College of Southern Idaho
Thesis  
A Step-By-Step Approach

Now that you have captured our attention and given us a reason to listen, we need to know what we are going to listen to by giving us the main idea of the speech. It is important to distinguish the thesis sentence from your specific purpose. Just like in a paper, the thesis sentence is the main idea of the speech. The specific purpose, on the other hand, is what you want to accomplish with the speech. Look at your thesis this way: if there is just ONE SENTENCE that will encompass everything your audience needs to know about your speech, this is it.

 

This should be the third roman numeral in your introduction.

Test yourself: Where is the thesis sentence on the sample outline we looked at in class? How does it differ from the specific purpose statement? How is the thesis represented on the outline?

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