Informative Speech

It’s time to take what you’ve learned from all of your prior presentations and add an element of research to create your Informative Speech. You have to be cautious when choosing an Informative topic, as it’s easy to confuse the Informative Speech and a Persuasive Speech as the same thing. However an Informative Speech JUST provides information. The most basic informative speech is the kind that teaches us (much in the way the Demonstration Speech taught us) something detailed about a topic with which we are already familiar. For instance, we know George Washington was our first President, but a lot of people don’t know much about his life prior to the military or serving in office. That would make for an interesting Informative Speech. 

With an informative Speech, you’ll want to establish credibility by referencing and citing your materials. For example:  “In the July 13, 2007 edition of the New York Times, John Smith said that George Washington suffered from depression as a young boy.” It is critical that you discuss where you found your information in order to maintain your credibility.

A few parameters:

1.    Your speech should be 5-10 minutes in length. 

2.    Feel free to incorporate visual aids. This is not mandatory, but it makes for a better presentation, as we learned last week.

3.    Cite a minimum of two different sources for your materials. Do NOT use Wikipedia as a source. Please copy and paste these sources into the ‘comments’ area when submitting or submit as a paper. I will evaluate your sources.

4.    Be sure to have a good introduction, a body that contains at least three main points (with appropriate supporting evidence) and a conclusion that appropriately wraps everything up.

As always, you may draft your speech word for word, but be very careful not to simply read from your paper! We want eye contact and emotion!  Good luck with this assignment and have fun!