3X3 Outline

This is the outline you will use for ALL of your speeches in Oral

Comm..

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3X3 Outline

I. Introductiona. attention getterb. thesisc. forecast

II. Bodya. point oneb. point twoc. point three

III. Conclusiona. restate thesisb. forecast with summaryc. bring back attention getter (zinger)

I. Introductiona. Attention Getter: This is several statements

that are meant to grab the audience’s attention and make them want to listen to your speech. EX: apt quotation, incident relating to the subject, question, statistics, anecdotes, startling statements, etc.

a. Thesis: A statement that tells the listener what you are going to talk about, and to which everything should relate.

b. Forecast: A list of the points that will be discussed in the body (future tense).

II. Bodya. Point one

i. Supportii. Supportiii. Support

b. Point twoi. Supportii. Supportiii. Support

c. Point threei. Supportii. Supportiii. Support

III. Conclusiona. Restate Thesis: This can be copied from the

introduction.b. Forecast with summary: Lists the points

discussed with a brief summary of the main ideas from each point (past tense).

c. Attention Getter: This is the same idea as stated in the introduction, but it is now brought back in a way that connects to the thesis. This should not be a simple cut and paste. At the very end of the speech you might want a zinger. A zinger is a last statement that really captures your speech.

Attention Getters

• Must relate to your topic.• Must be able to bring it back in

the conclusion.• Are more than one sentence.

Let’s look at some types.

Apt Quotation

• A quotation that would relate to the subject. This could be a direct quote from something someone said or a quote from an article.

• Ex: a speech about magazines“Benjamin Franklin is frequently credited with publishing the first magazine in the Colonies-The General Magazine, and Historical Chronicle. In fact, he was the second by three days to Andrew Bradford’s The American Magazine, which died after three issues.” This is according to the book Stories Behind Everyday Things.

Incident relating to the subject

• Telling of a story or news event that relates to the subject of the speech.

• EX: a speech about jailsRecently in the news, according to a Lincoln Journal Star article from January 17, 2008, a man escaped the custody of authorities while shopping at Barnes and Noble. The man, Jayson Garett, was in the institution because in 2004 he walked naked into a man’s home and stabbed him to death. This isn’t the first time someone has escaped from jails.

Definition• Define an important word you are going

to be using in the speech.• EX: a speech about global warmingBefore we can begin to look at global warming, we must first define what it is. Global warming, as found on the Natural Resources Defense Council website, states that global warming is “an increase in the average temperature of the earth's surface.”

Brief Historical Background• Similar to defining a word, giving a brief background

or history to a subject might be helpful before diving into the subject. This would be especially useful for a topic your audience might not be that familiar with.

• EX: a speech about the controversy of stem cell research.

Stem cell research, as found on the website All about popular issues: History of Stem Cell Research, started in the early 1800’s with work on both animals and humans. It was a discovery that some cells could generate other cells. In 1990, stem cell research was put on hold by Congress because most stem cells come from embryos…

Rhetorical Question• A rhetorical question is a question you ask

that doesn’t necessarily have an answer. You ask it, not to have the audience actually respond, but to inquire their thinking. Try to avoid this type of attention getter, because it isn’t that excited, developed or advanced.

• EX: a speech about global warmingIs the climate really changing? Is global warming to blame? Is global warming real? Are we really to blame for the changes in the climate?

Statement about Popular Belief• This is a great way to bring in the audience’s attention

through the use of popular ideas. This is especially useful if you are going to disprove those beliefs.

• EX: a speech about global warming and how it is real

There are people in our society today, governmental people including, that do not believe that global warming is a threat to our every day life. There are people that go so far as to say that global warming does not even exist. This is a frightening notion. (thesis: Global warming does exist and it such a threat to our lives that we need to fix this problem.)

Pertinent Facts

• Similar to statistics, facts are simply that- facts. These are relevant to the subject.

• Ex: speech about tigersTigers, Panthera tigris, which is their Latin name, according to the website Facts About Tigers, are the biggest cats in the world. There are five different kinds of tigers: Siberian, Indochinese, South China, Bengal, and Sumatran. Three tiger subspecies, are now extinct; the Bali, Javan, and Caspian tigers. Tigers are an endangered species with only about 4,870 to 7,300 tigers left in the wild.

Statistics

• Similar to facts, statistics are facts but they deal with numbers.

• EX: a speech about obesity or healthy livingThere are over 64 million overweight and over 34 million obese people living in America today, according to the website US Department of Health and Human Services updated Feb. 2005.

Anecdote• An anecdote is like a short story whose theme relates to

your subject. The story can be made up to be symbolic of your topic or it can be biographical.

• EX: a speech about global warmingRichard enjoyed his cigarettes. Richard enjoyed his cigarettes so much he smoked two packs of them a day. His wife was always asking him to quite, but alas, Richard was willing to sacrifice his life for his love of cigarettes. Until that day when Richard was diagnosed with lung cancer. Richard quit immediately, but the doctor told him it was too late, he had set in motion the start of his death. If we don’t start to change our ways with global warming, we will end up like Richard.