Overview
The topic is that Mental health days should be excused absences for students.It is imperative that you choose a topic for your Persuasive Speech that is not Informative or a Demonstration.
You SHOULD take a stand on a controversial issue or try to convince the audience to adopt your point of view. At the end of a Persuasive Speech, you want the audience to believe that your position on the issue could be the correct one because you have supported your position with relevant evidence.
Your speech should also NOT physically show the audience how to move yourself or objects through a series of steps. A "how to" speech is called a Demonstration Speech or a Process Speech and it too is different from a Persuasive Presentation.
You also should not give a Sales Speech because buying a product involves changing an attitude. Changing brands of laundry detergent is not a life-altering decision; however, changing religions or political party affiliation could be life-altering decisions involving strongly held beliefs and values.
The topic you choose should not be a position that has already been debated ad nauseam, because such a topic would be boring. You should also try to find supporting information for your topic that is interesting, surprising, and relevant to most members of your audience. The audience members want to know: "Does this have a big effect on me? Why should I care?"
Attempt to adapt your information to the group you are addressing. For example, if all the members of your audience are eighteen years-of-age and fresh out of high school, then retirement homes and cemetery plots would not be a relatable topic.
Supporting Material
The Persuasive Speech gives relevant information that supports the claim that your view-of-the-world and solution to a problem is the correct one. To be effective, the supporting material should be incorporated in a way that it proves the contentions that you are making in an organized, understandable way while preventing the speech from becoming dull and boring. For your speech to be useful, the data that you share in your Persuasive Speech must be accurate. The student is not expected to be an expert in the topic selected for the speech. The student is expected to study and research the topic until he or she is sure the information that is included in the speech is accurate and comprehensive. Even if the student is an expert, for the purpose of this class, the student must support all assertions by citing reputable sources. Part of the learning objective for this speech and the grading criteria for the speech is the student's use of research techniques. You may use both library and Internet sources to research your topic. A minimum of three sources- - and no more than five sources- - in MLA form must be listed in your "Works Cited." You should orally refer to their sources during your speech. Sources should be cited each time information from a source is used in the speech. For example, when you offer a statistic you need to cite what group or agency conducted the study. Otherwise, we will assume that you performed the research yourself and you will have to have the data to prove it.
Speakers must employ at least two statistics in their speeches, and cite which of the sources provided those numbers.
If all the statistics come from the same source, then you may say something like, "All my statistics came from the National Bureau of Statistics as reported in the Jones book." To clarify statistics, posters with pie, line, bar or picture graphs can be used to illustrate relationships and ratios clearly. Changes in time periods can also be illustrated with statistics. If you were giving a speech on schizophrenia, you might tell the audience what percentage of the U. S. population has the affliction, the percentage who receive help, the percentage who become violent, etc. Tell which agency conducted the study and how reputable they are. For example, "According to the National Bureau of Statistics, it has been shown that nine out of ten automobile accidents occur within two miles of home." Statistics can show how widespread a problem is. If few people are affected, why would the average person be interested?
At least two quotations should be included in your speech
Quotations should be clearly identified as quotes, with a signal phrase such as, "and I quote" or "according to..." The qualifications of the person being quoted should be incorporated before the quote. For example, "According to Dr. John Doe, head of the Research Department at I. M. Smart University, in his book How To Sound Knowledgeable When You Aren't, and I quote, 'As college students use their brains, more neuron pathways are created in their brains and their capacity to learn increases' Unquote." Some speakers feel that the "quote. . .unquote" technique sounds stilted and unnatural. If so, there is another technique that you may employ instead. You may substitute distinct pauses for "quote. . .unquote" before and after the quote. So using the same supporting material, you would say: "According to Dr. John Doe, head of the research department at I. M. Smart University, in his book, How to Sound Knowledgeable When You Aren't, [distinct pause], 'As college students use their brains, more neuron pathways are created in their brains and their capacity to learn increases.' [distinct pause] Next we move to . . ."
At least two specific examples (people, places, or objects) should be included in your speech
While Statistics have logical appeal, and Quotations have both logical and emotional appeal, Specific Examples often appeal to our emotions. For example, according to the January 1995 issue of Time magazine, one particular AIDS victim, John Doe, has been hit hard by the disease. His symptoms include...
Don't forget to orally footnote (cite) your sources in your Credibility Step, and each time you incorporate information from those sources.
Also, don't forget to list your sources in your bibliography. Orally refer to your sources during your speech. Not to do so is plagiarism. Usually, only partial notations are given orally (this is called an oral footnote). One might cite book & author, or magazine & month. At least three sources are required in the bibliography, which should employ the MLA bibliography form. The sources must also be referred to orally during the speech. Every source that you use in your speech (at least three are required) must be documented both orally in the speech and in "Works Cited".
Checklist
Ask yourself the following questions as you are preparing your Persuasive Speech:
Are all of my claims supported by evidence?
Do I use sufficient evidence to convince my audience of my claims?
Is my evidence stated in specific rather than general terms?
Do I use evidence that is new to my audience?
Is my evidence from credible, unbiased sources?
Do I identify the sources of my evidence?
Is my evidence clearly linked to each point that it is meant to prove?
Do I provide evidence to answer possible objections the audience may have to my position?