ORAL COM: LESSON 2

SPEECH WRITING PROCESS  The strategies in selecting a topic can also be used
when you narrow down a topic.
 In the example below, “Defining and developing
effective money management skills of Grade 11
students” is the specific topic out of a general one,
which is “Effective money management.”

Writing patterns, in general, are structures that will help

PRINCIPLES OF SPEECH WRITING
1. Choosing the Topic
 The topic is your focal point of your speech,
which can be determined once you have
decided on your purpose.
 If you are free to decide on a topic, choose
you organize the ideas related to your topic.
one that really interests you.
 There are a variety of strategies used in  Examples are biographical, categorical/topical,
selecting a topic, such as using your personal causal, chronological, comparison/contrast,
experiences, discussing with your family problem-solution, and spatial.
members or friends, free writing, listing,  Below are different writing patterns from which
asking questions, or semantic webbing. you can select the one that best suits your topic
and/or purpose.
The purpose for writing and delivering the speech can be
classified into three – to inform, to entertain and to
persuade.

 An informative speech provides the audience with

a clear understanding of the concept or idea
presented by the speaker.
 An entertainment speech provides the audience
with amusement.
 A persuasive speech provides the audience with
well-argued ideas that can influence their own
beliefs and decisions.

2. Analyzing the Audience Know what your

audience seeks
 Demography – refers to age range, male-
female ratio, educational background and
affiliations or degree program taken,
nationality, economic status, academic or
corporate designations
 Situation – includes time, venue, occasion and
Narrowing down a topic means making your main idea size
more specific and focused.

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ORAL COM: LESSON 2

 Psychology - refers to values, beliefs, Body of the Speech provides explanation,

attitudes, preferences, cultural and racial examples or any details that can help you deliver
ideologies and need your purpose and explain the main idea of your
speech. It should only have one central idea.

 Present real-life or practical examples

 Show statistics
 Present comparisons
 Share ideas from the expert

Conclusion restates the main idea of your speech.

It provides a summary, emphasizes the message
and calls for action. It leaves the audience with a
statement that they cannot forget.
3. Sourcing the Information
 Begin with a restatement of your message
 Data gathering is the stage where you collect
 Use positive examples, encouraging
ideas, information, sources, and references
words, or memorable lines from songs or
relevant or related to your specific topic.
stories familiar to your audience
 This can be done by visiting the library,
 Ask a question or series of questions that
browsing the web, observing a certain
can make your audience reflect or
phenomenon or event related to your topic,
ponder.
or conducting an interview or survey.
 The data that you will gather will be very Table format Example:
useful in making your speech informative,
entertaining, or persuasive.

4. Outlining and Organizing the

Information
 An outline is a hierarchical list that shows the
relationship of your ideas.
 Experts in public speaking state that once your
outline is ready, two-thirds of your speech
writing is finished. A good outline helps you
see that all the ideas are in line with your main
idea or message.
 The elements of an outline include
introduction, body, and conclusion. List format Example:
Introduction is the foundation of the speech. Your
primary goal is to get the attention of your
audience and present the subject or main idea of 5. Grammatical Correctness
your speech.  Correct spelling: do the proofreading
 Correct punctuation: comma is one of the
 use real-life or practical examples and punctuation marks that is most commonly
explain their connection to your subject misused.
 Start with a very strong quote and explain  Use a comma to separate three or more
what it means items in a series
 Use facts and statistics and highlight their
 Use a comma to separate two complete
importance to your subject
sentences if there is a conjunction
 Tell a personal story to illustrate your
between the sentences.
point
 Use a comma to set off extra information.

 Correct grammar: grammatical mistakes can

confuse the readers.
 A sentence should have a subject, verb
and complete thought.

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ORAL COM: LESSON 2

 The subject in the sentence should agree

with the verb in number.

6. Word Choice:
 Is a person’s choice or selection of words.
 These are words that you use on the
characteristics of your audience.
 Your words should be easily understood by
your target listeners.
 Use simple words, be concise and avoid bias
and offensive language.

7. Duration
 Manage your time well.
 Make sure that the speech falls under the
time limit.

SOME GUIDELINES IN SPEECH WRITING:

1. Keep your words short and simple. Your speech is

meant to be heard by your audience, not read.
2. Avoid jargon, acronyms, or technical words
because they can confuse your audience.
3. Make your speech more personal. Use the
personal pronoun “I,” but take care not to overuse
it. When you need to emphasize collectiveness
with your audience, use the personal pronoun
“we.”
4. Use active verbs and contractions because they
add to the personal and conversational tone of
your speech.
5. Be sensitive of your audience. Be very careful with
your language, jokes, and nonverbal cues.
6. Use metaphors and other figures of speech to
effectively convey your point.
7. Manage your time well; make sure that the speech
falls under the time limit.

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