Delmundo, Jonah F.

Task 3a Determining Thesis Statements

1. Before writing a speech or essay and making a presentation, one of the things that usually
must be considered first is the topic. Many questions may help in choosing a topic, some
of which are the following question: (1) What important local, national, or international
news or event is happening now? (2) What do I care about most? (3) Is there someone or
something I want to promote or endorse? (Barnett, n.d.)

2.  A general-purpose statement, as the name suggests, is the general or broad objective of

a speech or presentation, such as to inform, to entertain, to persuade, etc. It may be the
very simple answer that you get when you ask the question: Why am I writing or making
this? On the other hand, a specific purpose statement mentions both the general purpose
and the topic of the speech in the form of an objective, commonly given as a complete
sentence (Barnett, n.d.). The following are examples of specific purpose statements:

A. At the end of the presentation, dog trainers will understand the importance of
providing a healthy diet to dogs. (General purpose is to inform.)
B. At the end of the speech, many people, particularly bakers, will see the importance of
sugar-free ingredients and buy those instead of products that are high in sugar. (GP is
to persuade.)
C. At the end of the essay, the readers will realize the effects of climate change as well
as ways on how to fight it. (GP is to inform.)

3.  The specific purpose statement talks about your exact objective, but most likely this
statement will not appear in the work itself. The thesis statement is a one-sentence
summary, included in the first paragraph of your work, that provides readers with a brief
overview of what the whole essay or presentation is going to be about (Barnett, n.d.).

4.  Depending on the content of the work, speech organizational styles will also vary. The
chronological organizational style arranges events based on time - or the order when
the said events happened. When directions, or physical and geographical locations are the
focus, the spatial organizational style may be used. Lastly, Monroe's Motivated
Sequence allows the audience to take part in a five-step sequence (Barnett, n.d.).

5. According to the article, the organizational style that may work well with persuasive
speeches is the problem-solution pattern, since it may suggest what works well given a
certain problem - persuading the audience to follow the suggestion. The other
organizational styles may be better used for informative work (Barnett, n.d.).

6. Signposts are words or signals that show the relationship between ideas and allow the
writer to move from one idea to the next. The three types of signposts are: transitional
statements, internal previews, and summaries. Transitional statements or transitional
devices are words, phrases, or sentences that connect one sentence or idea to another.
 Examples of these are moreover, on the other hand, yet, in conclusion. Next, internal
previews basically mean what the name suggests. It gives the audience an idea of what to
expect in the following paragraph, such as "After talking about the history of the United
Kingdom, let us now move to its present state." Finally, summaries are shortened recaps
of what ideas or details have already been given, often to keep the audience in track of
the whole presentation or essay (Barnett, n.d.).

7.  A speech outline is traditionally more concise than a preparation outline, although some
speakers prefer to write the speech verbatim. Normally, the outline only includes some
keywords that remind the speaker of the flow of the speech and what points need to be
made, including signposts, and supporting ideas. The speech outline also follows the
format of using Roman numerals for main ideas, capital letters for sub-points, then
Arabic numerals, and finally lowercase letters. What is important is that the speech
outline includes the main and subordinating points, as well as catchy go-getters (Barnett,
n.d.)