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Speech evidence

A speech is about making a claim and providing evidence to support your claim. Evidence used should support your claim/thesis and be concise and clear. 

Types of evidence

Evidence for your thesis or claim can vary depending on the topic and the type of speech you’re writing.

Statistics might seem like the most credible, but these can be very boring, hard to understand and inappropriate.

Use different kinds of support for each point:

  • Definitions: Define terms the audience may not be familiar with: Explaining PB&J represents peanut butter and jelly sandwiches will help the audience follow as you are speaking.
  • Examples: Give examples of how your argument/thesis is valid: An examples could be a visual, remove a PB&J from a sandwich bag to show that when made with peanut butter on both sides there is no mess.
  • Personal testimony: Audiences often relate to personal stories: I personally love PB&J sandwiches and was so happy when I found this method of making them. I really like keeping may hands and clothes stain free.

Different kinds of evidence will have different effects—emotion, interest of the audience or objectivity.

  • The little boy was crying because his hands were sticky from the jelly of his sandwich evokes a different response than listing the results from a survey.
  • Both statements support the claim that peanut butter on both sides of the bread is the better option; however, each will be received and processed differently by the audience.

Take only the evidence you need from sources

As you read a source, you will notice many pieces of evidence are contained in one paragraph. As the speaker, you need to determine the pieces that support your claim or thesis.

Use only the evidence that you need to support the argument/thesis.

  • Determine exactly what the audience needs to know
    • According to the Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich survey of 1997 done by the Elementary School District, kids prefer not to have jelly leak through the bread.
    • The unnecessary information not included: 519 kids preferred grape jelly and 600 preferred strawberry jelly. 1100 of the students do not like having jelly leak through the bread while 19 like having sticky fingers.
  • Determine why the audience needs the information
  • Using a speech outline (see resource on speech outlining) will help you narrow down the necessary information.

Making evidence relatable to the audience

Explanation of sources may be necessary to show the evidence's significance to the argument/thesis.

Complex information and definitions need to be presented in a way the audiences will understand. Visuals for more complex info (especially for statistics) may be helpful.

References

Beebe, S. A., & Beebe, S. J. (2012). A concise public speaking handbook. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Lucas, S. (2012). The art of public speaking. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Sprague, J. & Stuart, D. (2013). The speaker's compact handbook, 4th ed. Portland: Ringgold, Inc.

Vrooman, S. S. (2013). The zombie guide to public speaking: Why most presentations fail, and what you can do to avoid joining the horde. Place of publication not identified: CreateSpace.