Speaking Ethically

Imagine that you have somehow learned a way of bypassing a security system located in many banks. The information you have addresses not only access to the bank itself but also the computers used in the storage of information and the transmission of funds. You are certain that you understand the process well enough to successfully do it. Can you use this as your topic for an informative speech? Explain your answer fully.

Now let’s imagine a different topic: You are going to speak about receiving medical care in a hospital emergency room. You intend to describe the long wait, the need for an insurance card, and the many personal details that the patient must give orally to the emergency department receptionist, who sits on the other side of a glass barrier typing the information into a computer. For your introduction, you have created a vivid picture of an emergency room scenario, and you want it to be realistic. Must you say that the scenario is hypothetical rather than actual? Can you say that you witnessed the scenario? Explain your answer. List some alternatives.

End-of-Chapter Assessment

1. Rob is preparing a speech on the D-day invasion during World War II. By researching in the library and online, he has found a really cool book by a British general published soon after the war and a bunch of old pictures. He thinks this is all he needs as source material. By relying only on potentially outdated sources, Rob is likely to sacrifice which important element of informative speaking?

   1. listener interest
   2. clarity
   3. immediacy
   4. accuracy
   5. transformation

2. Rita is struggling to make her speech on wind energy interesting for the audience. You suggest that she consider including pictures of windmills located a few miles from campus and talk about how those windmills help provide power for the lights and heat in your classroom and across campus. Your suggestion focuses on which technique for making information clear and interesting to your audience?

   1. Personalize the information.
   2. Limit use of jargon.
   3. Narrow the topic.
   4. Adjust the complexity to the audience.
   5. Use abstract language.

3. Brooks is thinking of speaking about the National Baseball Hall of Fame and wants to focus on the big induction weekend at the end of July. Brooks is using which topic category?

   1. people
   2. objects
   3. events
   4. processes
   5. concepts

4. Connie wants to speak about the local school budget. She knows most of her audience thinks that their local property taxes pay for all the educational expenses in the community, but she wants to show them that the state actually pays for more than 30 percent of the costs. According to Rowan, Connie should strongly consider using which type of explanation to develop her topic?

   1. elucidating explanation
   2. quasi-scientific explanation
   3. transformative explanation
   4. concrete explanation
   5. abstract explanation

Answer Key

1. d
2. a
3. c
4. c