Moultry

Speech #3 The Evolution of a Belief and Advocacy

Topic: For this 5-7 minute speech, reflect upon how your experience with
and increased knowledge of the subject have caused you to reject, seriously
reconsider, or more firmly accept the validity of the belief you were asked to
blindly accept as a child. Then, based on your newly informed position,
come up with a feasible intervention and a means of putting it into the
world to convince other people to take part. This assignment has four
elements:
1. What is your newly informed position? Reflect on how your
personal experiences, world events, experiences of friends, extensive
research on the controversy you have selected for Speech 2, etc. have
caused you to consider or reconsider the validity of the belief you
have chosen for your speech sequence. This part of your speech
should reflect a progression over time from a simple, untested value
judgment (x is good/bad, x is moral/immoral, x is right/wrong) to a
more complex perspective that takes into account personal
experiences you have had and the research you have done on the
issue.
Though you will use personal experience for this part of the speech,
you will also need to use the research you did for Speech #2at
least 2 sources (you may well need to consult additional sources that
pertain to your current position) in order to illustrate to your audience
that the belief you hold is credible and can be supported by evidence
and/or expert testimony. You will find that arguments become much
more effective when they include relevant facts, quotations, and other
forms of support rather than just opinion or unsupported
generalizations.
2. What is your feasible intervention? Based on your current
position, come up with a feasible intervention to the controversy you
mapped out in the last assignment. For this assignment, a feasible
intervention means something that addresses an aspect or two of the
problem that you consider most pressing and can be implemented
during your time in college. It is sure to have its own problems in
execution, but identifying them in the speech is beneficial and will
help you build your ethos with your audience (your classmates).
Also, discuss how your intervention compares with at least 1
other intervention that already exists to address the same
controversy (or a similar controversy). What are the advantages and
disadvantages of this other intervention? How is it similar and
dissimilar from the intervention you are proposing?

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3. Who is your audience? Decide which demographic audience is best

suited for your intervention. What is the best way to reach this
audience? A documentary, an ad campaign, a Power Point
presentation, a letter, a flyer, a poster, a class, an organization?
Consider why you think this is the best route to reach this audience.
Take into account any modifications or special arrangements you
might have to make to better target your audience. Remember, the
audience for your speech is your classmates. Keep appeals and logic
directed to your peers.
4. Go public. Once you have mapped out the one most effective method
of executing your intervention, do it. Make the ad campaign, flyers, or
presentation. Write out a lesson plan for a class. Make a trailer for
your documentary. Pay careful attention to public notices you see
every day: what makes you stop to read a poster or flyer? Why do you
always watch that one commercial or public service announcement?
What would draw you to a lecture or documentary showing? Use these
techniques and others to make your voice heard in public. Make sure
your intervention is presented in a way that can be shown in class
easily enough and does not take up too much of your speech time.
In a nutshell, your speech will inform the audience of your position after
going through the speech sequence, identify your feasible intervention in
detail, identify your target audience, identify the best way to reach them,
explain how you will execute your attempt to reach them, and explain your
visual. Being as realistic as possible about the process as you go will help
you identify problems early on and will help your class help you make your
project even more effective.
The most successful speeches will be rhetorically well-rounded and well
balanced with the narrative. Organization will have been carefully
considered and executed for maximum effectiveness. They will have a clear
and compelling claim that is well-supported by strong evidence. It will be
engaging and composed with the audience (your classmates) in mind.
Assignment Schedule:
1) Tuesday, April 22: Submit the first draft of your speech outline to
ICON dropbox by 9 am. Class time will be spent consulting with
every student about their outline.
2) Tuesday, April 29: Speech workshop focusing on editing ones script
with partner(s).

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3) Thursday, May 1: Speech workshop shifting from script to speech
performance.
4) Tuesday, May 6, and Thursday, May 8: Speech 3 due

What to Turn in on the Day of your Speech: Final outline of your speech
and a works cited page of at least 3 sources you used in your speech. Both of
these must be printed and stapled. Make sure that your outline reflects the
version of your speech that you will give that day, not the outline you turned
in as your first draft or any other version. Also, you must submit your final
outline and works cited page to the appropriate ICON dropbox before the
class period when you give your speech.