Developing Purpose and Thesis Statements

Objectives

• Prepare purpose statements and thesis statements for speech topics
• Apply standard methods for creating fully developed speech topics

Assignment Overview

In this writing assignment, you will practice selecting a topic and developing purpose and thesis statements for an Informative Speech. This speech informs your audience about a topic. It should be a topic that most people might not know much about such as a hobby you have or an interest you may have, such as history or beekeeping. Write about something you are interested in and might want to know more about or you want to share your knowledge with others.

Deliverables

A one-page (250-word) paper

Step 1  Consider the scenario. 

Imagine that you need to submit a proposal for an informative speech about one topic of your choice. If your proposal is accepted, you will have 30 minutes to present your speech.

Step 2  Paste the table. 

Copy and paste the following table into your document. Use this table to plan your speech.

 TopicGeneral PurposeSpecific PurposeThesisMain Points   Inform        Step 3  Enter a topic. 

Enter a topic suitable for Step 1 in the Topic column of the table.

Step 4  Enter the specific purpose. 

In the Specific Purpose cell, enter a specific purpose that matches the corresponding general purpose statement.

Step 5  Enter the thesis statement (TS). 

Enter a thesis based on the corresponding specific purpose statement.

Step 6  Identify and generate main points. 

Identify one resulting question and generate at least three main points. Enter the thesis statement, question, and main points into your word processing document using the format in the example shown here:

Example

Thesis Statement: The government should (or should not) provide health insurance coverage to all citizens.

Question: Why should the government provide health insurance coverage to all citizens?

Main Points:

• Health care is prohibitively expensive for citizens without health insurance.
• The first question you are asked when you call most doctors’ offices in the United States is, “What type of insurance do you have?”

People without health insurance may be unable to get the health care they need.