your development as a public speaker.) That aspect is the connective statements, the subject of the next section.Connectivesor connective statements are broad terms that encompass several types of statements or phrases, butare generally designed to help “connect” parts of your speech to make it easier for audience members to follow.Connectives are tools that add to the planned redundancy and are methods for helping the audience listen, retaininformation, and follow your structure. In fact, it is one thing to have a well-organized speech. It is another for theaudience to be able to“consume” or understand that organization.Connectives in general perform a number of functions:Remind the audience of what has come beforeRemind the audience of the central focus or purpose of the speechForecast what is coming nextHelp the audience have a sense of context in the speech—where are we? (this is especially useful in alonger speech of twenty minutes or so)Explain the logical connection between the previous main idea(s) and next oneExplain your own mental processes in arranging the material as you haveKeeps the audience’s attention through repetition and a sense of movementConnectives can include “internal summaries,” “signposting,” “internal previews” or “bridging statements.” Each ofthese terms all help connect the main ideas of your speech for the audience, but they have different emphases andare useful for different types of speeches.Types of Connectives and ExamplesInternal summariesemphasize what has come before and remind the audience of what has been covered.“So far I have shown how the designers of King Tut’s burial tomb used the antechamber to scare away intrudersand the second chamber to prepare royal visitors for the experience of seeing the sarcophagus.”Internal previewslet your audience know what is coming up next in the speech and what to expect with regard tothe content of your speech.
Academic sources: often (not always) peer-reviewed by like-minded scholars in the field Active voice: when the subject in a sentence performs the action Ad hominem: connects a real or perceived flaw in a person’s character or behavior to an issue he or she supports, asserting that the flaw in character makes the position on the issue wrong Aesthetics: to captivate and evoke a felt experience for and with a live audience Aesthetic experience: when good speakers create a felt sense with their audience. Something happens where the audience is captivated by the speaker’s delivery of their argument After-dinner speech: humorous speeches that make a serious point Alliteration: the repetition of initial consonant sounds in a sentence or passage Appeal to traditional: the fallacy type that uses traditional practice as the reason for continuing a policy Appreciative listening: takes place while listening to music, poetry, or literature or watching a play or movie; listening that’s focused on appreciating the arts Argument: a series of statements in support of a claim, assertion, or proposition Asynchronous: the speech may be recorded and watched at a different time. Speech is not live Attitude: a positive or negative response to a person, idea, object, or policy Audible aids: musical excerpts, audio speech excerpts, and sound effects (see also: presentation aids) Bandwagon fallacy: fallacy that asserts that because something is popular (or seems to be), it is therefore good, correct, or desirable Brainstorming: the process and practice of searching to find ideas or information Call in: creating a message that implicates and relates to your audience; it is to summon Call-to-action: an action for the audience given by a speaker during a persuasive speech Cause/Effect Pattern: grouping information by the source or origin, followed by the effect Chart: a graphical representation of data or a sketch representing an ordered process Chronological organizational pattern groups information based on time order or in a set chronology—first this occurred, then this, then this, then that. Civic engagement: listening to information that’s relevant to your community/communities and using public outlets—voting, petitioning, or speaking— to participate in democracy. Claim: a declarative statement or assertion—it is something that you want your audience to accept or know Closed information system: information is behind a paywall or requires a subscription Commencement speech: speech to recognize and celebrate the achievements of a graduating class or other group of people Commemorative speech: speeches that pay tribute to a person, place, thing, or idea by publicly honoring, remembering, or memorializing Comprehensive listening: focused on understanding and remembering important information from a public speaking message Confirmation bias: “a tendency to search for or interpret information in a way that confirms one’s preconceptions” (Nickerson, 1998) Connective statements are broad terms that encompass several types of statements or phrases. They are generally designed to help “connect” parts of your speech to make it easier for audience members to follow. Connotative meaning: the idea suggested by or associated with a word at a cultural or personal level Constitutive communication: the idea that communication creates meaning and, thus, reality Context: the particular time and place that a speech occurs Critical listening: the audience member is evaluating the validity of the arguments and information and deciding whether the speaker is persuasive and whether the message should be accepted Critical thinking: decision-making based on evaluating and critiquing information Culture: the collection of language, values, beliefs, knowledge, rituals, and attitudes shared amongst a group Defamatory speech: false statement of fact to damage a person’s character Define: to set limits on something; defining a word is setting limits on what it means, how the audience should think about the word, and/or how you will use it Definitional speeches provide the meaning of an idea to the audience Deliberation: the process of discussing feasible choices that address community problems Delivery: part of the classic rhetorical cannon interested in how information is delivered Demagoguery: actions that attempt to manipulate by distorting an audience through prejudice and emotion. Demographics: sociocultural characteristics that identify and characterize populations – are common ways of organizing and gathering data about groups of people Denotative meaning: specific meaning associated with a word Diagrams: visual representations that simplify a complex process Digital oratory: thesis-driven, vocal, embodied public address that is housed within (online) new media platforms (also see: online public speaking) Discrete audience: the explicit, formal audience that shows up to a speech Dispersed audience: less defined and geographically unclear; often digital Elocution: in classical rhetoric, the art of delivering speeches, where pronunciation, vocal delivery, and gestures were key to effective public speaking Empathetic listening: understanding the feelings and motivations of another person, usually with a goal of helping Ethics: the practice of what’s right, virtuous, or good Ethnocentrism: the belief that one’s own culture is superior Ethos: the credibility of a speaker (see also: rhetorical appeals) Eulogy: speech given in honor of someone who has passed away Evidence: the proof or support for a claim Examples: specific instances to illuminate a concept Explicit audience: the group that’s present when a speaker directs their message Exploratory research: brainstorming strategies that spark curiosity Extemporaneous speaking is the presentation of a carefully planned and rehearsed speech, spoken in a conversational manner using brief notes. Facts: observations that verified by multiple credible sources Fallacies: erroneous conclusions or statements made from poor analyses False cause: a fallacy that assumes that one thing causes another, but there is no logical connection between the two False dilemma: the “either-or” fallacy, or giving only two options, and more than two options exist Familiar language: language that your audience is accustomed to hearing and experiencing Funnel Approach: when brainstorming a topic, starting broad and moving downward to a more specific idea Graph: a pictorial representation of the relationships of quantitative data using dots, lines, bars, pie slices Hasty generalization: making a generalization with too few examples (see also: fallacies) Hate speech: language directed against someone or a community’s nationality, race, gender, ability, sexuality, religion or citizenship Hearing: physical process in which sound waves hit your ear drums and send a message to your brain Historical narrative: stories about a past person, place, or thing Implied audience: cultures, groups, or individuals who are represented and/or affected by a message Impromptu speaking is the presentation of a short message without advance preparation. Inferred warrants: when the underlying warrant can be understood without being explicitly stated Internal summaries emphasize what has come before and remind the audience of what has been covered. Iterative: the process of writing a speech; the final product is not the order that the speech is composed Jargon: specific, technical language that is used in a given community Keynote: speech focused on a key theme or idea—generally defined by the event or occasion— with the purpose of unification Lateral reading: fact-checking source claims by reading other sites and resources Lectern is a small raised surface, usually with a slanted top, where a speaker can place notes during a speech Listening: active process where you are specifically making an effort to understand, process, and retain information Manuscript speaking is the word-for-word iteration of a written message. Memorized speaking is reciting a written message that the speaker has committed to memory Metaphor: direct comparisons Mind map: a visual tool that allows you to chart and expand key topic ideas or concepts Monroe’s Motivated Sequence: designed by Alan Monroe, this 5-step organizational pattern approaches persuasion through attention, need, satisfaction, visualization, and action Mythical norm: what Audre Lorde (1984) defines generally as young, white, thin, middle-class men Narratives: a type of evidence that stories that clarify, dramatize, and emphasize ideas Needs: important deficiencies that we are motivated to resolve Noise: the physical or mental sound; a barrier to listening Nonacademic information sources: sometimes also called popular press information sources; their primary purpose is to be read by the general public Parallelism: the repetition of sentence structures Percentage: expresses a proportion of out 100 Personal inventory: a process of tracking ideas, insights, or topics that you have experience with or interest in Personal narrative: providing a story about your experience with a topic Persuasion: “the process of creating, reinforcing, or changing people’s beliefs or actions” (Lucas, 2015, p. 306) Persuasive continuum: a tool that allows you to visualize your audience’s relationship with your topic Persuasive speaking: addressing a public controversy by creating, reinforcing, or changing someone’s beliefs or actions Plagiarism: using another person’s words or ideas without giving credit Planned redundancy: purposeful ways of repeating and restating parts of the speech to help the audience listen and retain the content Podium is a raised platform or stage Power: the ability and process of influencing others and selecting certain ways to represent our ideas Presentation aids are the resources beyond the speech itself that a speaker uses to enhance the message conveyed to the audience Problem/Solution pattern: grouping information by identifying a harm and describing a solution Propaganda: biased or misleading information that’s purpose is to promote a particular agenda Propositions of fact: Speeches with this type of proposition attempt to establish the truth of a statement Propositions of policy: identify a solution to correct the problem Propositions of value: argue that something is good/bad or right/wrong Public controversy: community disputes that affect a large number of people Public speaking: when a speaker attempts to move an audience by advocating for a purposeful message—through informing, persuading, or entertaining—in a particular context Public speaking apprehension: fear associated with giving a public speech Online public speaking: thesis-driven, vocal, embodied public address that is housed within (online) new media platforms (also see: digital oratory). Open information system: information that is publicly available and accessibility Outline: provides a visual structure where you can compile information into a well-organized document Organizational patterns: standard ways of organizing groups or categories Rate: how quickly or slowly you say the words of your speech Red herring: creating a diversion or introducing an irrelevant point to distract someone or get someone off the subject of the argument Reflexivity: to critically consider how our values, assumptions, actions, and communication affect others Research: the process of discovering new knowledge and investigating a topic from different points of view Selective recall: selectively attend to, perceive, and recall information that supports our existing viewpoints Similes: the use of “like” or “and” when making a comparison Slippery slope: a type of false cause fallacy which assumes that taking a first step will lead to subsequent events that cannot be prevented Spatial pattern: groups information according to space or direction Speech of acceptance: is a speech given by the recipient of a prize or honor Speech of dedication: speeches designed to highlight the importance of the project and possibly those to whom the project has been dedicated Speeches of demonstration are speeches that demonstrate how something is done for the audience Speeches of description provide a clear, vivid, and memorable picture of a person, place, thing, idea, or alternative Speeches of explanation detail processes or how something works, often explaining an otherwise complex, abstract, or unfamiliar idea to the audience Speech of introduction: a mini-speech given by the host of a ceremony that introduces another speaker Speeches that memorialize: longer speeches that celebrate and honor the person or group of individuals on a significant date Speech of presentation: a brief speech given to accompany a prize or honor Statistics: the collection, analysis, comparison, and interpretation of numerical data Stereotyping: generalizing about a group of people and assuming that because a few persons in that group have a characteristic, all of them do Straw person: a fallacy that shows only the weaker side of an opponent’s argument in order to more easily tear it down Style: the classic rhetorical cannon interested in how to effectively craft and execute your ideas Symbols: a word, icon, gesture, picture, object, etc.—that stand in for and represent a thing or experience Synchronous: your audience is experiencing the speech in real-time Target audience: individuals who are willing to listen to your argument despite disagreeing, having limited knowledge, or lacking experience with your advocacy Testimony: a type of evidence that uses the words of others Thesis statement: a single, declarative statement that outlines the purpose of your speech Toast: speech designed to congratulate, appreciate, or remember Topical pattern: groups information into key categories Totalizing: taking one characteristic of a group or person and making that the “totality” or sum total of what that person or group is Tropes: a turning of the text where the literal meaning is changed or altered to provide new insight (Brummett, 2019, p. 95) Values: goals we strive for and what we consider important and desirable Verbal delivery: what symbols you select and how you portray them in a public speech Verbal punctuation: the process of imagining the words as they’re written to insert purposeful, punctuated pauses to conclude key thoughts Visual aids: pictures, diagrams, charts and graphs, maps, and the like Vivid language: evokes the senses and is language that arouses the sensations of smelling, tasting, seeing, hearing, and feeling Vocal enunciation: the pronunciation and expression of words and language Vocal fillers: fillers including “like, and, so, uh” that disrupt the flow of the sentence Volume: the relative softness or loudness of one’s voice Warrant: part of the argument structure that connect the evidence with the claim Webinar: a meeting or presentation over the Internet |