ELC151- EVALUATING AND SUMMARIZING IDEAS IN SPEAKING (ODL MATERIAL)

Evaluating ideas:

 There are a few techniques how ideas can be evaluated effectively either your own ideas or
the ideas expressed by other people in a group discussion:
- When evaluating ideas given by someone, it is important to analyze the relevance of the
ideas to the topic being discussed. Sometimes, people are just throwing ideas and they
can get carried away, thus we need to identify and sort which ideas that are relevant
and which are not.
- Next, evaluate which ideas are strong and non-arguable. Ideas that are strong are not
easily denied, disqualified, argued or rejected. This will make sure that the ideas that we
give to people will be accepted and seen as valid.
- Other than that, ideas need to be evaluated in terms of their importance. Due to time
limitation, sometimes, we cannot discuss all ideas and we have to be selective in terms
of which ideas are important and worth discussing as they can make the discussion more
“alive” and which ideas are not as important.
- Also, ideas given by someone sometimes can be the same given by someone else but
only expressed in a different way. Thus, similar ideas need not to be taken twice or
discuss twice. Thus, choose only one idea that revolves around the same topic but do
acknowledge both of the idea’s contributors.

Summarizing Ideas

 Summary allows a speaker to pick out and focus on only those aspects of the ideas that are
most relevant.
 How you will eventually use the summary determines what is important to include and what
is unimportant- you must decide which parts you are going to include in the summary and
which you are going to leave out.
 By summarizing the primary message of your speech, you will refocus your audience’s mind
back to the overall purpose of your speech and the reasons why they should care about
what you are saying.
 The best way to summarize ideas in your conclusion of your speech is to ask yourself the
following important questions:
- What are the main ideas?
- What are the crucial details necessary for supporting the ideas?
 - What information is irrelevant or unnecessary?
- What is the primary message I want my speech to communicate?
- What are the most important points of my speech that convey this message?
- What do I want my audience to take away from my speech?
 How to write a good summary of ideas:
- A summary must be concise and lean.
- Clearly list your main points and connect them back to the primary message of your
speech.
- There is no need to elaborate on them again or use examples but only the summarized
ideas.
- Focus on simply summarizing it and not stating your entire speech all over again.
- Finally, conclude the summarized ideas with a simple concluding remark that
summarizes the whole summarized ideas.