The central idea/thesis in your persuasive speech should follow all of the guidelines below except:

A speech is about making a claim and providing evidence to support your claim. Evidence used should support your claim/thesis and be concise and clear. 

Types of evidence

Evidence for your thesis or claim can vary depending on the topic and the type of speech you’re writing.

Statistics might seem like the most credible, but these can be very boring, hard to understand and inappropriate.

Use different kinds of support for each point:

• Definitions: Define terms the audience may not be familiar with: Explaining PB&J represents peanut butter and jelly sandwiches will help the audience follow as you are speaking.
• Examples: Give examples of how your argument/thesis is valid: An examples could be a visual, remove a PB&J from a sandwich bag to show that when made with peanut butter on both sides there is no mess.
• Personal testimony: Audiences often relate to personal stories: I personally love PB&J sandwiches and was so happy when I found this method of making them. I really like keeping may hands and clothes stain free.

Different kinds of evidence will have different effects—emotion, interest of the audience or objectivity.

• The little boy was crying because his hands were sticky from the jelly of his sandwich evokes a different response than listing the results from a survey.
• Both statements support the claim that peanut butter on both sides of the bread is the better option; however, each will be received and processed differently by the audience.

Take only the evidence you need from sources

As you read a source, you will notice many pieces of evidence are contained in one paragraph. As the speaker, you need to determine the pieces that support your claim or thesis.

Use only the evidence that you need to support the argument/thesis.

• Determine exactly what the audience needs to know
  • According to the Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich survey of 1997 done by the Elementary School District, kids prefer not to have jelly leak through the bread.
  • The unnecessary information not included: 519 kids preferred grape jelly and 600 preferred strawberry jelly. 1100 of the students do not like having jelly leak through the bread while 19 like having sticky fingers.
• Determine why the audience needs the information
• Using a speech outline (see resource on speech outlining) will help you narrow down the necessary information.

Making evidence relatable to the audience

Explanation of sources may be necessary to show the evidence's significance to the argument/thesis.

Complex information and definitions need to be presented in a way the audiences will understand. Visuals for more complex info (especially for statistics) may be helpful.

References

Beebe, S. A., & Beebe, S. J. (2012). A concise public speaking handbook. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Lucas, S. (2012). The art of public speaking. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Sprague, J. & Stuart, D. (2013). The speaker's compact handbook, 4th ed. Portland: Ringgold, Inc.

Vrooman, S. S. (2013). The zombie guide to public speaking: Why most presentations fail, and what you can do to avoid joining the horde. Place of publication not identified: CreateSpace.

The general purpose of any speech will be either to Inform; Motivate/Persuade; or Entertain your audience. As soon as you know the general purpose of your speech you can develop your Specific Purpose Statement (What the speaker will accomplish). Your Specific Purpose Statement is used to develop your speech. You don't acutally say it in your speech.

Restrict your Specific Purpose to one idea only. In Speech 151 for the informative speech your general purpose is to inform. For an informative speech you will want to start your specific purpose statement with "I will inform my audience about...." A Specific Purpose Statement for an informative speech will be phrased much like the following statements. Click here for more examples of Specific Purposes, Central Ideas, and Main Points.

Informative speech specific purpose statements:

• I will inform my audience about the two major forms of hula.
• I will inform my audience about what lifegaurds do as part of their jobs.

When you have your specific purpose statement you are ready to compose your Thesis Statement/Central Idea (they are one in the same). This is the most important part of your speech. This is one sentence that encompasses the central idea of your speech.

Writing your thesis statement/central idea is a four step process:

1. Choose your topic
2. Determine your general purpose
3. Write your specific purpose statement
4. Tie it all together by composing a clear concise thesis statement/central idea

"The two major forms of hula that have played an important role in Hawaiian history and have developed into unique dances are the Kahiko and 'Auana."

"Lifegaurding is a great way to spend your days on the beach, but the work includes training, teaching, and lots of practice making it more challenging than what you see on "Baywatch."

Your next step is to compose the main points of your speech. Main points are complete sentences that create a dialogue with your audience. With your main points you want to create questions in the mind of your audience. You will answer the question in your support of your main points. You make a claim in your main points and you support your claim in your subpoints, sub-subpoints, sub-sub-subpoints and so on.

The following are examples of Main points:

Specific Purpose: I will inform my audience about the two major forms of hula.

Central Idea: "The two major forms of hula that have played an important role in Hawaiian history and have developed into unique dances are the Kahiko and 'Auana."

1. (Main Point 1) "The ancient hula or Kahiko is a unique form of hula."
2. (Main Point 2) "The Kahiko plays an improtant role in the history of Hawaii."
3. (Main Point 3) "The 'Auana or modern hula has played an important role in Hawaiian history."
4. (Main Point 4) "The 'Auana has developed into a unique form of dance and storytelling."

Which statement is not necessarily true about a central idea statement?

What is the central idea of a speech?

How is a central idea statement for a speech similar to a thesis statement in a written essay?

How do you write a thesis statement central idea for a special occasion speech?