Page 235 - Essentials of Human Communication

214 CHAPTER 11 Public Speaking Preparation (Steps 1–6)

such as the Gallup Poll, the Marist Poll, or Pew Research Center. Or take a look at what peo-
ple are talking about on social media sites. What are people tweeting about? What are they
posting about? You can also conduct a survey yourself through a variety of social media
sites or classroom management systems.
● Check news sites. A useful starting point is your online news page, which will provide you
with important international, domestic, financial, and social issues all conveniently acces-
sible from one screen. But, of course, news items also appear on Twitter and on blogs and
a variety of social media sites.

limiting Your topic Plan to cover a limited topic in depth, rather than a broad topic
superficially. The limiting process is simple: Repeatedly divide the topic into its significant
parts. First, divide your general topic into its component parts, then divide one of these parts
into its component parts. Continue until you arrive at a topic that seems manageable—a topic
that you can reasonably cover in some depth in the allotted time.
For example, if you were to take mass communication as a general topic area (see
Figure 11.4), it would take you, without some limitation, a lifetime to cover adequately. But
you could divide this general subject into subtopics, such as Internet, film, television, radio,
and advertising. You could then select one of these topics and further subdivide it. For exam-
ple, you could subdivide television into comedy, children’s programs, educational programs,
news, movies, soap operas, game shows, and sports. You might then take one of these topics,
say comedy, and divide it into subtopics. You might consider comedy on a time basis and
divide television comedy into its significant time periods: pre-1960, 1961–2000, and 2001 to
the present. Or you might focus on situation comedies. Here you might examine a topic such
as “Women in Television Comedy,” “Race Relations in Situation Comedy,” or “Families in
Television Comedies.” At this stage the topic is beginning to look manageable.

YOur PurPOses
Watch the Video In some cases you’ll select your topic and purpose almost simultaneously. At other times
“Martin Cox Discusses you’ll select your topic and later formulate your purpose. In preparing public speeches, you’ll
Tips on Developing the Pur- need to formulate both a general and a specific purpose.
pose of a Speech” at
MyCommunicationLab

Mass
Communication

Internet Film Television Radio Advertising

Reality Comedy News Soaps Sports Quiz

figure 11.4 Women in Men in Relationships
tree diagram for limiting speech topics
Here is a tree diagram illustrating how a topic
can be divided until it becomes manageable Friendship Business Romantic Family
for a short speech: “Same-Sex Business Rela-
tionships in television Soaps.” Construct a dif-
ferent tree diagram by selecting Internet, Same sex Opposite sex
film, radio, Television, or advertising as a topic
and subdividing it until you reach a level that
would be appropriate for a 5- to 10-minute
informative or persuasive speech.