Time to write your speech. Remember to use ALL THREE rhetorical appeals:
Ethos: An appeal to credibility (why should the audience believe YOU about risk taking?)
Logos: An appeal to logic. Prove your point using facts, statistics, or cause/effect.
Pathos: An appeal to emotion. Connect these facts and your own experience to emotions your audience shares–the desire to succeed, be happy, etc.
Reminder: The introduction and topic sentences have been provided already.
Your first body paragraph will explain a risk you took where the outcome was positive. Your 2nd body paragraph will be an example of believing in yourself. Your conclusion will restate your thesis and summarize your main points, and make an appeal to the audience’s emotions.
Please turn in your speech using MLA format.
Introduction:
Good evening graduating class of _______. Tonight I will be delivering the commencement speech and the message I hope you all hear is the importance of taking risks while believing in yourself.
1st body paragraph (consider focusing on LOGOS here–make the connection between risk taking and the benefits of risk taking obvious and logically connected):
Topic sentence: The first lesson I have to share is the importance of taking risks.
Concrete detail (personal example):
Commentary (opinion or explanation):
Commentary (opinion or explanation):
Concluding sentence (restate the main idea):
2nd body paragraph (consider focusing on ETHOS here. Why should the listener believe YOU about this? Prove to us with evidence from your own life that YOU are an example of the power of self-belief):
Topic sentence: The second lesson I’d like to share is the power you hold once you truly believe in yourself.
Concrete detail (personal example):
Commentary (opinion or explanation):
Commentary (opinion or explanation):
Concluding sentence (restate the main idea):
Conclusion:
Restate thesis in different words:
Review body paragraph 1:
Review body paragraph 2:
Clincher (Appeal to the listener’s emotions here with a memorable statement linking your experiences/speech to your listener’s life):
Formal Speech Rubric:
| Category | Does Not Meet Yet (0-59) | Emerging Expectations (60-75) | Meets Expectations (76-89) |
Exceeds Expectations (90-100) |
| Organization (30%) | Format is not followed. | Format is somewhat followed. | Format is followed. | Format is followed and complete. Organization makes speech engaging. |
| Content (30%) | There are 2 or fewer paragraphs submitted. | There are 3 paragraphs submitted. | There are 4 paragraphs submitted. | There are 4 full, well-developed paragraphs with a clear introduction, 2 body paragraphs, and a conclusion. |
| Voice (30%) | Individual voice is hard to detect. | Individual voice is limited. | Individual voice is obvious and fits audience and purpose of speech. 2 of the 3 main rhetorical appeals are obvious. | Individual voice is obvious and fits audience and purpose of speech. Voice adds to the engagement of the speech. All three rhetorical appeals are obvious. |
| Conventions (10%) | Many spelling and grammatical errors make reading the speech a challenge | 3-5 conventional errors distract the reader. | 1-2 conventional errors distract the reader. | There are no conventional errors that distract the reader from content. |
