What is the thesis statement in a speech?
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By on December 1, 2017 , UPDATED ON December 11, 2017, in Speech Writing An effective speech needs an effective thesis statement. The thesis statement for a speech is the part of your introduction that identifies your position and provides an outline for your ideas. A good thesis will help keep the rest of your speech focused. Keep these five things in mind when writing your thesis statement for a speech. StrengthWhen we talk about the strength of a thesis statement, we look at how arguable it is. Your thesis statement should state your position. If everyone agrees with your position, however, what’s the point in offering your speech? Make sure that you can defend your thesis statement and support your position throughout your speech. FocusYour thesis should be clear and concise. It needs to explain what your speech is about by offering a quick summary of your main points. Write the first draft of your thesis statement, and think about whether or not you can narrow it down any more. If your thesis statement is narrow, then your speech will be focused for your audience. ProofThe position that you offer in your thesis statement should not just be your personal opinion. You need to be able to find texts and research that supports your ideas. Without the proof to back up your claim, you won’t be able to gain the credibility needed to get your audience to validate your ideas. If they don’t believe that you’re a credible source, you’re going to have a hard time convincing them of your position. LengthThere isn’t a specific length needed for your thesis. However, you should try to keep it concise and specific. In many cases, the thesis statement is one sentence that states your position and offers the supporting details that you’ll discuss throughout the rest of your speech. PlacementYour thesis should be located in the introduction. It’s typically found in the last two to three sentences at the end of the paragraph. By placing it at the end of your introduction, you can use it as a good way to lead into the body paragraphs. Also, remember that you should restate your thesis in the conclusion. Don’t just repeat it word-for-word, but remind your listeners what your position and supporting points were in your speech. Final Thoughts on Writing a Thesis Statement for a SpeechAlthough it’s helpful to write your thesis statement for a speech before writing the rest of your speech, remember that your thesis statement is not set in stone. As you continue to work through your speech, you may find that your thesis statement needs to be revised. For this reason, it’s important to frequently review your thesis statement for a speech and make sure that it perfectly fits the rest of your ideas. We’d love to hear from you: What are you speaking about, and what will your thesis statement be? Check out our Professional Writing lessons for even more information on speech writing!
Crafting a Thesis StatementA thesis statement is a short, declarative sentence that states the purpose, intent, or main idea of a speech. A strong, clear thesis statement is very valuable within an introduction because it lays out the basic goal of the entire speech. We strongly believe that it is worthwhile to invest some time in framing and writing a good thesis statement. You may even want to write your thesis statement before you even begin conducting research for your speech. While you may end up rewriting your thesis statement later, having a clear idea of your purpose, intent, or main idea before you start searching for research will help you focus on the most appropriate material. To help us understand thesis statements, we will first explore their basic functions and then discuss how to write a thesis statement. Basic Functions of a Thesis StatementA thesis statement helps your audience by letting them know, clearly and concisely, what you are going to talk about. A strong thesis statement will allow your reader to understand the central message of your speech. You will want to be as specific as possible. A thesis statement for informative speaking should be a declarative statement that is clear and concise; it will tell the audience what to expect in your speech. For persuasive speaking, a thesis statement should have a narrow focus and should be arguable, there must be an argument to explore within the speech. The exploration piece will come with research, but we will discuss that in the main points. For now, you will need to consider your specific purpose and how this relates directly to what you want to tell this audience. Remember, no matter if your general purpose is to inform or persuade, your thesis will be a declarative statement that reflects your purpose. How to Write a Thesis StatementNow that we’ve looked at why a thesis statement is crucial in a speech, let’s switch gears and talk about how we go about writing a solid thesis statement. A thesis statement is related to the general and specific purposes of a speech. Narrow Your Topic Once you have chosen your topic and determined your purpose, you will need to make sure your topic is narrow. One of the hardest parts of writing a thesis statement is narrowing a speech from a broad topic to one that can be easily covered during a five- to seven-minute speech. While five to seven minutes may sound like a long time for new public speakers, the time flies by very quickly when you are speaking. You can easily run out of time if your topic is too broad. To ascertain if your topic is narrow enough for a specific time frame, ask yourself three questions. Is your speech topic a broad overgeneralization of a topic?Overgeneralization occurs when we classify everyone in a specific group as having a specific characteristic. For example, a speaker’s thesis statement that “all members of the National Council of La Raza are militant” is an overgeneralization of all members of the organization. Furthermore, a speaker would have to correctly demonstrate that all members of the organization are militant for the thesis statement to be proven, which is a very difficult task since the National Council of La Raza consists of millions of Hispanic Americans. A more appropriate thesis related to this topic could be, “Since the creation of the National Council of La Raza [NCLR] in 1968, the NCLR has become increasingly militant in addressing the causes of Hispanics in the United States.” Is your speech’s topic one clear topic or multiple topics?A strong thesis statement consists of only a single topic. The following is an example of a thesis statement that contains too many topics: “Medical marijuana, prostitution, and Women’s Equal Rights Amendment should all be legalized in the United States.” Not only are all three fairly broad, but you also have three completely unrelated topics thrown into a single thesis statement. Instead of a thesis statement that has multiple topics, limit yourself to only one topic. Here’s an example of a thesis statement examining only one topic: Ratifying the Women’s Equal Rights Amendment as equal citizens under the United States law would protect women by requiring state and federal law to engage in equitable freedoms among the sexes. Does the topic have direction? If your basic topic is too broad, you will never have a solid thesis statement or a coherent speech. For example, if you start off with the topic “Barack Obama is a role model for everyone,” what do you mean by this statement? Do you think President Obama is a role model because of his dedication to civic service? Do you think he’s a role model because he’s a good basketball player? Do you think he’s a good role model because he’s an excellent public speaker? When your topic is too broad, almost anything can become part of the topic. This ultimately leads to a lack of direction and coherence within the speech itself. To make a cleaner topic, a speaker needs to narrow her or his topic to one specific area. For example, you may want to examine why President Obama is a good public speaker. Put Your Topic into a Declarative SentenceYou wrote your general and specific purpose. Use this information to guide your thesis statement. If you wrote a clear purpose, it will be easy to turn this into a declarative statement. General purpose: To inform Specific purpose: To inform my audience about the lyricism of former President Barack Obama’s presentation skills. Your thesis statement needs to be a declarative statement. This means it needs to actually state something. If a speaker says, “I am going to talk to you about the effects of social media,” this tells you nothing about the speech content. Are the effects positive? Are they negative? Are they both? We don’t know. This sentence is an announcement, not a thesis statement. A declarative statement clearly states the message of your speech. For example, you could turn the topic of President Obama’s public speaking skills into the following sentence: “Because of his unique sense of lyricism and his well-developed presentational skills, President Barack Obama is a modern symbol of the power of public speaking.” Or you could state, “Socal media has both positive and negative effects on users.” Adding your Argument, Viewpoint, or OpinionIf your topic is informative, your job is to make sure that the thesis statement is nonargumentative and focuses on facts. For example, in the preceding thesis statement, we have a couple of opinion-oriented terms that should be avoided for informative speeches: “unique sense,” “well-developed,” and “power.” All three of these terms are laced with an individual’s opinion, which is fine for a persuasive speech but not for an informative speech. For informative speeches, the goal of a thesis statement is to explain what the speech will be informing the audience about, not attempting to add the speaker’s opinion about the speech’s topic. For an informative speech, you could rewrite the thesis statement to read, “Barack Obama’s use of lyricism in his speech, ‘A World That Stands as One,’ delivered July 2008 in Berlin demonstrates exceptional use of rhetorical strategies. On the other hand, if your topic is persuasive, you want to make sure that your argument, viewpoint, or opinion is clearly indicated within the thesis statement. If you are going to argue that Barack Obama is a great speaker, then you should set up this argument within your thesis statement. For example, you could turn the topic of President Obama’s public speaking skills into the following sentence: “Because of his unique sense of lyricism and his well-developed presentational skills, President Barack Obama is a modern symbol of the power of public speaking.” Once you have a clear topic sentence, you can start tweaking the thesis statement to help set up the purpose of your speech. Thesis ChecklistOnce you have written a first draft of your thesis statement, you’re probably going to end up revising your thesis statement a number of times prior to delivering your actual speech. A thesis statement is something that is constantly tweaked until the speech is given. As your speech develops, often your thesis will need to be rewritten to whatever direction the speech itself has taken. We often start with a speech going in one direction, and find out through our research that we should have gone in a different direction. When you think you finally have a thesis statement that is good to go for your speech, take a second and make sure it adheres to the criteria shown below. Thesis ChecklistPreview of Speech The preview, as stated in the introduction portion of our readings, reminds us that we will need to let the audience know what the main points in our speech will be. You will want to follow the thesis with the preview of your speech. Your preview will allow the audience to follow your main points in a sequential manner. Spoiler alert: The preview when stated out loud will remind you of main point 1, main point 2, and main point 3 (etc. if you have more or less main points). It is a built in memory card! Introduction Attention Getter: Introductions are foundational to an effective public speech.
What is a thesis statement in a speech examples?A persuasive thesis usually contains an opinion and the reason why your opinion is true. Example: Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are the best type of sandwich because they are versatile, easy to make, and taste good.
How do you write a thesis statement for a speech?A thesis statement for informative speaking should be a declarative statement that is clear and concise; it will tell the audience what to expect in your speech. For persuasive speaking, a thesis statement should have a narrow focus and should be arguable, there must be an argument to explore within the speech.
Where is the thesis in a speech?We can create a thesis statement because: You will use it in the introduction and conclusion of your speech. It will help the audience to remember the overall idea of your speech. It helps you narrow your topic and maintain a focus for your speech.
What is thesis statement in an introductory speech?A thesis statement is a short, declarative sentence that states the purpose, intent, or main idea of a speech. A strong, clear thesis statement is very valuable within an introduction because it lays out the basic goal of the entire speech.
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