My Favorite Speech

This semester I have to say that all of my speeches were on topics that I am very close to. But without a doubt my favorite was the persuasive. I liked the fact that we had more time to present the material and that I could have talked a lot more. My topic of circumcision is something that I feel very passionately  about and loved the fact that I could share my opinion and the facts with the class because I feel it is a topic that people do not know a lot about. Growing up it was not something that was talked about and even when I was pregnant it was not something that was talked about. People and doctors would ask me all the time what my plan was after birth since I was having a boy but no one ever told me any facts or why I should or should not circumcise my son. It was up to me to do the research and decide for myself what the best choice would be for my family. I feel that too many people do not know the dangers of it and that is why this for me was my favorite. I also really enjoyed listening to everyone else's speeches this time. I found them all to be very informative and a most of the topics were of things that I did not know much about. I liked hearing everyone's reasoning for why they believed what they believe and why we should be making the same decision.

Question #1

The concept that I learned this semester that was the most helpful was how to physically prepare for each speech. I suffer from extreme speaking anxiety and found the breathing techniques and that the more one practices the less nervous one will be when presenting a speech in front of a group of people. With each speech I practiced both of these techniques more and more and especially for my last speech, the persuasive speech, I practiced not only my speech multiple times but also just breathing and trying to get a hold of my nerves before I went up in front of the class. Even though I was still considerably nervous it helped a great deal. I feel that I was able to keep my pace well and that I did not allow small things to distract me and get me off topic or lost in my presentation. My prior speeches I felt that my nerves mad my speech shaky and that I moved around a lot more, back and forth motion. And because I practiced my speech so much before presenting I was a lot more confident in presenting the facts because I was able to remember them. The one thing that I wish I was better at would be my notecards. Even though I got better at writing what I needed on the cards I still have a hard time actually using them while presenting. I feel like I get a lot more lost in my topic when I am constantly looking down at my cards, which is why I usually try to memorize my speech as much as possible.

2). Reflect on a recent discussion you've had in which you tried to persuade others to accept your point of view.  What types of reasoning did you use?  How well did your reasoning work?


So recently I have been very intrigued with organic and all natural eating habits. I have watched many programs and documentaries, and have even read a few books on the topic. After doing some research I have found that there are obvious benefits to changing one's diet and starting an all organic diet. I have had many conversations, especially recently as my grandmother has been having health issue, trying to convince family members that while the cost may be high over all the cost of a healthier life is worth the initial price of food. I tell family members that organic food is more expensive but if people ate how they were supposed and lowered the overall quantity of food they consumed then it would balance out to how they are eating now. It only takes about seven days to change a person's habits and if you start eating less and more nutrient rich food then you wont feel hungry all the time and you will actually have more energy in the long run because you are eating better quality of food. When talking to my peers I try and tell them how harmful all the chemicals are in the foods that we consume on a daily basis and that with the amount of food we consume the amount of pesticides and other chemicals can add up quickly. Not to mention the global damages that all of these chemicals and pesticides are having on our earth. These chemicals have long term affects that will continue to be an issue as time goes on.
Usually after talking to people about the harmful side affects that come from all the chemicals that are in our foods people admit to me that if they had the means to eat better they would. And in some cases like with my mother in law she has gone out and started to buy what she can afford organic and has limited and eliminated certain foods that are particularly harmful. 

Different Types of Persuasive Speeches

Chapter 14 talks about three types of speeches Questions of Fact, Questions of Value and Questions on Policy. These types of speeches shows you how to look at issues from three different ways and then shows you the best way to go about presenting that speech. In Questions of Fact a person can use any of the organizational patterns that have been learned so far and involves the speaker taking facts about a topic and question whether those facts are true or false. If the speaker feels that the fact is false then they will show throughout their speech why that fact is actually false and why. It is important that the speaker is specific in their reasoning and that they give good examples to their audience to dis-credit the facts and gain the speaker credibility with the audience. If the speaker can convince their audience that the fact is wrong then they have successfully completed this form of a speech.
Questions of Value deal more with questioning a topic based on morals, right and wrong, and ethics. A speaker in this case will try and sway the audience to agree with them which might be difficult because people's values and morals range drastically and what might be complete im-moral to the speaker may be totally acceptable to the audience, for example pre-marital sex. Some people have no moral objection to this while others feel very strongly against it and usually for religious purposes which again can be a very controversial issue and is something that is hard to persuade.
The last type of persuasive speech is the Questions of Policy. This would be more like the legalization of marijuana or questioning whether certain laws should be in existence. While this topic is also controversial it is on that can spark some heated debate and in my opinion be something that can be beneficial and fun.

A sea of Persuassion

2). How are you immersed in a sea of persuasion?  Give some examples of persuasive messages you've received in interpersonal, public speaking, and mass media contexts.  What can you do to become a more critical consumer or persuasive  messages? 

I feel like everyday I am surrounded by adds telling me that their product is better then their competitors, and recently with the election there have been numerous adds and debates where each electorate is trying to convince me to vote for them and why the opponent is an awful choice.  Labeling on products state that they are the number one product in the market, that 9 out of 10 dentists approve their brand of toothbrush and the list goes on. My topic that I chose to do my persuasive speech on is something that was actually brought to my attention through a friend on face book who was attending protest and posting different articles on my feed that were anti-circumcision. Although I had already had my son and had not circumcised him reading these articles and her personal opinions I felt that I made the right choice and have tried to go out of my way to educate other mother's of their options when it comes to this choice.  While I am not nearly as pushy as my friend I feel that because I agree strongly with her view that I need to do something to help find a solution to the problem. So whenever I meet someone or a family member asks me what I think I try to give them an informative reason. When it comes to consumer issues however I try to not listen to the ads, I buy what is on sale, and what I know works just from personal experience. When at all possible I try to buy organic and all natural and I guess this is also due to the fact that I was persuaded to change my eating habits from different films that I have watched and different research that I have done on the topic. It is impossible to not be persuaded to do something or buy something but at the end of the day I have to make choices that best fit my life and the life of my children and that is what most persuades me. 

Discuss Monroe's Motivated Sequence and the Problem/Solution organizational pattern in detail.  Explain which organizational pattern you would prefer to use for the final speech in this course.  (This may take a google search of the terms:  "Monroe's Motivated Sequence", and "Problem Solution Pattern" in order to better understand each organizational pattern.)



Monroe's Motivated Sequence is based on a 5 step plan that leads one's audience through a presentation in a way that persuades them to take action and agree with the speaker's point of view. These five steps are: "Ask your listeners to grasp the relevance and importance of your topic, understand the problem you describe, become satisfied that the solution you offer is a good one, imagine how the solution could be enacted and feel motivated to do their part in solving the problem" (pg. 285). 
The Problem Solution pattern the book states that this speech must state a problem clearly in the presentation with a solution to follow. If the problem isn't stated as something that is a true problem then the audience will not be persuaded to take action and follow through with the speaker's solution. 
I feel that for my persuasive speech on circumcision I will use the Monroe's Motivated Sequence. I feel that this outline will help me to show that this is a problem currently and that having two boys of my own it is something I feel strongly about. In giving the list of cons towards this topic I will then be able to describe the problems with circumcision and that there is a simple solution to the problem that every parent needs to know about. While my topic could easily be a problem solution speech I just feel that Monroe's outline will help to keep my speech organized, but also to show that circumcision isn't something that is controversial and is something that people don't like to talk about. 

Language and Culture

One of the concepts this week was in chapter 10, Language and Culture. This is how language differs from place to place and among different social groups in society. Some cultures use slang to express themselves. Slang exists with in culture where the same language is spoken but many words and sayings are given different meanings then the standard dictionary meaning. Another way that culture affects language is Jargon. This is usually used among professionals and can be quite technical. The normal person who is not familiar with the subject might find the Jargon hard to understand. There are many other ways that culture affects how people speak and for this reason it is important for people to be conscious of their audience so that they understand what is being presented to them. If a scientist is presenting a resent finding to a group of people who are not scientists and uses the technical Jargon then their audience is not learning, or understanding the speech. I find that if I struggle to understand someone, or there are a lot of words that I have never heard I am more likely to check out and stop listening. Also some forms of slang can be derogatory and make people feel uncomfortable, so it's important to know your audience and what they will be open to. A speaker will not be affective if they are insulting their audience. Also if people do not understand the double meaning of certain words then the audience could leave confused and mis-informed. For example to say that something is "bad" could mean the literal meaning of not good, or it can mean cool if being used in slang. It is important to try and speak to your audience in a way that is understandable and relate able to a group of people equally.