Chapter 6.4 Specific Purposes
Learning Objectives:
Understand the process of extending a general purpose into a specific purpose.
Integrate the seven tips for creating specific purposes.
A specific purpose starts with one of the three general purposes (to inform, to persuade, or to entertain).
It specifies the actual topic chosen and the objective to be accomplished.
The specific purpose answers the who, what, when, where, and why questions for the speech.
Getting Specific
To get to the core of the speech, you need to know a few basic things:
First, have a general purpose.
Picking an appropriate topic is easier with a known general purpose.
The general purpose alters the topic.
Example: A speech about hygiene.
Inform: Discussing hygiene practices around the globe.
Persuade: Discussing why people need to adopt a specific hygiene practice.
Entertain: Discussing strange and unique hygiene practices used historically.
The "5 Ws and How" of Specific Purposes
Who: Who is going to be in your audience?
Different audiences have different desires, backgrounds, and needs.
Keeping your audience in mind increases the likelihood that your speech will be meaningful.
What: What is the basic description of your topic?
Make sure the topic is appropriate for constraints or limitations within a speaking context.
When: When will your speech be given?
Different speeches may be better for different times of the day.
Example: Explaining the importance of eating breakfast and giving out cereal bars might be great at 9 AM but not as good at 4 PM.
Where: Where will your speech be given?
Classroom, church, or executive meeting?
Different topics may or may not be appropriate, depending on the location.
Why: Why does your audience need to hear your speech?
If the audience doesn't care about the specific purpose, they are less likely to pay attention.
Creating Your Specific Purpose
A specific purpose should be a short, declarative sentence that emphasizes the main topic of your speech.
Example:
Topic: The military.
Narrower topic: The military's use of embedded journalists.
Narrower topic: The death of British reporter Rupert Hamer in 02/2010 in a roadside bombing in Nawa, Afghanistan, along with five US marines.
General purpose: To inform.
Specific purpose: To inform my audience about the danger of embedded journalism by focusing on the death of British reporter Rupert Hamer.
General purpose: To persuade.
Specific purpose: To persuade a group of journalism students to avoid jobs as embedded journalists by using the death of British reporter Rupert Hamer as an example of what can happen.
To form a clear and succinct statement:
Start by naming your general purpose: to inform, to persuade, or to entertain.
Follow this by a capsule description of your audience: my peers in class, a group of kindergarten teachers, etc.
Then complete your statement of purpose with a prepositional phrase (to, about, by, or another preposition) that summarizes your topic.
Example: "My specific purpose is to persuade the students in my residence hall to protest the proposed housing cost increase" is a specific statement of purpose, while "My speech will be about why we should protest the proposed housing cost increase" is not.
Specific purposes should be statements, not questions.
Basic Tips for Creating Specific Purposes
Audience, audience, audience.
Always think about your intended audience when choosing your specific purpose.
Start off your sentence by including the words "my audience" or listing the name of your audience (e.g., a group of journalism students, the people in my congregation, my peers in class, and so on).
Matching the Rhetorical Situation.
The second most important consideration pertains to the rhetorical situation of your speech.
Rhetorical situation: speaker, audience, text, context.
Ensure that all components go together.
Make sure that you are the appropriate speaker for a topic, the topic is appropriate for your audience, the text of your speech is appropriate, and the speech is appropriate for the context.
Speeches given in a classroom may not be appropriate in a religious context and vice versa.
Make it clear.
The specific purpose statement should be direct and not too broad, general, or vague.
Example: To persuade the students in my class to drink more.
Unclear: What should they drink more of? Water, milk, orange juice, alcoholic beverages?
Furthermore, we have no way to quantify or make sense of the word more.
Use clear language and avoid colloquialisms.
Don't double up.
Stick to one specific purpose.
If you find yourself using the word "and" in your specific topic statement, you're probably doubling up on topics.
Can I really do this in five to seven minutes?
Determine whether the specific purpose can be realistically covered in the allotted time.
Time limits are among the most common constraints.
Make your topic narrower so that you can fully cover a limited aspect of it.
Key Takeaways
Moving from a general to specific purpose requires you to identify the who, what, when, where, and why of your speech.
State your specific purpose in a sentence that includes the general purpose, a description of the intended audience, and a prepositional phrase summarizing the topic.
When creating a specific purpose for your speech:
First: Consider your audience.
Second: Consider the rhetorical situation.
Make sure your specific purpose statement uses clear language and that it does not try to cover more than one topic.
Make sure you can realistically accomplish your specific purpose within the allotted time.