Which is an example of a specific purpose statement for an informative speech?

An informative speech is a fun way to teach your audience about something new and useful. Think of it as a way to clearly deliver information, or a specific message, to the audience. The message the speaker is trying to convey must be clearly stated. Regardless of the topic, incorporate a specific purpose statement in your informative speech. The specific purpose statement should state the main topic of your speech. You will grab the attention of your audience by engaging them immediately with a compelling reason for your speech.

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1 Choosing Your Topic

Write down the main goal you wish to accomplish with your informative speech. Select a topic that you like. You will feel more confident, when you deliver your speech, if you feel confident and passionate about the topic. For example, if you love to bake, pick a topic that showcases your skills. The end goal of your informative speech may be to inform your audience about the skills involved in making a cake.

2 Create an Outline

Break down your main goal into approximately two to five parts. Each component of your speech will provide the structure for the content you deliver. Think of it as an outline that will help you stay focused and ensure your audience is following the message. Keeping with our cake baking example, you may wish to break the topic down into each step of making a cake. For example, you might include: selecting the recipe, gathering the ingredients, mixing, baking and frosting. After you list the main topics, begin brainstorming the fine details.

3 Choose a Main Purpose

Try beginning your statement of specific purpose with a phrase like, “I will inform my audience about baking a cake” This beginning will clearly tell your audience what aspects about the topic you will be discussing. In addition, this format will allow your audience to clearly understand what you wish to accomplish with your speech. Consider the main purpose a thesis statement that serves as the backbone of your informative speech.

4 Fill in the Details

Include the topic and parts at the end of your specific purpose statement. For example, your resulting specific purpose statement may be “To inform my audience of the five main steps of making a cake.” You can continue your specific purpose statement by listing the individual parts of your topic. For example, you can follow the cake baking specific purpose statement by saying “These steps include selecting a recipe, following the recipe, baking the cake and putting on the finishing touches."

About the Author

Pranav Reddy started writing professionally in 2010. He has written automotive, society, culture and science articles for various websites. Reddy is pursuing his Bachelor of Science in molecular biology and neuroscience at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

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Chapter 5: Presentation Organization

Speeches have traditionally been seen to have one of three broad purposes: to inform, to persuade, and — well, to be honest, different words are used for the third kind of speech purpose: to inspire, to amuse, to please, or to entertain. These broad goals are commonly known as a speech’s general purpose, since, in general, you are trying to inform, persuade, or entertain your audience without regard to specifically what the topic will be. Perhaps you could think of them as appealing to the understanding of the audience (informative), the will or action (persuasive), and the emotion or pleasure.

Now that you know your general purpose (to inform, to persuade, or to entertain), you can start to move in the direction of the specific purpose. A specific purpose statement builds on your general purpose (to inform) and makes it more specific (as the name suggests). So if your first speech is an informative speech, your general purpose will be to inform your audience about a very specific realm of knowledge.

In writing your specific purpose statement, you will take three contributing elements (shown in figure 5.3) that will come together to help you determine your specific purpose:

• You (your interests, your background, past jobs, experience, education, major),
• Your audience
• The context or setting.

Figure 5.3. You, your audience, and your context (Tucker & Barton, 2016)

Putting It Together

Keeping these three inputs in mind, you can begin to write a specific purpose statement, which will be the foundation for everything you say in the speech and a guide for what you do not say. This formula will help you in putting together your specific purpose statement:

To _______________ [Specific Communication Word (inform, explain, demonstrate, describe, define, persuade, convince, prove, argue)] my [Target Audience (my classmates, the members of the Social Work Club, my coworkers] __________________. [The Content (how to bake brownies, that Macs are better than PCs].

Example: The purpose of my presentation is to demonstrate for my coworkers the value of informed intercultural communication.

Formulating a Central Idea Statement

While you will not actually say your specific purpose statement during your speech, you will need to clearly state what your focus and main points are going to be. The statement that reveals your main points is commonly known as the central idea statement (or just the central idea). Just as you would create a thesis statement for an essay or research paper, the central idea statement helps focus your presentation by defining your topic, purpose, direction, angle and/or point of view. Here are two examples:

Specific Purpose – To explain to my classmates the effects of losing a pet on the elderly.

Central Idea – When elderly persons lose their animal companions, they can experience serious psychological, emotional, and physical effects.

Specific Purpose – To demonstrate to my audience the correct method for cleaning a computer keyboard.

Central Idea – Your computer keyboard needs regular cleaning to function well, and you can achieve that in four easy steps.

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