Instructions:

Your formal persuasive speech is designed to help you develop persuasive speech making skills. Your goal is to persuade your audience for or against a Question of Policy. Questions of Policy inevitably involve Questions of Fact and Questions of Value BUT Questions of Policy always go beyond both to decide whether something should or should not be done.  In other words, Questions of Policy attempt to persuade an audience that a specific course of action should or should not be taken.  You may seek either passive agreement or immediate action from the audience, both of which should include all three (3) basic issues of policy speeches – need, plan, and practicality.

A variety of topics would be appropriate. For example, you might try to persuade us that marijuana should be legalized in all 50 states, to agree that a security fence should/should not be constructed along the US/Mexico border, to create a living will, to vote for a total ban on human cloning, that school districts should not allow soft-drink companies to stock their products in school vending machines, or that we should put an end to the violence on television.

Requirements & Evaluation Criteria:

1. A visual aid is required for this presentation. Practice with your visual aid ahead of time so it will fit smoothly into your presentation. See the Presentational Aids reading for types of visual aids you can use.
2. Your speech should be effectively organized following one of the organizational patterns discussed in Module 2, outlined following formal outline format, introduced and concluded.
3. Your speech should be supported with at least 6 pieces of supporting materials. Your examples, statistics, and quotations need to be cited in 1) your speech, 2) your speech outline, and 3) your bibliography. You must use a minimum of 3 DIFFERENT TYPES of sources, with a minimum of 4 total sources in your bibliography. Of these sources no more than 1 can be an interview. Be sure to: 1) verbally cite the original source of information (a data base like Wikipedia or Ebscohost is NOT a source, but a compilation from many sources) including WHO the source is and why they are qualified must be cited in your speech, 2) include APA or MLA in-text citations in your Preparation Outline where the supporting material from the source occurs, and 3) include an APA or MLA  Reference List. Remember to incorporate your sources and citations into your speech delivery (e.g. “Time reported in March, 2017, …).
4. Your speech should include stylized language and arresting images by using a minimum of 2 language devices discussed in Module 7 (metaphors, similes, alliteration, parallelism, antithesis, or repetition.) Label the language devices on your preparation outline.
5. You should utilize the audience analysis questionnaire in you created in Module 05 (with 2 fixed-alternative questions, 2 scale questions, and 2 open-ended questions – see text example on page 112) using Google Forms. A tally of your survey results and typed paragraph describing what you did in developing the speech to adapt to your audience must accompany the outline (you can make them all in one document to attach to your speech in Connect). You should plan to mention your survey results in your speech. 
6. Your preparation outline must be prepared and typed following formal outline format (see the 10 Rules for Outlining). You may request your instructor to review a draft copy of your outline ahead of time.
7. Your speech must be delivered extemporaneously from brief notes. Do NOT prepare a speech manuscript; do NOT memorize a manuscript. Be sure your note card is clear, concise, brief, and easy for you to see while delivering your speech.