Public Speaking Chapter Eleven

Purpose of an Outline:
- Be sure that you have covered the topic adequately
- Clarify and choose the best organizational strategy
- Check the organizational pattern
- Become familiar with the claims that are intended to be made
Outline: a display of the organizational pattern of the speech
Steps to Develop the Outline:
- List the ideas planned on being developed in the speech
- Determine which of the topics subsume other ideas, rearrange and group together ideas
that are closely related
- Diagram the relationship between ideas using mapping
- Determine the order in which you want to discuss the main ideas
- Preparation outline is used in composing the speech
- Presentation outline is simpler and briefer and is used as a memory aid
Preparation Outline: a detailed outline, usually written in complete sentences, used to develop
a clear organizational structure during preparation of the speech
Presentation Outline: a brief outline usually containing only key words used as a memory aid
during delivery
Good Outlines:
- Indicated the hierarchy of importance of ideas within the speech
- If the preparation outline needs more than four levels of importance then the thesis is too
broad
- Main ideas are signaled by roman numerals
- Subheadings are signaled by capital letters
- Evidence for subheadings are signaled by Arabic numbers
- Support for the evidence is signaled by lowercase letters
I. Main Idea
A. Supporting Idea
1. Evidence
a. Support for the Evidence
Outlining the Body:
- By writing the outline in complete sentences the speaker will be forced to specify the
claims they plan on making
- A primary purpose of the preparation outline is to map out the relationship between
claims and supporting materials
- Supporting materials should be outlined as indented under that idea
- Ideas with the same level of importance should be designated with the same symbol
series- all with roman numerals or all with capital letters or so on
- Items that are the same level of importance are parallel or coordinate statements
- Each element of the outline should express only one idea so that the speaker does not mix
together themes that should be developed separately
Subordination: Designating the supporting materials for a main idea with the subordinate
symbol and indentation system in an outline
Coordination: Designating all ideas that are on the same level of importance with the same
symbol series and level of indentation in an outline
Outlining Introductions and Conclusions:
- For the introduction these elements typically include the following:
o Attention Getting Device
o Credibility
§ Speaker- Ethos
§ Topic- Relevance
o Statement of the thesis
o Preview of the speech
- For the conclusion these elements typically include the following:
o Summary of main ideas
o Action desired from audience
o Closure device
- If the speaker needs to make the transitions explicit they can incorporate them by making
notes in parenthesis in between the items in the outline that the transition links
Citing Supporting Materials:
- Pile all the notes into piles that relate to each other
- This process has two benefits
o Evaluate the supporting materials
o Discover which ideas still lack supporting materials
- There are three ways to organize the supporting materials in an outline
o Reproduce the supporting material immediately below the idea to which it relates
o Use footnotes in the outline and the reproduce the supporting materials at the end
o Attach a bibliography indicating the sources of supporting materials
- Even if the speaker cites supporting materials in the outline they will often need a
bibliography at the end
Guidelines for a Presentation Outline:
- Devise a clear and meaningful structure for the speech in preparation and follow the same
structure in the presentation outline
- The speaking outline should use key words that remind the speaker of their ideas
- Each key word should cause the speaker to complete the statement that is on the
preparation outline, if not change the key word
- The speaking outline can have separate sections for the introduction and conclusion and
can show transitions as notes in parenthesis
- The attention getting step in the introduction and the closure developing step in the
conclusion may be written out word for word or even committed to memory
- Notecards are more compact, easier to rearrange, and less distracting but be sure not to
overload them if you are using them
Reference to Supporting Materials:
- The presentation outline should cue the speaker about what supporting materials to use
- In most cases the oral citation will include
o The name of the person being quoted
o A brief mention of his or her qualification if they are not obvious
o The date, at least the year
o The title of the book, name of the journal or newspaper, or identity of other
sources
- The easiest way to prepare oral citations is to put them on the note cards you will use
with the presentation outline
- The speaking outline can also include reminders to the speaker as long as they are brief,
such as slow down, pause, or repeat
- The stage directions can also include cues to remind the speaker when to refer to visual
aids
- The speaking outline should follow the exact structure of the preparation outline