Unit 6 Discussion – Refine your persuasive speech topic
Using your assigned speech category, create a question or statement that you will prove in your speech. You can toss out more than one; at this point, you’re trying to figure out how to narrow down a topic to answer one question or persuade your audience of one thing. This statement or question is your thesis, which you will prove with evidence.
If you look at the TED home page, you can tell what the speech will be about (what they will prove) in their titles. A few examples:
What if women built the world they want to see?
How to fix broken supply chains
Why is it so hard to escape poverty?
In your first post, in addition to your question or statement for your thesis, also discuss how to plan to find credible, non-biased sources. If you’re unsure, that’s okay. Your peers and I will help, and you can help others in your responses.
Refine your persuasive speech topic
The speech category which has been assigned is Media. Hence, I have thought of several topics for the persuasive speech based on Media. Before getting into the list of the topics chosen, I would like to draw a definition of what persuasive speech is. The particular type of speech that is delivered by the speaker to convince or persuade the audience regarding the acceptance of his or her viewpoint is regarded as a persuasive speech (Defining a Persuasive Speech, n.d.). This type of speech engages the people or the audience listening to it the most among all types of speech. All types of topics can be covered in this type of speech, for example, it can include a topic from what to have at dinner to an argument regarding politics or society (Persuasive Speaking, n.d.). Most often, persuasive speeches are used in the area of attitudes and beliefs and are mostly regarding facts, policy, and values. Several topics, for example, regarding ethics, media, health, government, law, politics, social, community, science, technology, arts, culture, automotive, religion, business, and economy have been assigned to my coursemates. The speaker during the delivery of a persuasive speech can include an argument regarding what is in reality, what it should be, and the way it should be. Specific claims are made by the speaker during the process of persuasion in the speech to prove the claims to the audience (Types of Persuasive Speeches, n.d.). Some topics were chosen for the persuasive speech on Media and those are listed below:
1. Media should stop exaggerating small issues to gain better target rating points (TRPs).
2. There should be monitoring of Internet chat rooms.
3. Any kind of media monitoring should be banned.
4. Social media should be more stringent to prevent cyberbullying.
5. Online games can be good for you.
The topic I have finalized for the persuasive speech is about Cyberbullying, that is, Social media should be more stringent to prevent cyberbullying. The advancement of technology and increased engagement with the internet of people worldwide have both positive and negative impacts. One such negative impact is the increased concern regarding cyberbullying, that is, people being harassed online which in turn is increasing suicidal behavior and mental illness among young people mostly. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. have a significant role to play in this case and hence should take steps against it more stringently. The speech will revolve around these topics and facts.
In the formation of the arguments to convince the audience it is essential for any speaker delivering a persuasive speech to find and provide facts and statistics from credible and unbiased sources. Otherwise, the point of delivering the whole speech will be a lot if there is a bit of a bias from the side of the speaker. Credible websites, Journal Articles, and news from renowned agencies are some of the types of credible sources. Finding credible and unbiased sources starts by searching about the topic from anywhere, using only fact-checked websites, like government websites, well-known newspapers, scholarly databases, etc., and avoiding websites like Wikipedia. Other than these sources, local libraries are also the great source that is credible and unbiased. While searching for credible sources, the focus should be on quality over quantity, that is, one should look for moderate to long-length articles, always check the background of the author or the website, and always use updated information, and not too old information. Lastly, the person has to be mindful of the persuasion, that is, whether the author is in favor or against the topic (Mia, 2022).
References:
Persuasive Speaking. (n.d.). The University of Pittsburgh. Retrieved February 17, 2022, from https://www.comm.pitt.edu/persuasive-speaking
Defining a Persuasive Speech. (n.d.). Instructure. Retrieved February 17, 2022, from https://lumen.instructure.com/courses/218897/pages/linkedtext54300
Types of Persuasive Speeches. (n.d.). Lumen. Retrieved February 17, 2022, from https://courses.lumenlearning.com/atd-fscj-publicspeaking/chapter/types-of-persuasive-speeches/
Mia, P. L. (2022, February 9). Complete Guide On How To Find Good Sources For a Research Paper. PapersOwl. Retrieved February 17, 2022, from https://papersowl.com/blog/how-to-find-sources-for-a-research-paper
