Informative Speech Outline II

Title:YOUR SECRET LIFE

Topic:Dreams

General purpose:To inform

Specific purpose:To inform the audience about the process of dreaming and its meaning for one’s life

Thesis statement:Dream is one of the two worlds a person is privileged to live in: the world which is not entirely understood by science and which can give us the key to better self-understanding and improving our everyday life.

INTRODUCTION

Attention getter:Some philosophers have concluded that what we think of as the "real world" could be or is an illusion. The first recorded mentioning of the idea was by famous Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi and is well-known today as a “Dream of a Butterfly”: once upon a time Zhuangzi dreamt he was a butterfly, a butterfly flitting and fluttering around. He was conscious only as a butterfly, and was unconscious of his individuality as a man. Suddenly he woke up and there he was, himself again, solid and unmistakable Zhuangzi. And he couldn’t figure it out whether he was then a man who had dreamt he was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming of being a man.

Relevance:The field ofdreams is mysterious: they are a secret for modern science. Contrary to person’s everyday life, they are something hidden from the other people’s eyes. More than that, partly their meaning may be a secret even for yourself, but unlocking this secret may help you in lots of senses deal with everyday life.

Credibility: Today I will dare to play a part of this secret-revealer for you (as a person whose hobby is lucid dreaming and who has read at least dozen of books and essays concerning this topic).

Thesis statement: Dream is one of the two worlds a person is privileged to live in: the world which is not entirely understood by science and which can give us the key to better self-understanding and improving our everyday life.

Preview: In order to understand this part of our lives, I propose you, firstly, look at achievements of dream studying, then turn to the different ways in which dreams may appear and, finally, figure out how they can help us in our everyday life.

(Transition:Let’s start exploring and clarifying the world of dreams.)

BODY

I. Dream studying calls on the significance of dreams and discovers its origin.

A. The importance of dream studying was argued in the field of psychology.

B. Science explains the neurobiology of dreaming.

1. The discovery that dreams take place primarily during Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep led to the surge of interest in this phenomenon.

2. Dreams may occur in REM stages of sleep and in the hour or two before waking up in Non-REM phase. (Visual aids)

3.The dreams reported in Non-Rem and REM differ qualitatively and quantitatively,but they are defined equally.

(Transition: “Now, that we understood the process of dreaming and figured out its origin, let’s examine the types of dreams”.)

II. There are two main types of dreams: an ordinary dream and a lucid one.

A. During most dreams, sleepers are not self-aware and the events in dreams are outside their control.

B. Lucid dreaming is quite distinct from ordinary dreams experience.

1. Lucidity is the conscious perception of one's state while dreaming.

2. A lucid dream can appear after purposeful practice or with the help of special devices. (Visual aid).

(Transition: “And now we can turn to the function of these types of dreams and find out what can they tell about us and how they can help us in our everyday life.”)

III. The purpose of dreaming is not discovered yet, but some adaptive functions may be found.

A. Paying attention to colours of your dream is the investigation of yourself.

B. Lucid dreaming has a list of benefits that can be transferred into your everyday life.

CONCLUSION

Summary statement:So, today we have learnt about the occurrence of dreams, their types and meaning for us and our everyday life.

Restated thesis:Dreams are still discovered by science, but we already can turn to their advantages and learn more about ourselves or improve our everyday life.

Concluding remarks:Dreams may be mysterious, but the more complicated it is to solve a riddle, the sweeter finding the right guess tastes, and I hope you’ll be able to experience this magical feeling.

WORKS CONSULTED

1. The content of dreams: Methodological and theoretical implications G. William Domhoff - http://www2.ucsc.edu/dreams/Library/domhoff_2005a.html

2. The "Purpose" of Dreams by G. William Domhoff. http://www2.ucsc.edu/dreams/Library/purpose.html

3. Similarities and differences in dream content at the cross-cultural, gender, and individual levels G. William Domhoff & Adam Schneider - http://www2.ucsc.edu/dreams/Library/domhoff_2008d.html

4. Diagnosing Personality by the Analysis of Dreams Calvin S. Hall - http://www2.ucsc.edu/dreams/Library/hall_1947a.html

5. Bob Hoss – Working with color in dreams

http://www.dreamgate.com/dream/hoss/

6. The Significance of Color in Dreams Robert Hoss - http://dreamscience.org/articles/Significance%20of%20Color%20in%20Dreams.pdf

7. LaBerge Stephen, Rheingold, Howard Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming, Ballantine Books, New York, - 1990. - 153 p.

8. Schneider, A., & Domhoff, G. W. The Quantitative Study of Dreams http://www.dreamresearch.net/