PERSUASIVE SPEECH ASSIGNMENT
To be given: July 26-27
- The general purpose of this assignment is to advance a proposition of fact or policy to your
audience. Your topic should be appropriate to the audience, speaker and assignment.
- The speech should be 7 minutes long.
- The speech should utilize at least three bibliographic sources, cited correctly (APA, MLA or
University of Chicago) in your outline and identified in your speech.
- In addition to the criteria appropriate to your informative speech, your speech will be
graded considering the following:
Thesis
For this speech, your thesis statement should take the form of a clearly and carefully
worded proposition stating precisely what you want your audience to believe and/or to do.
Propositions of fact (examples)
"The rising juvenile crime rate is due to the deterioration of the traditional family"
"If nothing is done about the depletion of the ozone layer, climactic changes will occur that will disastrously affect the world environment."
Propositions of policy (examples)
"The North American Free Trade Agreement will enhance U.S. economic interests"
"A single payer national health plan is the only way to ensure that all Americans will receive adequate health care."
Argument/Evidence
Your speech should support your proposition according to the principles of reasoning
discussed in class. Your evidence should be sufficient, timely, varied and correctly used.
You should use both logical and emotional proof. You must explain the significance and
credibility of the evidence and how it supports the proposition. You should make yourself
aware of the prevailing counter-arguments to your proposition and refute them in your
speech.
Audience Analysis
You must choose a topic and specific proposition that reflects your considerations of the
audience's needs, interests, opinions, and values. The structure, arguments, evidence, and
language should work to establish common ground with the audience. You should
persuade them using both reason and suggestion.