Unit 7: Supporting Ideas and Building Arguments
This unit covers topics which establish the substance of your speech. Many inexperienced speakers focus their efforts on the main points or major arguments of their speeches, but only cursorily attach to those elements synthesis of ideas – the details and connections which establish their real impact. The result is that student speeches tend to use the same type of support, over and over again, creating a dull sameness that causes the attention of audiences to sag even as they lose respect for the speaker's motivations and/or credibility. You can avoid this syndrome by absorbing not only the function of supporting details in a speech but also the variety of types and formats you can choose from to keep your speech interesting and influential. This unit will focus on providing you with information and advice on how to use various types of supporting evidence to strengthen any arguments made in your speech.
Completing this unit should take you approximately 7 hours.
Upon successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- define the term support;
- describe three reasons and four criteria for using support in speeches;
- evaluate the effective use of statistics to support a specific point;
- categorize types of definitions and supportive examples;
- match suitable narratives to the topic or purpose statements of informative, persuasive, and entertaining speeches;
- identify the differences in the two forms of testimony and the two types of analogies;
- identify which of the five ways support is used within a speech is being used in a given passage from a speech; and
- defend the use of a reverse outline.
7.1: Using Research as Support
Read the chapter 8 Introduction and section 8.1. These connect information literacy, research, and speech development by pointing out the qualities information must have to be respected, understood, and remembered. Answer the questions at the end of the section.
7.2: Types of Support
This section lists options for finding and presenting supporting details. Informative details and persuasive evidence can both be considered "support". Attempt the exercises at the end of the section.
Read this article about how to use sources to support a message. It gives tips for selecting and using sources to support your points.
Think about how we use sources to support messages. This podcast gives a professional's point of view on how to incorporate sources in a compelling way.
Watch this video on how we use sources to support messages.
7.3: Using Support and Creating Arguments
This section gives practical information about how to integrate research into your content. The seamless integration of original and sourced material is the core of effective professional communication. Pay attention to the ways sourced material can be presented – summary, paraphrase, and quotation – and the rules you should follow when deciding which form to use. Attempt the exercises at the end of the section.
This article discusses the role of critical thinking. Critical thinking is the process of evaluating and analyzing information to determine the best course of action.
This section gives more information about the role of reasoning. We use reasoning and logic to connect facts and evaluate arguments.
7.4: Unit 7 Exercises
After you finish this unit, respond to these questions. If you get any incorrect, review that material from the chapter.