Chapter Seven Outline
Organizing the Speech: The Body
I. Why is organization important
A. For listeners- *** Isn’t hard to follow a conversation when the
person keeps changing the topic and jumping around? Share some
personal experiences
~ Well, some of the same feelings are present when someone gives a
speech without organization.
1. Helps the audience remember
2. Encourages active listening
3. Helps listeners anticipate materials
B. For speakers *** Have you ever had a conversation where you were
jumping around and you left out important information or lost you
train of thought? Organization also helps the speaker.
1. Facilitates strategic planning
2. Provides a check
II. Selective Main Ideas
A. Identify your main ideas- Addresses issues in your thesis
statement. Main division of your speech.
1. From your thesis to your specific purpose what you want to say
2. From Patterns in your research- mentions something over and
over
B. Choosing among main ideas- have to remember you time limit,
audiences attention span, etc. You can’t say everything you want to
say, so you make choices.
C. Criteria for selecting the main idea- Choose the best arguments, best
ideas, best research, etc. What would make your speech the
strongest it could possibly be.
1. Is the ideal essential?
2. Can a more general statement combine several ideas?
D. Characteristics of the main ideas
1. Simplicity- Simple is smarter so audience does not get lost
2. Discreteness- Don’t say something in 20 words you could
say in 10
3. Parallel structure- Use similar grammar structure, sometime it
helps to use acronyms such as the “3 C’s” or spelling out a
word with main points.
4. Balance- Same length for each main idea section
5. Coherence- clearly relating, flows well
6. Completeness- Don’t leave important stuff out.
III. Arranging the main idea
A. Factors affecting arrangement
1. Are the main ideas independent?
a. Dependent ideas are linked- like a story, each section is
builds upon the next. Helps with flow and
