Name

COMM 1100 Section #

Date

Persuasive Speech

Three Argument Format

Rough/Final Draft (indicate one)

I. Introduction

a. Attention Getter: (Grab the audience’s attention here by starting to build either pathos or logos – consider using a powerful story/example/quote, startling statistic, or thought provoking rhetorical questions)

b. Background & Audience Relevance: (Give a 1-2 sentence summary that starts to paint a vivid picture of the problem/issue that is the focus of your speech. Connect your audience to this issue by analyzing your audience’s demographics/intersectional identities and how this issue might specifically impact them)

c. Speaker Credibility: (Explain why you are credible to talk about this topic by including your experience, your passion, and your research on this issue/problem)

d. Thesis: (One sentence summary of your speech. For a persuasive speech, this should be a cohesive summary of the problem and the action(s) that you’re trying to convince your audience to take – change of value, belief, or policy – for example: “Reliable access to clean water is a basic right and remains a consistent issue in many areas of this country which is why we must implore our government to pass the Clean Water Act.”)

e. Preview of Main Points: (Briefly preview the three arguments that support your thesis and include signposts – for example, “First, I will argue that the Clean Water Act can eliminate lead and other toxins in our water, then I will describe how the Clean Water Act can reduce water waste and meet the needs of a changing climate, and finally, I will prove that the Clean Water Act would produce much needed jobs.” or by saying, “Today I will argue three reasons why the Clean Water Act is an important piece of legislation in providing more people with access to clean water. First, it can…”

Transition to 1st Main Point: (Signpost (“First”), and preview (“I will start by arguing how the Clean Water Act will eliminate toxins and poisons from water systems”)

Main Point 1: (First argument that supports your thesis – what is your first distinct reason why your audience should change their values, beliefs, or actions?)

f. Sub-point A: (First aspect of your argument and supporting evidence for argument. For example, if your first argument is that the Clean Water Act will eliminate toxins, then you might want to go over examples/stats here of how many people have been impacted by toxic water and build proof that there is a problem)

g. Sub-point B: (Second aspect of your argument and supporting evidence for argument. For example, here you might want to go over aspects of the policy that specifically address and try to fix toxins in the water. You would want to provide supporting evidence for how the policy plans to address this issue)

Transition to 2nd Main Point: Signpost (“Now”), review (“that I have argued that the Clean Water Act will solve toxicity in our water”), preview (“next, I want to argue that the Clean Water Act will help us become more water wise”)

II. Main Point 2: (Second argument that supports your thesis – what is your second distinct reason why your audience should change their values, beliefs, or actions?)

a. Sub-point A: (First aspect of your argument and supporting evidence)

b. Sub-point B: (Second aspect of your argument and supporting evidence)

Transition to 3rd Main Point: Signpost (“Now”), review (“that I have argued that the Clean Water Act will help us become more water wise”), preview (“finally, I want to argue that the Clean Water Act will provide us with more jobs”)

III. Main Point 3: (Third argument that supports your thesis – what is your third distinct reason why your audience should change their values, beliefs, or actions?)

a. Sub-point A: (First aspect of this argument and supporting evidence)

b. Sub-point B: (Second aspect of this argument and supporting evidence)

Transition and Signal to Conclusion: signpost (“Now”), review (“that I have argued how we can create more jobs with the passing of the Clean Water Act”), and include a phrase that tells us you’re moving to your conclusion (“I will wrap this all up”)

IV. Conclusion

a. Review Main Points: (Restate the preview from your introduction and change the verbs to be past tense) (“First, I advocated for…then we considered another reason for the importance of the Clean Water Act, which is…and lastly, I argued that…”)

b. Restate Thesis: (copy and paste your thesis from your introduction)

c. Memorable Closer: (The last thing you’re going to say in your speech – this is your last opportunity to call your audience to action, so be creative and strong in your last statement)

d.

References

Example APA Reference:

Overbye, D. (2020, July 10). Beyond the Milky Way, a galactic wall. The New York Times.

Last name, First Initial (Year, Month Date). Title of article in italics. Name of Source. URL

APA Reminders:

1.) List should be in alphabetical order by author’s last name or source/organization name (if author is not present)

2.) Author’s last name should appear first, followed by a comma and first initial of first name

3.) Year always comes first, before month and date and should be in parenthesis

4.) If there is no date, use (N.D.)

5.) If there is no date, use retrieved from date before URL. Example: Retrieved January 21st, 2020, from URL.

6.) Use Chapter 7 for further help formatting both references and in-text oral citations