2, “The three-part frame and the main points” · Remember: build the body first, around a few main points that are distinct, balanced, and parallel.

The Key to a Great Speech: Understanding and Using Organizational Patterns — Dr. Colin Steele — a longer video lesson that starts with how to choose and word main points, walks through chronological and spatial examples, and ends with tips for main points and a first look at connectives; this builds on Week 3's work with the central idea, since each main point carries one of its parts. (video, 22 min) (captions: automatic)
Organize Main Points of Your Speech — Dawn Rose — a two-minute look at putting a speech's main points in order, built on a road-trip comparison and the time-order pattern this course calls chronological; as you watch, sketch three main points for a time-order speech and check whether each is distinct, balanced, and parallel. (video, 2 min) (captions: automatic)

② Which pattern fits this message?

Chapter 5, Section “Organizational patterns: match the shape to the message” · Session 1, Segment 3, “Matching the shape to the message” · Remember: name the purpose, ask which logic fits the audience's question, and only then pick the pattern.

Organizational Patterns — COMMpadres Media — a short video lesson on the organizational patterns speakers use most often; for each one, name the audience question it answers, and use it while you complete the Week-5 module overview. (video, 7 min) (captions: creator)
Correlation and causation — Australian Bureau of Statistics — a national statistics agency's plain explainer on why two things that rise and fall together do not prove that one causes the other; read it before you build a causal pattern, and skip the section on the correlation coefficient. (reading, 4–6 min)

③ The pattern that asks for action

Chapter 5, Section “Monroe's Motivated Sequence: a pattern for a call to action” · Session 2, Segment 4, “Monroe's Motivated Sequence” · Remember: problem–solution has two parts, the sequence has five, and only the sequence has visualization and action.

Monroe's Motivated Sequence — MindTools — a career-skills site's step-by-step guide to the five steps, with a workplace safety talk as its running example; the page cites a later edition of Monroe's book, while this course dates the sequence to his 1935 original. (reading, 5–7 min)
Monroe's Motivated Sequence for Persuasive Speaking: Bright Ideas in Public Speaking with Dr. Sunny — Dr. Sunny Skye Hughes — a two-minute run through the five steps, comparing the sequence to the shape of a TV commercial; notice which steps a problem–solution speech would not have. (video, 2 min) (captions: creator)

④ Opening and closing the speech

Chapter 5, Section “The introduction and the conclusion: build the doors around the body” · Session 2, Segment 5, “The introduction and the conclusion” · Remember: the introduction gains attention, reveals the topic, builds credibility, and previews; the conclusion signals, summarizes, and lands a clincher.

Speech Introductions — Writing & Speaking Center — a speaking center's short guide to what an opening should do, from catching attention to previewing the main points, with a menu of attention-getters; match each part to the introduction's four functions. (reading, 3–4 min)
Speech Conclusions — Writing & Speaking Center — the same center's short guide to signaling the end, restating the main points, and finishing on a final line instead of "that's it"; stop here before the outlining rules, which next week takes up. (reading, 3–4 min)
How to Organize Informative Speeches: From Hook to Clincher! — Dr. Sherry Stancil — a two-minute tour of an informative speech's shape from the opening hook to the final clincher; match each part to the introduction's four functions and the conclusion's three jobs. (video, 2 min) (captions: automatic)
Conclusions — COMMpadres Media — a short video lesson on what a conclusion does and how to leave a lasting impression; listen for the difference between signaling the end and landing the last line. (video, 4 min) (captions: creator)

Optional one-stop reference (free online reference)

The Gettysburg Address (Bliss copy) — Abraham Lincoln Online — the full text of Lincoln's 1863 address, short enough to read in a few minutes; read it once and ask which organizational pattern its order suggests, and quote nothing from it in your own work this week. (reading, 2–4 min)

Heads-up (links rot): these point to outside sites that occasionally move or rename pages. If a link ever fails, tell your instructor and use the reference above in the meantime.

Provenance: Built with The Course Maker · samples.thecoursemaker.com