Guidelines for Organizing the Body of the Informative Speech

I. Start with Main Points

A. Look at the research and try to find a way to organize your main points (chronological, spatial, topical, problem-solution, or cause-effect).

B. You should have at least two and no more than four main points.

C. Try to keep the wording as similar as possible in all the main points, and state them in full sentences (not in fragments). Also, devote an appropriate amount of time to each one.

II. Next, Make Components of the Main Points with Subpoints

A. Look at the research that fits under each main point and come up with key ideas that belong to these main points. These will be your subpoints. You need at least two subpoints for each main point.

B. Subpoints can be in complete sentences or fragments.

III. Support Your Subpoints with Sub-Subpoints (your facts and examples)

A. You must have at least four sources that will be cited on your Reference section at the end of your outline. These sources will help provide you with your sub-subpoints.

B. Make sure in the body of your speech you tell us where your information came from, and/or who said it, in other words, CITE YOUR SOURCES IN YOUR SPEECH.

C. Sources could be books, book chapters, magazine/newspaper articles, interviews with expert or knowledgeable individuals, web-sites, or any other viable Internet sources or electronic media.

D. Examples you use for supporting your main points can be personal experiences.

IV. Use Connectives throughout Your Speech

A. Know what transitions, internal previews, internal summaries, and signposts are, and when to use them.

B. Label and include all connectives in your preparation outline.

(www.hawaii.edu/mauispeech/pdf)

Informative Speech Outline I

TAKE IT OFF!

Topic: Taboos on Wearing Clothes.

General purpose: to inform.

Specific purpose: to inform my audience about taboos on wearing clothes in different countries of the world.

Thesis statement: Yet it is the 21-st century, there are still some countries in the world where taboos on wearing clothes exist.

INTRODUCTION

Attention getter:Popular wisdom says: “When you meet a person, you judge him by his clothes; when you leave, you judge him by his heart”. But for some people only the first part or this proverb is true, for example, in cases when you are wearing this (showing pants) or this (showing high-heels).

Credibility material:Once being in Indonesia, I experienced a dozen of furious gazes on myself while I was wearing pants. Luckily, that time everything ended happily for me – I just bought a long skirt in the nearest shop, put it on and didn’t get any punishment for wearing pants, but this could end in another way.

Relevance material:That’s why in order not to get into trouble, you should know better what not to wear in specific countries.

Thesis statement:Yet it is the 21-st century, there are still some countries in the world where taboos on wearing clothes exist.

Preview:Today I’m going to tell you about existing taboos on wearing clothes in three major regions of the world. First, I’ll share with you information on clothes taboos in European countries. Then I‘ll move to prohibitions for pieces of clothes in African countries. Finally, I’ll concentrate your attention on taboos on wearing clothes in the countries of East-Southern Asia.

(Now let’s go straight to the taboos for the first group of countries.)

BODY

I. There are several countries in Europe where taboos on wearing clothes exist. (Map)

A. In some Italian and Spanish cities, local government obliged women to refuse from wearing mini-skirts, low-necked blouses, and jeans with low waist.

B. In France, Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, according to the lately adopted law, a prohibition on wearing yashmak exists.

C. In Great Britain, the Congress of Trade Unions decided to forbid high-heel shoes at the working place. (Expert testimony)

1. The activists consider high-heel shoes as the sexist piece of clothes.

2. High-heels are harmful for the health: they damage the legs and the back.

3. It’s dangerous to wear high-heels at the working place because it’s easier to fall down and get hurt.

4. Wearing high-heel shoes leads to economic losses estimated in 300 million pounds.

(Now when you know about forbidden pieces of clothes in European countries, let’s move to the taboos on clothes in African countries.)

II. Another region in the world where women are not allowed to wear anything they want is Africa. (Map)

A. In Sudan and Uganda, pants and especially tight pants are the specific pieces of clothes that are considered indecent for Islamic women to wear.

1. Religious police regularly exposes ardent law-breakers and punishes them. (narrative)

2. Government distributed about 20 thousand long skirts among women within the social program against wearing pants by women.

B. In Somali, there is a veto on wearing a bra – the symbol of “fraud”.

(After you got acquainted with taboos on clothes in African countries, let’s go to the last major region – Asian countries).

III. Some Asian countries are also included in the list of the countries where taboos on clothes are widespread. (Map)

A. Indonesian and North Korean women are not allowed to wear pants. (Lay testimony)

B. In Thailand, government insists that women must not put on black leggings.

(Here we come to the conclusion.)

CONCLUSION

Summary: Now you know what pieces of clothes are forbidden to wear in some European, African, and Asian countries.

Restated thesis:Living in modern society, we can get evidence that there is still no free choice in choosing what to wear in different corners of the world.

Concluding remarks:At the end, I’d like to cite the famous American writer Mark Twain “Clothes make the person. Naked people have little or no influence on society”, so gaining the right to wear what you want is not just a whim; it’s the process of establishing your right to be an independent individual.

WORKS CONSULTED

1. Matasova, Julianna. “Take It Off Immediately!”. Marie Claire / September 2011: 94-96.

2. “Taboos for clothes in different countries”. 25 February 2010. Online posting: http://www.feelgood.com.ua/travels/articles/tabu-v-odezhde-raznyih-stran/ Usenet. 23 October 2011.

3. “Clothing Taboos in Thailand”. 29 January 2010. Online posting: http://www.thailandqa.com/showthread.php?33094-Clothing-taboos-in-Thailand Usenet. 24October 2011.