Behind the Scenes of Public Speaking
Selecting and Researching a Speech Topic
A Conversation with the Speaker
One of the most difficult tasks in an introduction to public speaking course is selecting and narrowing a topic. In our course, students work with one topic for all of their speeches, which include a speech of significance, informative and persuasive speech. The topic must be a current, controversial issue or problem.
In the video below, Jasmine Terry interviews Ashley Mengwasser about selecting and researching a speech topic. Some of the topics she discusses include:
- understanding the assignment
- selecting a topic
- narrowing a topic
- researching a speech topic
- organizing your research