Purpose and Thesis
As discussed in the chapter on Speaking Occasion, speechwriting begins with careful analysis of the speech occasion and its given circumstances, leading to the choice of an appropriate topic. As with essay writing, the early work of speechwriting follows familiar steps: brainstorming, research, pre-writing, thesis, and so on.
This chapter focuses on techniques that are unique to speechwriting. As a spoken form, speeches must be very clear about the purpose and main idea or “takeaway.” Planned redundancy means that you will be repeating these elements several times over during the speech.
Furthermore, finding purpose and thesis are essential whether you’re preparing an outline for extemporaneous delivery or a completely written manuscript for presentation. When you know your topic, your general and specific purpose, and your thesis or central idea, you have all the elements you need to write a speech that is focused, clear, and audience friendly
Speeches have traditionally been grouped into one of three categories according to their primary purpose: 1) to inform, 2) to persuade, or 3) to inspire, honor, or entertain. These broad goals are commonly known as the general purpose of a speech. Earlier, you learned about the actor’s tool of intention or objectives. The general purpose is like a super-objective; it defines the broadest goal of the speech. It should be understood that these three purposes are not necessarily exclusive to the others. A speech designed to be persuasive can also be informative and entertaining. However, a speech should have one primary goal. That is its general purpose.
Why is it helpful to talk about speeches in such broad terms? Being perfectly clear about what you want your speech to do or make happen for your audience will keep you focused. You can make a clearer distinction between whether you want your audience to leave your speech knowing more (to inform), or ready to take action (to persuade), or feeling something (to inspire)
It’s okay to use synonyms for these broad categories. Here are some of them:
- To inform could be to explain, to demonstrate, to describe, to teach.
- To persuade could be to convince, to argue, to motivate, to prove.
- To inspire might be to honor, or entertain, to celebrate, to mourn.
In summary, the first question you must ask yourself when starting to prepare a speech is, “Is the primary purpose of my speech to inform, to persuade, or to inspire?”
A specific purpose statement builds upon your general purpose and makes it specific (as the name suggests). For example, if you have been invited to give a speech about how to do something, your general purpose is “to inform.” Choosing a topic appropriate to that general purpose, you decide to speak about how to protect a personal from cyberattacks. Now you are on your way to identifying a specific purpose.
A good specific purpose statement has three elements: goal, target audience, and content.
| Goal (To + active word) | for example: to inform, to explain, to convince, to honor |
| Audience | my classmates, the members of my sorority, my coworkers |
| Content | how to bake brownies, the history of EVs, Macs are better than PCs. |
If you think about the above as a kind of recipe, then the first two “ingredients” — your goal and your audience — should be simple. Words describing the target audience should be as specific as possible. Instead of “my peers,” you could say, for example, “students in their senior year at my university.”
The third ingredient in this recipe is content, or what we call the topic of your speech. This is where things get a bit difficult. You want your content to be specific and something that you can express succinctly in a sentence. Here are some common problems that speakers make in defining the content, and the fix:
| Topic Problem | Example | The Fix |
| too broad | “I’m going to talk about climate change.” | Narrow down a specific topic appropriate to the general purpose. “To talk about” isn’t clear. A better topic here might be: “To persuade my audience to make five simple changes in their lifestyle that support the fight against climate change.” |
| combined topics | “My speech is about recycling and the increased frequency of hurricanes due to climate change.” | The word “and” in a description of content is a sure signal of a combined topic. Combined topics are too complex, and they muddy your focus. Choose one OR the other. |
| content doesn’t match the purpose | “To inform my classmates about why they should support LGBTQ+ safe spaces on campus.”” | Match the content to the general purpose. Do you see the word “should” here? That is a sure sign that the topic is persuasive, not informative. An informative speech on this topic would be “To inform my classmates about the LGBTQ+ safe spaces available on campus.” |
Now you know the “recipe” for a specific purpose statement. It is made up of To, plus an active Word, a specific Audience, and clearly stated Content. Remember this formula: T + W + A + C.
T: To
W: define
A: for a group of new students
C: the term “plagiarism”
Here are some further examples a good specific purpose statement:
- To explain to a group of first-year students how to join a school organization.
- To persuade the members of the Greek society to take a spring break trip in Daytona Beach.
- To motivate my classmates in English 101 to participate in a study abroad program.
- To convince first-year students that they need at least seven hours of sleep per night to do well in their studies.
- To inspire my Church community about the accomplishments of our pastor.
The General and Specific Purpose Statements are writing tools in the sense that they help you, as a speechwriter, clarify your ideas.
Once you are clear about your general purpose and specific purpose, you can turn your attention to crafting a thesis statement. A thesis is the central idea in an essay or a speech. In speechwriting, the thesis or central idea explains the message of the content. It’s the speech’s “takeaway.” A good thesis statement will also reveal and clarify the ideas or assertions you’ll be addressing in your speech (your main points). Consider this example:
General Purpose: To persuade.
Specific Purpose: To motivate my classmates in English 101 to participate in a study abroad program.
Thesis: A semester-long study abroad experience produces lifelong benefits by teaching you about another culture, developing your language skills, and enhancing your future career prospects.
The difference between a specific purpose statement and a thesis statement is clear in this example. The thesis provides the takeaway (the lifelong benefits of study abroad). It also points to the assertions that will be addressed in the speech. Like the specific purpose statement, the thesis statement is a writing tool. You’ll incorporate it into your speech, usually as part of the introduction and conclusion.
All good expository, rhetorical, and even narrative writing contains a thesis. Many students and even experienced writers struggle with formulating a thesis. We struggle when we attempt to “come up with something” before doing the necessary research and reflection. A thesis only becomes clear through the thinking and writing process. As you develop your speech content, keep asking yourself: What is important here? If the audience can remember only one thing about this topic, what do I want them to remember?
Example #2:
General Purpose: To inform
Specific Purpose: To demonstrate to my audience the correct method for cleaning a computer keyboard.
Central Idea: Your computer keyboard needs regular cleaning to function well, and you can achieve that in four easy steps.
Example # 3
General Purpose: To Inform
Specific Purpose: To describe how makeup is done for the TV show The Walking Dead.
Central Idea: The wildly popular zombie show The Walking Dead achieves incredibly scary and believable makeup effects, and in the next few minutes I will tell you who does it, what they use, and how they do it.
Notice in the examples above that neither the specific purpose nor the central idea ever exceeds one sentence. If your central idea consists of more than one sentence, then you are probably including too much information.
The first problem many students have in writing their specific purpose statement has already been mentioned: specific purpose statements sometimes try to cover far too much and are too broad. For example:
“To explain to my classmates the history of ballet.”
Aside from the fact that this subject may be difficult for everyone in your audience to relate to, it’s enough for a three-hour lecture, maybe even a whole course. You’ll probably find that your first attempt at a specific purpose statement will need refining. These examples are much more specific and much more manageable given the limited amount of time you’ll have.
- To explain to my classmates how ballet came to be performed and studied in the U.S.
- To explain to my classmates the difference between Russian and French ballet.
- To explain to my classmates how ballet originated as an art form in the Renaissance.
- To explain to my classmates the origin of the ballet dancers’ clothing.
The second problem happens when the “communication verb” in the specific purpose does not match the content; for example, persuasive content is paired with “to inform” or “to explain.” If you resort to the word “why” in the thesis, it’s probably persuasive.
- To inform my audience why capital punishment is unconstitutional. (This can’t be informative since it’s taking a side)
- To persuade my audience about the three types of individual retirement accounts. (This isn’t persuading the audience of anything, just informing)
- To inform my classmates that Universal Studios is a better theme park than Six Flags over Georgia. (This is clearly an opinion, hence persuasive and not merely informative)
The third problem exists when the content part of the specific purpose statement has two parts. One specific purpose is enough. These examples cover two different topics.
- To explain to my audience how to swing a golf club and choose the best golf shoes.
- To persuade my classmates to be involved in the Special Olympics and vote to fund better classes for the intellectually disabled.
To fix this problem, you’ll need to select one of the topics in these examples and speak on just that: To explain to my audience how to swing a golf club OR to explain to my audience how to choose the best golf shoes.
The fourth problem with both specific purpose and central idea statements is related to formatting. There are some general guidelines that need to be followed in terms of how you write out these elements of your speech:
- Don’t write either statement as a question.
- Always use complete sentences for central idea statements and infinitive phrases (beginning with “to”) for the specific purpose statement.
- Use concrete language (“I admire Beyoncé for being a talented performer and businesswoman”) and avoid subjective or slang terms (“My speech is about why I think Beyoncé is the bomb”) or jargon and acronyms (“PLA is better than CBE for adult learners.”)
There are also problems to avoid in writing the central idea statement. As mentioned above, remember that:
- The specific purpose and central idea statements are not the same thing, although they are related.
- The central idea statement should be clear and not complicated or wordy; it should “stand out” to the audience. As you practice delivery, you should emphasize it with your voice.
- The central idea statement should not be the first thing you say but should follow the steps of a good introduction as outlined in the next chapters.
