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Crafting a
Persuasive Speech
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Chapter Overview
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Chapter 13
• Discusses the Classical Greek and Roman approaches to
structuring persuasive speeches.
• Explains how to combine classical and contemporary
approaches in developing introductions and conclusions for
persuasive speeches.
• Describes the various organizational patterns for persuasive
speeches.
Practically Speaking
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n 1924 at a small YMCA in Santa Ana, California, a small group of people got
together to help each other become better public speakers and have a little
bit of fun in the process. Over the years, that small group expanded and became a
group called Toastmasters International, a non-academic leader in helping people
develop oral communication skills. This nonprofit organization now boasts nearly
235,000 members in over 11,700 clubs like the one in Santa Ana that started it all,
in 92 different countries.1
Toastmasters begins by using a manual to help members develop certain
speaking skills. It focuses on the use of humor, gestures, and eye contact. Once
the initial manual is completed members then progress to more advanced manuals
that narrow the skill’s focus considerably. Thousands of corporations, companies,
and civic organizations encourage their employees and affiliates to participate in
Toastmasters because of the practical benefits gained from the group.
Toastmasters International also contributes much in the way of community
service. They promote youth programs designed around developing oral
communication and leadership skills. They support “Gavel Clubs” where
they bring speech training inside prison walls. They work with community
organizations and businesses to help them tell their story to the
community in which they reside. Additionally, they offer short courses
on crafting a speech.2
One of the central focuses of the Toastmasters International
programs on crafting a speech is organization. In fact, they make it
a point to tell people one of the ten most common errors in public
speaking is lack of preparation and organization. When you do not
organize your thoughts in a logical manner, and then present them to
an audience it makes it at best difficult, and at worst near impossible
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The Speaker: The Tradition and Practice of Public Speaking
Classical Speech Structure
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for your audience to follow what you are saying and ultimately get anything out of
your presentation.
Persuasive speeches must be carefully arranged to ensure the speaker achieves
their specific purpose. In fact, persuasive speeches were the foremost concern
of the Greeks and Romans. The first part of the chapter will discuss the ways in
which Classical Greeks and Romans taught students how to construct persuasive
speeches. Then, we will discuss how you can incorporate that approach with
aspects of the model for developing an informative speech we spoke about in
Chapter Ten. Finally, we will offer several different organizational patterns you
can use for the various types of persuasive speeches we identified in the previous
chapters.
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It should come as no surprise that the Greeks and Romans were among
the first to break down a speech into its component parts. Today, we use different
terminology, but the segments of the speech are essentially the same. It appears
the most effective way to organize a persuasive speech has changed very little
over the course of the last 2,500 years! But, as the saying goes, “if it ain’t broke,
don’t fix it.” In this part of the chapter we will discuss the three sections of
a persuasive speech as identified by the Greeks and Romans: the exordium,
narrative and conclusion.
The Speech Exordium
exordium
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As we discussed in Chapter Ten, the introduction is your best opportunity
to establish a rapport with your audience, something very important in persuasive
speeches as your goal is to get them to do or believe the thing which you discuss.
This importance was not lost on the Greeks and Romans either, so the best way
to understand how to craft an effective introduction to a persuasive speech is
to begin with those that gave it a lot of thought. In this section we will discuss
introductions using the terminology of the Classics, who called it a speech
exordium. We will explain why they saw it as important, and detail what are the
elements of an exordium.
The Greeks and Romans referred to the start of a speech as the exordium,
as they understood it as the place in the speech where you convince an audience
to listen to your position. In fact, Quintilian stated that the purpose of the
exordium is to prepare the audience to listen intently to the remainder of the
presentation.3 One of the ways you accomplish this task is by capturing the
interest of the audience and the other is by establishing your credibility as a
speaker.
A good exordium captures the interest of the audience almost immediately
by connecting the topic to something the audience might be interested in.
Aristotle argued that this process included an effort to make the audience hold a
favorable impression of the speaker and the topic. After you gain their interest with
your opening statement using one of the attention-getters we identified in Chapter
Ten, you need to begin the case for why the audience should listen to what you
the place in the
speech where you
convince an audience to listen to
your position; Latin
label for the introduction of a speech
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have to say on the topic. You do this by demonstrating knowledge of the subject
matter.
Although an exordium remained one of the most important parts of a
speech for the Greeks and Romans, they felt it should not be the first part of the
speech you prepare for two reasons. First, Cicero warned his students that it was
impossible to effectively introduce arguments yet to be crafted. You may know
what you want to say, but until you write it down in order you don’t know how
you will say it, or the order in which you will present the points. Essentially,
Cicero suggested writing the bulk of the speech before creating the exordium.
The second reason classical speakers felt the exordium should be
composed last also illustrates a key difference between an introduction for an
informative and a persuasive speech. Cicero stated that the quality of the case the
speaker presents should determine the type of exordium created. He proposed
two ways to begin a speech, although he also pointed out that there are rare
situations when exordiums are not necessary—those rare instances do not exist for
informative speeches. The first type of exordium Cicero discussed he called an
introduction.
Cicero understood the introduction, as an exordium that lays out the
speaker’s case in plain language so that the audience becomes receptive and
attentive. They are often most useful when an audience is confused or illinformed, and the topic is not controversial. Introductions today are often
understood as the only way to start a speech, whereas for Cicero they were
simply one way to do so. That is why this method of crafting an exordium seems
familiar—it’s similar to how we described starting an informative speech a few
chapters ago.
Cicero reserved the other form of exordium, insinuation for cases made
about disputed topics to audiences with animosity toward the topic or the speaker.
A common insinuation exordium promises the audience you will be short and to
the point when you know they are tired of hearing about the issue on which you
are speaking. These work to reduce the reluctance of an audience to listen, and
allow speakers to make their case. Unlike introductions, insinuations do not need
to unpack information for the audience to relieve confusion, because the audience
is already informed—in fact, possibly over-informed!—about the subject matter.
Regardless of which type of Ciceronian exordium you might use to
begin your persuasive speech, there are various ways to gain the attention of
an audience while making them more receptive to your speech by enhancing
your credibility. The first way involves stressing the importance of the topic of
your speech and connecting it to the lives of the audience. For example, if you
deliver a speech arguing to update the technology of a factory in a town, you
might also stress the importance of your topic to the community at large, telling
them that the plant was outdated and that the plant would close if the technology
wasn’t improved and so the expensive update would actually save jobs for the
community. Either way, you need to connect the audience to the topic in a
personal way that increases the likelihood they will listen to what you have to say.
This is something typically not necessary with informative speech introductions
because the audience is there to learn something, and thus wants to be there.
One final piece of advice offered by the Romans on exordiums is
important to note. Cicero believed, as did his Roman counterpart Quintilian,
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introduction
one form of exordium where speakers
use plain language
to lay out their
case in an effort
to get a confused
and ill-informed
audience to pay
attention
insinuation
a form of exordium reserved for
cases made about
disputed topics to
audiences with
animosity toward
the topic or the
speaker
The Speaker: The Tradition and Practice of Public Speaking
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The Speech Narrative
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that exordiums must be serious in nature as this lends gravity and importance to
the topic of the address. Cicero maintained that when a topic has the support of
the audience before the speech even begins, then a rhetor might best eliminate
the exordium because it could make the speaker seem condescending. In such
situations speakers still previewed their speech, but did away with the elements
of the exordium that attempted to raise the interest of the audience. Quintilian
additionally advised that if a speaker entertains doubts about the audience’s
knowledge of the issue under consideration then they should briefly review the
situation in the exordium. Both of these suggestions underscore ways for you to
lend gravity to your speech and increase your ethos within the exordium.
The Greeks and Romans understood that exordiums are the first impression
a speaker makes on an audience, but the last part of the speech to be composed.
Their content is driven by the topic and the disposition of the audience toward
the speaker, and the goals are to get the attention of the audience, establish a
speaker’s credibility, and ensure receptivity to the speaker’s message. Once these
goals are accomplished they taught students to move to the body, or what they
called the narrative. ht
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Aristotle argued that the introduction was one of only two elements of a
speech, referring to the second component as the argument proper. The Romans
taught that the body of the speech that followed the exordium contained three
parts: the statement of fact, the argument and the refutation. In this way they
expanded Aristotle’s approach to arranging a speech. In this section we will
discuss the elements of the narrative of the speech, or what we now call the body,
by addressing the three areas identified by the Romans.
When we use the term “narrative” today we think of a coherent story,
or even fiction. Our understanding of the term differs from that of the classical
Greeks and Romans when applied to constructing a speech. For them the
narrative of the speech consisted of several parts arranged in a coherent
order. They did not provide an exact recipe for that order, acknowledging that
each speaking situation called for a different response and thus a need for the
speaker to arrange their points differently. The first of these parts they called the
statement of facts, an explanation of what the audience needs to know in order to
appreciate the main argument of the speech.
The statement of facts helps speakers familiarize their audience with the
relevant details about their topic. Cicero and Quintilian both recognized that this
portion of the narrative might not be necessary all the time, and at other times
might be the only part of the narrative required of a speaker. If an audience is
familiar with the case you present, then a brief statement of facts might be all that
is needed, if any at all. For instance, if you plan to convince the student body at
your school that they need to build a new recreation center through an additional
student fee, you may not need to explain why since the students might well be
aware of the need.
When your goal is simply to inform an audience then the statement of facts
is the only element of the narrative you need to develop. Here, an audience is
confused or ill-informed about your topic and your goal is to convey information
to them. The facts of the case are all you need to present an informative speech,
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an explanation of
what the audience
needs to know in
order to appreciate
the main argument
of the speech
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statement of
facts
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as you are not making an argument nor countering any opposition to your point
of view. In persuasion, however, arguments flow from the facts of the case—even
when they are not explicitly outlined in the narrative by the speaker.
The Greeks and the Romans believed that the argument was the core
of any speech, and this is certainly true when your purpose is persuasion. The
argument, also called the proof or confirmation, is the portion of the speech that
validates your position on the issue laid out in the statement of facts. It is, for all
intents and purposes, the central idea of your speech laid bare for the audience.
Whereas in an informative speech the thesis statement is a one sentence sum
of the goal of your speech, the Greeks and Romans taught that in a persuasive
speech the argument portion of the arrangement of your speech details all the
evidence and claims you make regarding your topic.
The argument portion of the speech often contains more than one claim,
and choosing the way to organize these claims to maximize your ability to
persuade your audience is tricky. The Greeks and Romans both taught their
students not to start with their strongest most persuasive claim; rather they
suggested that in many cases you should end with it. This allows your argument
to end on its highest and best note, rather than a weaker less persuasive point.
Quintilian suggested spending more time developing the strongest point than
the weaker arguments, which he proposed should be lumped together if at all
possible. On the latter suggestion he famously wrote, “They may not have the
overwhelming force of a thunderbolt, but they will have all the destructive force
of hail.”4 After you organize your claims in the argument portion of your speech,
you still must be aware of the opposition.
The third component of the narrative part of the speech according to the
Classical speech teachers is where you attempt to anticipate opposition to your
argument. The refutation, or the response to opposition to your argument, is
only relevant for persuasive speeches and even then situational factors largely
determine where you place it. For example, if your audience likes the position
opposing yours, it might be best to lay out the refutation as reasons not to like
the opposition before you even detail your argument. In this instance, moving
the refutation to a position immediately following the exordium might be wise.
However, when an audience is hostile toward either you or your argument, even
Quintilian would encourage you to hold the refutation for as long as possible.
The Greeks and Romans believed the refutation is an important part of
any speech for two reasons. First, it demonstrates that you thought about and
researched the issue on which you are speaking, thus enhancing your own
credibility. Second, it makes you appear more objective, making it easier for
people to listen to your point of view. In other words, if people don’t view you
as partisan about an issue, then they will be more likely to be persuaded by your
arguments.
Determining the order of the statement of facts, argument and refutation
is the first of a two step process. The second step in constructing the narrative
involves connecting each to the other, in other words providing the glue that
enables your argument to make sense. You can accomplish this by using one
of the several different connective statements we discussed in Chapter Ten.
Connective statements are common to both informative and persuasive speeches.
All told, for the Greeks and Romans the narrative, or body, of a speech is
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argument
also called the
proof or confirmation; the portion
of the speech that
validates your position on the issue
laid out in the
statement of facts
refutation
response to potential opposition to
your argument
The Speaker: The Tradition and Practice of Public Speaking
The Speech Peroration
principle of
recency
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the idea that the
last message you
heard is most likely
to be the one you
remember
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speech conclusion
If the narrative, or body, is important because it contains the core point
of the address, then the conclusion is important because it summarizes that idea
for the audience. Aristotle and Cicero both contributed to our understanding
of the content and goals of a conclusion, or as they called it, the peroration.
Conclusions represent the last opportunity for a speaker to present their case to the
audience and leave the audience with something to remember. Think about the last speech that you heard. What do you remember? The
evidence? A statistic, perhaps? More than likely, you remember how that speaker
finished the speech, the last words spoken. This is illustrative of the principle of
recency, or the idea that the last message you heard is most likely to be the one
you remember. For this reason it is important to finish a persuasive speech with
a bang, and not a whimper. You want the audience to leave knowing what you
want them to do or believe and why you want it.
Aristotle taught that conclusions accomplish four things. First, they need
to leave the audience with a positive impression of you as the speaker. Failing
that, it needs to at least leave them with a less than enthusiastic view of your
opponent. Second, conclusions need to both augment the force and presence of
your arguments while diminishing the power of those that may be offered by your
opponent. Third, Aristotle argued conclusions must incite the proper emotions in
an audience. Finally, he believed conclusions should restate the arguments and
supporting facts central to the speech’s goal.
Cicero followed up on Aristotle’s approach by advocating three distinct
things speakers could do in their conclusion. First, like Aristotle, he stated
speakers should summarize their ideas. This summary should briefly review the
statement of facts and take a moment to encapsulate each of the main points the
speaker presented. Second, Cicero called for speakers to use the conclusion to
cast anyone who disagreed with them in a bad light through emotional appeals.
Finally, where Aristotle argued conclusions must incite the proper emotions,
Cicero gave the emotion a name: sympathy. He also said that the audience’s
sympathy should be toward the speaker and the topic, not one or the other. In
fact, in his book De Inventione, Cicero provided quite a number of specific ways
to accomplish this (for a few examples, see Table 13.1).
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the most time-consuming and difficult to develop. Placing the three elements of
the narrative—the statement of facts, the argument, and the refutation—into the
best possible order and making that arrangement seem natural and smooth takes
time. Additionally, determining that order is significantly influenced by situational
factors like audience disposition. Cicero, Quintilian and others would argue that
it is important to approach constructing the narrative not as an inflexible recipe for
success, but rather as a guide for helping you determine the best way to arrange
the main points of your speech. Later in this chapter we will discuss some tried
and true organizational patterns that may further help you develop and arrange
your persuasive speech, but for now we need to finish discussing the third part of
a persuasive speech: the conclusion. As you are leaving the narrative, you should
signal your audience that you are moving into the conclusion with a signpost, just
as you would for an informative speech.
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Table 13.1
Emotional Appeals
Goal
Emotional Appeal Example5
“As a ten-year cancer survivor I am proof of the
benefits of this treatment.”
“When we took this approach in a similar
situation my plan worked, while my opponent’s
failed.”
Invoke authority
Point out the effects of
success or failure
“Just look at what happened three years ago
when we faced a similar challenge, and we did
nothing. It is time to act decisively.”
Demonstrate state of affairs
violates community values
“The current crisis in our area goes against
everything most of us believe in, against what our
parents taught us, and ideals with which we grew
up.”
Ask audience to identify
with those injured or
insulted
“My friends, think how you and your family
would feel if you were treated in such a shabby
manner. Put yourself in their place and ask
yourself how you would feel.”
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Show what happens if
state of affairs remains
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Both Cicero and Aristotle noted the importance of conclusions in
persuasive speeches. They knew that just as exordiums, or introductions, were
the first opportunity to make a strong case to the audience, perorations, or
conclusions, were the last best chance to win the audience over. In the next part
of the chapter we will explain some ways in which the classical approach to
crafting a persuasive speech can be incorporated by you when developing your
persuasive presentations.
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Contemporary Speech Introductions
and
Conclusions
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Now that we have illustrated the importance of persuasive speeches to the
Greeks and Romans and discussed how they understood the practice of persuasive
speaking, we need to show you how these ideas translate to you and your efforts
at creating persuasive appeals. In this section we will provide you with some
strategies for developing effective introductions and conclusions (or, as the Greeks
and Romans called them, exordiums and perorations). We will then spend the
final portion of the chapter exploring several different organizational strategies for
the body of a persuasive speech.
Strategies for Persuasive Introductions
The Greeks and Romans noted the uniqueness of introductions in
providing several different options for developing them, and these observations
also illustrate the differences that exist between persuasive and informative
introductions. That said, there are similarities between the two types of speech
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introductions. This section will note the similarities while also providing you with
ways to effectively construct an introduction appropriate for a persuasive speech.
Cicero and Quintilian’s suggestion that the introduction be the last part of
the speech you write is true with persuasive as well as informative speeches. You
should not set up the introduction until you know what you are going to say, as
well as have an idea for the knowledge level and disposition of your audience.
This information is key to making sure you effectively capture the audience’s
interest, establish credibility and focus the audience’s attention.
Those four goals of an introduction, you may well remember, are the same
for informative as well as persuasive speeches. You need to get an audience’s
attention, but as Cicero and Quintilian noted with regard to persuasive speeches,
be sure to do so without offending the audience. You must be attuned to the
audience’s feelings about the topic or the occasion and determine whether a
traditional introduction or Ciceronian insinuation would benefit the speech most.
You also need to establish your credibility almost immediately by stating why
an audience should listen to you on a particular subject. Finally, you need to
preview your speech’s main points in much the same way you would do so for an
informative speech.
One thing you should note from Cicero and Quintilian is their belief that
introductions are serious. Many people believe that today the best way to get an
audience’s attention is with a joke, but that is not something the Romans, or we,
would recommend—especially for persuasive speeches. Telling a joke is very
risky, because if people do not laugh you start off on a poor note, and you might
also unintentionally offend someone in the audience, thus damaging your ability
to move the audience to action. Instead of a joke, make use of the attentiongetters we discussed in Chapter Ten.
Finally, students delivering a persuasive speech should be aware of what
their instructors expect in an introduction. Some instructors may, for instance,
also require students to state their name or the title of their speech. Be sure you
know what is expected before you write your introduction.
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Table 13.2
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Tips for an Effective Persuasive Introduction
• Develop the introduction last
• Capture the attention of the audience
• Establish your credibility
• Focus the audiences’ attention
Strategies for Persuasive Conclusions
Just as with introductions, there are elements common to both informative
and persuasive conclusions. After reading how the Greeks and Romans
approached perorations we now realize there are differences between informative
and persuasive speech conclusions. In this section of the chapter we will discuss
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the similarities and differences while also providing tips on how you can create a
strong conclusion to your persuasive speech.
One of the aspects of conclusions shared by both informative and
persuasive speeches is the need for a signpost at the start of the conclusion.
Signposts serve the same function for persuasive speech conclusions that they
do for informative speech conclusions: they let the audience know the speech is
almost over.
Similarly, both informative and persuasive speech conclusions should
summarize each of the main points in the speech and demonstrate how they
connect to and support your argument. You should never introduce new evidence
in a conclusion when doing this, but rather re-emphasize the fundamental points
of your speech. This allows the audience to walk away from your presentation
understanding your central point and how you got there. Rarely will an audience
recall specific evidence you lay out, but they will remember main points. With
regard to persuasive speeches this summary also enables you to build up your
clincher, which can be a much more powerful statement than in an informative
speech.
Although both informative and persuasive speeches have clinchers,
persuasive speeches allow for much more creativity and direct calls to action with
their clinchers. The reason for this is simple: the general purpose of a persuasive
speech is to persuade, so the last thing the audience should hear should be a call
to action.
The success of your persuasive speech conclusion often depends on your
ability to channel and incite the proper ethos through this clincher. This is where
Aristotle and Cicero’s goal of creating audience sympathy toward the speaker
or topic should be accomplished. The clincher should not take long to state,
and there are a variety of ways to construct an effective clincher for a persuasive
speech, as we discussed in Chapter Ten. Most importantly, however, with
clinchers in persuasive speeches it is essential for you to find a way to issue a call
to action that the audience can reasonably and realistically accomplish.
A common error novice speakers make in their persuasive speech
conclusions is reserving their persuasive effort for the clincher. Do not wait until
the last statement to persuade the audience. It should be the last push and should
be a logical next step based on the case you laid out throughout the speech. In
short, the conclusion should feed off of the body and accentuate your case and its
significance for the audience.
One final note about conclusions bears mentioning. Conclusions should
not be very long. In fact, they should take about as long as your introduction,
and thus typically account for no more than 20% of the speech time. If your
conclusion rambles on it loses its effectiveness and you lose your audience. If it
is too short, your audience may never truly understand the point of your speech.
Remember, your conclusion is the last chance you have to underscore your case
and its importance for your audience.
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Table 13.3
Tips for a Persuasive Speech Conclusion
• Have a signpost at the beginning of the conclusion
• Summarize the main points
• Do not present new evidence
• Emphasize fundamental points
• Build up the clincher
• Accentuate the speech body and case
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• Do not wait this late to present persuasive appeals
• Make it approximately the same length as the introduction
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Conclusions are essential elements of any good persuasive speech.
They involve letting the audience know you are almost finished, restating your
argument and main points, and clinching your appeal with a call to action. They
share some similarities with conclusions for informative speeches, but there
are key differences you must be aware of when putting together your speech.
Developing strong introductions and conclusions is only two-thirds of the process
of crafting a successful persuasive appeal. In the next section we will explore the
various methods that you might use to properly organize the “meat” of the speech
in developing your persuasive speech.
Organizational Patterns
for
Persuasive Speeches
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The general and specific purpose of a persuasive speech differ from those
of an informative address, but they too help you determine how to arrange your
points. A closing argument in a courtroom is a persuasive speech where the
general purpose is “to persuade” and the specific purpose is tied to the facts of
the case. For example, the lawyer for Kelly, who was accused of stealing money
from a CVS pharmacy, gave a closing argument where the specific purpose was
“to persuade the jury that Kelly did not steal the money
because she had no motive or opportunity to commit
the crime.” This specific purpose statement encouraged
the lawyer to use a particular organizational pattern
to accomplish their speaking goals. In this section
of the chapter we will detail some of the common
organizational strategies you can effectively employ for
both persuasive speeches.
Persuasive speeches have very different general and
specific purposes than informative/technical speeches,
but just like informative/technical speeches the specific
purpose often dictates what organizational pattern
should be used. Persuasive speeches can be directed at
A lawyer persuading the jury
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Spotlighting Theorists: Alan H. Monroe
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Alan H. Monroe served as a member of the faculty at Purdue
University in Indiana beginning in 1924. He was initially hired
as an instructor in English to teach basic courses in the English
Department. He quickly infused the English curriculum with
classes such as Principles of Speech and Debating in English.
Today, we recognize these topics as communication rather than
English courses. Through Monroe’s efforts Purdue University
established a strong communication department known for
teaching and research.7
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In 1927 Monroe became the head of the speech faculty in the
English department at Purdue, but he was not formally recognized
in that role until 1941. Along with other members of the then
English Department at Purdue, Monroe led efforts during the 1930s
to expand the curriculum, specifically adding courses in oral
interpretation, public address and debate. In 1935 Monroe published the first edition of
his book Principles and Types of Speech, which is now in its 16th edition, a testament to
the ingenuity and importance of what Monroe accomplished while at Purdue.
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In 1948 Purdue inaugurated its own Ph.D. program in speech communication, largely
through Monroe’s efforts. Monroe worked using relationships he had developed in the
Purdue Department of Psychology to help push the Speech Communication Department
toward a Ph.D. program. He eventually resigned as head of the department in 1963
having successfully entrenched communication as its own department separate from
English, with a robust undergraduate and graduate curriculum.
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As a researcher Monroe is best remembered for the development of the Monroe’s
Motivated Sequence model for persuasive speeches that seek immediate action. This
model is still taught today, and if you look closely you can see it at play in things as
varied as commercials and political speeches. Alan Monroe truly made a mark on the
campus of Purdue University as well as the discipline of communication and public
speaking education.
a specific problem or the problem’s fundamental cause. They also can be focused
on stating one option is better than another. Finally, there are persuasive speeches
that attempt to move people to immediate action. Depending on which of these is
your goal, you may choose any one of four potential organizational patterns.
If you seek to convince an audience that a specific policy or action will
solve an existing problem, the problem-solution order might be best. In this
arrangement you first must convince the audience that there is a problem, and
then make the case that the solution you propose will alleviate that problem.
Lionel, for example, is tired of the potholes in the road in front of his house, so he
attends the City Council meeting and addresses the members. First he explains
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problemsolution order
a means of organizing a persuasive
speech where you
discuss the problem first and follow
with a discussion
of your preferred
solution
The Speaker: The Tradition and Practice of Public Speaking
that the road in front of his house contains ten potholes in a three block span,
and then informs the council that they have caused several thousand dollars in
damage to the cars that drive that road in the last month alone. He then proposes
to them that they use city funds to fill the potholes with macadam to avoid further
damage.
Here Lionel detailed the problem and proposed a solution once the
problem became clear to everyone. Using the problem-solution order this speech
would roughly look like the following:
Body
Main point: State of the Road in front of the house (Problem)
Main point: Funding road repairs
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I.
II.
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III.
Main point: The state of the road in front of his house (Problem)
Main point: The poor weathering of the road when last repaired
(Cause)
Main point: Funding for proper road repairs (Solution)
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His arrangement now is problem-cause-solution order where he first discusses the
immediate problem, then explains what caused it, and finally provides a solution
that addresses both the potholes and the poor street design.
Continuing with the example of Lionel and the dangerous potholes,
perhaps he is not the only one who has brought this issue to the attention of the
City Council. In fact, the council already knows about and agrees there is a
problem and its cause is poor street design. Let’s say that the day before Lionel
arrives to give his speech they come out in favor of a plan to fill the potholes,
but not redesign the street because it would be cost prohibitive to do so. Lionel,
aware of this alternate plan, needs a different specific purpose and organizational
pattern than in either of the two previous scenarios. Now his specific purpose
is “to persuade his audience that by paying the money to fix the street now is a
better solution than simply fixing the potholes.”
He then structures the body of this speech by using comparative advantage
where every main point in the argument explains why redesigning the street is
better than just fixing the potholes and not addressing their root cause.
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a means of organizing a persuasive
speech where you
discuss the problem
first, then its root
cause and follow
with a discussion of
your preferred solution that addresses
both the problem
and its inherent
cause
Body
I.
II.
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problem-causesolution order
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This can be an effective way of convincing an audience to support your plan;
however it is not always the most compelling way to propose a solution.
In the case of Lionel, would it not make even better sense not to just fix the
problem at hand, but address its root cause as well? This would involve changing
the specific purpose and, as a result, the organization of the main points in the
speech. His specific purpose would change to reflect his new goal, and it would
be something like this: “to persuade the audience to redesign the street where
potholes have damaged cars so that they will not occur again.”
The goal for Lionel now is to address the problem (potholes) by providing
a solution to it and its cause (poor design of the street).
comparative
advantage
an organizational
pattern that uses
each main point
to explain why the
speaker’’s solution is
better than another
proposed solution.
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Crafting a Persuasive Speech
Body
I.
II.
III.
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Main point: Fixing potholes is temporary, proper repair permanent
Main point: Fixing road creates smoother surface
Main point: Fixing road correctly less expensive in long run
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The case of Lionel and his topic illustrates ways of organizing persuasive speeches
regarding policy in situations where immediate action is neither sought nor
required. What about those speeches where immediate action is the goal?
The fourth organizational pattern for your main points we will discuss
provides a way to effectively arrange a speech designed to incite immediate action
in your audience. Alan Monroe, a professor at Purdue University, developed
what we call Monroe’s Motivated Sequence in the 1930s. The five-step sequence
combines psychological elements with speech persuasion in an effort to move an
audience to action. First, Monroe advocated something the Greeks and Romans
we discussed earlier also called for: getting the attention of your audience. Then
he argued a speaker should clearly lay out the need for change, something again
advocated by the classical philosophers we discussed earlier. Once you clearly
establish the problem you satisfy the need by providing a solution to that problem.
Fourth, Monroe’s sequence calls for you to intensify the audience’s desire for
your solution to the problem by visualizing its success. This involves the use of
imagery, and asks the audience to actually see themselves doing what you call
for—at least to see it in their mind’s eye. Finally, once you state your case and
have gotten your audience to visualize what life would be when it was successful,
using emotionally stirring language you tell them how to act.6
As an example: a student wants to persuade his audience to get involved
in cleaning up a nearby park that is strewn with trash and debris. He then
composes the following order for his points using Monroe’s Motivated Sequence:
“Do you think we should have a pleasant outdoor place to
enjoy nature, to hang out with friends?” To take walks, play
sports, have cookouts and entertain?
Need:
“We do not have that on our campus, and there is a nearby
park we could use, but it is overrun with weeds, trash,
and is currently unacceptable.” (Pictures would be a good
visual aid at this juncture)
Satisfaction: “We could all pitch in, share the work, and it would not be
that big a burden on anyone.”
Visualization: “A place to hang out, play ball, walk, enjoy fresh air and
nature, and have cookouts, and we would have made that
possible.” (Visuals of a beautiful outdoor setting would be
effective at this point).
“Will you join me in making this dream come true? Again,
Action: the work will be shared, and we will have made an
improvement for all to enjoy.”
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Attention: Obviously, this scenario would need to be fleshed out in detail, but, again, the
motivated sequence can be a highly effective model for the speaker to use.
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Monroe’s Motivated Sequence
a five-step organizational pattern that
combines psychological elements
with speech persuasion to move an
audience to action
The Speaker: The Tradition and Practice of Public Speaking
Whether you are debating policy positions, factual accuracies, the value of
one solution over another, or calling an audience to act there are a wide variety of
organizational patterns you can use in a persuasive speech. Just like informative
speeches, persuasive speech arrangement largely depends on the formulation of
your specific purpose, but once that is crafted the speech can quickly take shape.
Knowing what the main parts of a speech are, and how you can organize your
main points help you get ready to prepare your presentation. The most crucial
step in speech creation remains organizing the product of your research in a
cogent, coherent and persuasive manner.
Table 13.4
• Problem-solution
• Problem-cause-solution
• Comparative advantage
Summary
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• Monroe’s Motivated Sequence
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Organizational Patterns for Persuasive Speeches
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The Greeks and Romans separated persuasive speeches into a variety
of different parts: the exordium, narrative and peroration. They paid particular
attention to the narrative and broke it down into several component parts
including the statement of facts, argument proper, and refutation. Today we use
terms like introduction, body and conclusion to describe the elements of a speech,
but the ideas about what must be done in each part to achieve a persuasive
purpose are the same. In this chapter we also identified some of the common
elements between informative and persuasive speeches, while also elaborating
on the differences; most notably those differences related to the various different
ways you can organize a persuasive speech. Finally, we encourage you to look at
the appendix on outlining at the end of the textbook so you can see models and a
worksheet for helping you develop your persuasive speech.
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Key Terms
argument - 227
comparative advantage - 234
exordium - 224
insinuation - 225
introduction - 225
Monroe’s Motivated Sequence - 235
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peroration -228
principle of recency - 228
problem-cause-solution order - 234
problem-solution order - 233
refutation - 227
statement of fact - 226
Crafting a Persuasive Speech
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Review Questions
1) What are the three components of persuasive speeches according to the
Greeks and Romans?
2) What are the two types of exordiums proposed by Cicero?
3) What four things did Aristotle say a peroration should do?
4) What are the four ways you can organize the main points in a persuasive
speech?
Think About It
1) Would it ever be a good time to present your strongest argument first?
2) How do you measure whether your credibility increases or decreases
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3) Is it ethical to induce emotions in a conclusion, or any part of the speech?
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Why or why not?
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5) What are the five parts of Monroe’s Motivated Sequence?
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Endnotes
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1 Toastmasters International, “What is Toastmasters?” http://www.toastmasters.org/
MainMenuCategories/WhatisToastmasters.aspx (accessed: September 19, 2008).
2 Toastmasters International, “Community Service,” http://www.toastmasters.org/
MainMenuCategories/WhatisToastmasters/CommunityService.aspx (accessed:
September 19, 2008).
3 Quintilian, The Institutes of Oratory, translated by H.E. Butler, Loeb Classical
Library. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1980, IV, i 5).
4 Ibid, V, xii, 5.
5 Sharon Crowley and Debra Hawhee, Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary
Students, 4th Ed. (New York: Pearson Education, 2008).
6 Raymie E. McKerrow, Bruce E. Gronbeck, Douglas Ehninger, and Alan H.
Monroe, Principles and Types of Speech Communication, 15th Ed. (New York:
Longman: 2003).
7 W. Charles Redding, “An Informal History of Communication at Purdue,” http://
www.cla.purdue.edu/communication/graduate/informalhistory.pdf.
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