Preparing a Speech for EPL259
A Step-by-Step Guide
As you know, you'll need to prepare a speech for EPL259. The purpose of this speech is to allow you practice using the ILM skills for Preparing Papers and Speeches. You'll pick an article of general interest on a topic that interests you, and present the article as if you wrote the speech or paper yourself. Therefore, you'll actually be working in a somewhat backward fashion. Generally, the four major steps for preparing a paper or speech are:
Choose a topic
Ask the questions you want to answer
Research to find the answers to the questions
Organize the answers into your speech or paper
For this project, you don't need to research the answers - they're provided in the article. So what you need to do is start with the answers and find the questions. Then, organize the questions in a format conducive to giving a speech, re-organize the answers, and present your speech.
Follow along for an example:
Step 1: The first thing I did was find an article that fit the project requirements. It was of sufficient length to fill the time requirements, and I found it interesting and believed it would spur some class discussion. I found the article in Audubon Magazine. (note: I own absolutely nothing made from hemp. I simply chose the article because it worked very well for the activity!)
Step 2: I read the article, and wrote down each of the MAIN POINTS (MP) made by the author, and asked the QUESTIONS (Q) that are answered by each main point. The questions should all be Recap and Reflection questions. Details are never main points. I then made a list of all the MPs and Qs.
Step 3: I organized the questions I asked into the proper format (note: There are many different ways the information could be organized - I chose the format I thought best to create a good, well-organized speech/paper):
One SuperRecap (Thesis): the main question the article answered
Several Recap: The main questions within the article that were answered in order to answer the SuperRecap (Thesis) question
Several Reflection for each Recap: The main questions answered in order to answer each Recap questions.
Step 4: I took several of the Recap and Reflection questions and organized the answers to those questions into CCWeb Charts and Skeleton Key Diagrams.
I'm now prepared to give my speech. What you'll notice is that if you were assigned to write this article (rather than having it provided for you), and you created the list of questions you made, then organized the answers with CCWeb Charts and Skeleton Key Diagrams, it would have been very easy to take this information and write the article.