Persuasive Speech Outline Assignment Instructions
Overview
This course requires you to present a persuasive speech to a live, visually documented audience of 3 or more adults.
The Persuasive Speech Outline in a Nutshell
The Persuasive Speech Outline Assignment requires you to research and then, using the Persuasive Speech Outline Template as your guide (below), to create a fully developed speech outline in which you, first, define and establish the existence of a specific social problem somewhere in this world and then, second, propose and justify a specific solution for this social problem. You must justify the proposed solution at least partly by showing, with sound reasoning and credible supports, how the solution, if implemented, can promote something specific (identify it) that God values according to Scripture (provide supportive biblical references, with brief commentary, to validate your claim that God values this). Use Biblical supports—the Bible counts as one of your four sources—to show that your proposed solution is a good solution at least partly because it promises to promote something that God values according to Scripture.
Grading Criteria
Your speech grade will be determined by the degree to which you satisfy the requirements listed below.
Instructions
1. Topic: Proof a social problem exists and ajustified, proposed solution for it
This assignment requires you to research a global, national, regional, state or local problem that apparently exists because humans in general or a specific group of humans are neglecting their duty to promote the things God values in this world.
• The problem may be political, economic, educational,environmental, medical, religious, or cultural. It may be a false belief or set of beliefs (about God, nature, or other people) that needs correction, a wrongful attitude or type of attitude (toward God, nature, or other people) that needs adjustment, a neglectful or wrong way of acting (toward God, nature, or other people) that needs to change, or a state of needfulness or brokenness that exists as it does because of human indifference or inactivity.
• The problem must be a social one that deters many individuals—not just a few isolated lives—from experiencing life according to God’s Word as He intended.
Among the social issues that could generate a qualified speech topic are the following:
abortion, infanticide, or euthanasia
discrimination (racism, sexism, ageism)
abuse (child, elder, self, spousal)
ecology (climate change, pollution, littering)
addictions/codependency/eating disorders
education (underachievement or illiteracy)
air, land, or water pollution
famine, drought or diseases
animal abuse or vivisection
labor issues (child labor or sweatshops)
bioethics (cloning, eugenics, stem cell research)
marriage (divorce, cohabitation)
birth or population control
poverty (world hunger or homelessness)
crime (street, juvenile, gang, or white collar)
sex (pre-marital, extramarital, homosexual)
criminal justice (prison crowding, recidivism)
slavery or human trafficking
The following sites may be helpful for discovering or exploring these and other qualified topics (see the links found in the Resources section of the assignment page in Canvas):
Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity
The Heritage Foundation
Family Research Council
The Rutherford Institute
The American Enterprise Institute
The Pew Forum on Religion in Public Life
The Discovery Institute
The Jerry Falwell Library Research Portal
Speech Goals: Because this is a persuasive speech—a speech in which you try to persuade the audience to believe or value something or to act in a specific way—and because you are to use this particular speech to advocate a redemptive (i.e., God-honoring) solution to a social problem, your goal in this presentation is to use information from appropriately credited expert sources in 2 ways:
(1) To identify the social problem and to establish, with information from credible sources, that it exists somewhere in the world, and
(2) To prescribe a redemptive remedy for the problem—a remedy that, if implemented by someone or a group of people, would promote something that God, according to Scripture, values and that, if implemented, could help somebody experience life as God, according to His Word, meant it to be experienced. Review the course text’s appendices for a helpful, extended discussion of the redemptive approach to communicating.
Examples: In such a speech, you might use information from documented expert sources to establish that abortions claimed 630 lives in your home county last year. You would then use Scripture to argue that God values human life, including preborn human life. Finally, you could argue that the county must take 3 specific steps, described by you, to eliminate or diminish the frequency of abortion in the county. Alternatively, you might also use information from documented expert sources to establish that the federal government authorizes the use of a certain chemical in the treatment of drinking water and that credible research from sources A, B, and C indicates this chemical actually causes cancer. You could use Scripture to establish that God wants humans to protect the bodies he created. You would then argue that the federal government must take steps to protectpeople by banning the chemical from use in the treatment of drinking water.
As you promote something God values (e.g., life, quality of life, creation care, etc.) through this speech, be sure you do not condone or promote something God’s Word discourages or prohibits (e.g., fornication, adultery, homosexuality). After all, a solution is redemptive only if it promotes something thatGod values according to Scripture. If you are uncertain whether your proposed solution to a social problem satisfies this standard, discuss this in advance of the project’s deadline with your instructor.
Other Topic Selection Criteria: Your topic must satisfy not only the preceding criteria, but also the topic selection criteria set forth in the course reading materials and the Liberty University Online Honor Code. In addition, your topic must comply with the following:
• Choose a Topic You Can Address Ethically: Avoid any topic that leads you to portray legally or ethically questionable texts or behaviors in a favorable light. This includes but is not limited to theses that advance sexually promiscuous activity, the use of illegal substances, or other behaviors that Liberty University’s statement of values prohibits. Questions about the appropriateness of topics, sources, etc. should be directed to your instructor early in the speech-planning process.
• Choose a Topic You Can Address Originally: Your speech topics must be researched, selected, and delivered primarily for this course and not primarily for, or in conjunction with, a presentation for a church group, a Sunday School class, a social group, or any other small group. You may not give a speech that serves a double purpose.
• Choose a Topic You Can Address as Required by the Instructions: You must choose a topic that enables you to construct the speech in a way that satisfies the specific requirements of the corresponding Grading Rubric, which lists the criteria that your instructor will use when grading your presentation.
2. Form a thesis statement and research the topic.
Please note the following:
Process Overview: To do this, you should do the following:
(1) Form a preliminary thesis—a single-sentence statement that succinctly asserts the existence of a social problem and proposes a specific solution to for the social problem.Assume that this will be the main point of the speech.
(2) Research credible sources for thesis-related information about your topic.
(3) Finalize your thesis, modifying it if necessary to match what your research disclosed.
(4) Express this finalized thesis as a complete thought in a single-sentence topic-related statement that expresses the speech’s central idea.
(5) Choose the information from your research that most powerfully delivers the type of information that this thesis statement requires.
(6) Present this information in a logically sequenced outline of properly documented, alphanumerically-prefixed main points, sub-points, and perhaps even sub-sub-points, using the Persuasive Speech Outline Template document as your formatting guide.
What is alphanumeric prefixing? This means you should use Roman numerals to denote main points (e.g., I, II, or III), capital letters to denote a main point’s subpoints (e.g., A, B or C), Arabic numerals to denote a sub-point’s sub-sub-points (e.g., 1, 2, or 3), etc. See the sample outline and the template, which already include this, for guidance.
(7) Your outline in its final form will serve as the blueprint that you mentally must follow while extemporaneously delivering the speech to your audience.
Source-Related Requirements: For your persuasive speech, you are required to use 4 expert sources. You must use and clearly cite examples, illustrations, statistics, quotations from experts, etc. from at least 4 expert sources in this project. An expert source is a person, group of persons, or organization with documentable expertise in the area it addresses. Information from such sources typically derives from personal interviews with credentialed experts or from documentable print and/or electronic publications.
• The Bible as an Expert Source: While you may of course use the Bible as a source when related to your topic, it must be in addition to the 4 required sources.
• Non-Expert Sources: Never use information from anonymous or questionable sources such as Wikipedia or any printed source authored by someone whose credentials for addressing the topic are not clearly established.
• Liberty University Database Source Options: It behooves you to consult the Jerry Falwell Library for access to many potentially useful, credible databases.
3. Organize your information in the form of a conventional speech outline.
After you have finished your topic-related research and found what you believe to be enough credible information to support your original thesis statement or a modified version of the thesis, begin the process of organizing it in the form of a speech outline.
Be sure to satisfy the following guidelines:
Create a Draft Outline and then a Final Outline: The speech outline process involves 2 submissions. If you post the optional draft outline, your instructor will provideconstructive feedback to it that can help you create a stronger final outline. Submit each outline via itsdesignated submission link during the module: week when it is due.
Use the Provided Outline Template to Build Your Outline: Download the MS-Word formatted Persuasive Speech Outline Template document, in the same “Instructions” area where you found this document. Retain all of its categories and its format, but be sure to overwrite its non-boldfaced content with content of your own that is appropriate for that element in a speech that aims to support your thesis about your topic.
Use Problem-Solution or Problem-Cause-Solution Pattern to Order Your Content: For the persuasive speech outline and speech, you must use the Problem-Solution or the Problem-Cause-Solution organizational pattern for addressing your topic. See your course materials for more about this pattern.
Include All Essential Outline Sections: These include the following:
• The introduction must be listed in this order: your attention-getter, credibility statement, thesis statement, and preview statement.
• The body must include 2–5 alphanumerically prefixed main points, each with alphanumerically prefixed supportive subpoints, and perhaps even sub-subpoints.These will consist mainly of documented examples, illustrations, statistics, quotations from experts, etc. that you have derived from the 4 or more expert sources that this project requires.
• The conclusion must include a summary statement, a call to action, and a concluding element that refocuses the audience’s attention on the thesis.
• The Works Cited (MLA), Reference page (APA), or Bibliography (Turabian)—retain the header that your chosen manual requires and delete the other two—must properly credit your sources and must do so in the format that your chosen manual requires. See the style manual itself or see the CASAS Writing Style Guides site for guidance.
Document Your Sources Properly: Do so both in the outline itself and on an end-of-document source citation page.
• Use In-Text and End-Page Citations: Whether you directly quote, summarize, or paraphrase information from another source, always explicitly acknowledge the source from which you derived the information.
• Always Offset Direct Quotes with Quotation Marks! Place directly quoted words inside double-quotation marks to make it clear that you are not claiming to be the originator of the quotation’s wording. Failure to use double-quotation marks to offset directly quoted material constitutes plagiarism. Plagiarism a serious academic offense that can result in automatic failure of the assignment or automatic failure of the course (see the Liberty University Honor Code for more information about this).
• Avoid Plagiarism! Always explicitly attribute informationto the source from which you derived it. This requires you to place directly quotes words inside double-quotation marks and to use parenthetical citations or footnotes after the quote to show in the outline textwhich information derives from which expert source. This also requires you to create a corresponding Works Cited (MLA) page, a References page (APA), or a Bibliography page (Turabian) that lists the used sourcesin the format prescribed by the style manual that you choose for this project.
• Use Direct Quotes Sparingly: If you include directly quoted material from another source in your outline, it must account for no more than 20-percent of the outline’s content.
