Requirements for Persuasive Speech

Visual Presentation

A few notes:

First I will hold you to the 5 minutes. Speeches can be no less than 5 minutes. It takes that long to argue your point thoroughly.

Second, your visual presentation should have at least 7 slides: an opening
slide, a slide to illustrate your introduction, slides to illustrate each of your
points, a slide to illustrate your conclusion, and a closing slide.

Logic is essential to persuasive speaking. Effective persuasive speaking uses a combination of strong logic, ethical appeal, and emotional appeal to build arguments that are both well-researched and believable. You MUST show your sources in this speech. If you don't have your sources quoted throughout your speech, it is nearly impossible to persuade someone who doesn't agree with you. You need to build credibility by doing your homework in this speech. 

I won't be opening the module for this speech a week early, as I have in the past speeches. This is the hardest speech you will give in this course, and I want you to take your time learning the persuasive process and preparing this speech. Trust me when I tell you to take your time on this one. It will pay off. 

Requirements for persuasive speech

Must be 5 minutes. Anything less than that will affect your grade.

It should be clear whether you are dealing with a question of fact, a question of value, or a question of policy. If you don't know what I mean, watch the video on organizing your persuasive speech from last week. You don't tell your audience what organization method you're using, but it should be very clear. 

You must have a visual presentation that contains at least 7 slides: an opening slide, a slide to illustrate your introduction, slides to illustrate each of your points, a slide to illustrate your conclusion, and a closing slide. While the minimum requirements are the same as the informative speech, visual presentations can make or break a persuasive speech. This is a great way for you to present evidence. Graphs are your friend in persuasive speaking, because they make numbers and concepts much easier for your audience to absorb. 

You must have an outline and works cited page, just as you did in the informative speech. Your outline should notbe the script for your speech. Your outline should conform to the concept of a presentation outline in Module 6 and meet APA guidelines.

Third, remember, your outline should notbe the script for your speech.
Your outline should conform to the concept of a presentation outline in
Module 6 and meet APA guidelines.

A few thoughts as you put together your persuasive speech:

The general criteria for this speech has been discussed in the videos and modules over the last two weeks, so if you're not sure go back and review. Be sure to send me a message if you're confused. 

You must have all the elements you did in your informative speeches, including visual presentation, outline, and bibliography.

You must take a stance on your issue. You cannot argue both sides, but you should be aware of the arguments on the other side of your issue.

Your arguments should be based on fact, not simply opinion or emotion. Some of you have taken on hot topics right now, and it is easy where there is national, emotionally charged rhetoric out there to assume that those who are arguing passionately on the issue are strong sources. They often are not, so please find non-biased sources as much as possible if you've taken on an emotional issue such as gun control, politics, or abortion. And make sure you argue your point of view from a logical perspective. It's fine to have some personal examples and thoughts, but I should be able to see that you're at least aware of the other side of your argument in the way you build your points. 

Your arguments should be based on evidence.Be sure your sources are credible and that you have cited all the information in your speech that comes from those sources. Every time you use a piece of information from your source, you need to speak a citation during your speech and also include that source in your bibliography. To borrow an idea without credit is plagiarism, as is taking your speech from somewhere else. Every semester, I end up failing at least one student who has taken their speech directly from another source. Make sure you're not that student.

Watch for fallacies of logic. If you're not sure what that means, please review last week's assignment.