By now, you should have 1) a topic, 2) a general purpose for the topic, 3) a specific purpose for the topic, and a 4) Thesis statement (p.112).
Tuesday, we briefly covered finding research material for your work, and today, we are covering adding “color” to your content.
We went over the Speaker’s Sourcebooks, Quotebooks, and books of Anecdotes.
With some effort, you can find some of this content online, such as here Stories and Anecdotes for your speech (specialspeeches.com)
- Your assignment today is to find a quote or anecdote that would feasibly add to your speech.
- Quotes and anecdotes do more than merely “color.” They add depth and tie your speech into the many stories in the world of your topic.
- Add one quote or anecdote to your paper and turn it in.
Example Quote about the absurdity of poetry
“Haikus are very fun
But sometimes, don’t make much sense
Refrigerator”
-Pastor Phil, from the book Plagiarized Writings
Example Anecdote about destiny
There was a merchant in Bagdad who sent his servant to market to buy provisions, and in a little while, the servant came back, white and trembling, and said, “Master, just now, when I was in the marketplace, I was jostled by a woman in the crowd, and when I turned I saw it was Death that jostled me. She looked at me and made a threatening gesture: now, lend me your horse, and I will ride away from this city and avoid my fate. I will go to Samarra, and Death will not find me there.”
The merchant lent him his horse, and the servant mounted it, and he dug his spurs in its flanks, and as fast as the horse could gallop, he went. Then the merchant went down to the marketplace, and he saw me standing in the crowd, and he came to me and said, Why did you make a threatening gesture to my servant when you saw him this morning? That was not a threatening gesture, I said; it was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Bagdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.
by W. Somerset Maugham [1933]