Supporting Your Ideas

Use a variety of ways to support the ideas and claims that you make with your thesis statement to give your speech depth and dynamics.

Learning Objective

Explain how to use ideas and examples to back up claims in a speech

Key Points

Set the stage for how you plan to address your argument and make your case by laying out the exposition of your argument.
Appeal to your audience's core beliefs, goals or common interests to influence your audience by persuasion.
If you are speaking to a sympathetic crowd, consider influencing your audience by suggestion or popular sentiment on your given topic.
Use personal narratives and anecdotes to make your case if appropriate to your audience, topic, and speech venue.
If your idea is complex, consider breaking it down into simpler parts to more thoroughly and easily describe your idea. Help your audience to visualize your points by articulately describing them.

Terms

exposition
The act of declaring or describing something through either speech or writing.
anecdote
An account or story which supports an argument, but which is not supported by scientific or statistical analysis.

Example

Let's say you have to give a speech about civil rights in America and how your audience must take active roles in protecting their own civil rights as well as the rights of others. You might begin by laying out a foundational overview of the historical timeline of civil rights since America's independence in 1776. Persuade your audience by sharing compelling examples of how civil rights have been violated across many groups: gender, race, religion. These broad appeals are sure to resonate with many different members of your audience. You may also provide examples that all get back to your same idea: infringing upon any civil rights by any group to any group is wrong. You might share how a relative was involved in the Mississippi riots in the 1960s or how your mother was involved in the Women's Liberation movement in the 1970s. Finally, walk the audience through the basic principles of your argument about how the infringement of civil rights for one group can ultimately lead to the infringement of civil rights for all.

Full Text

Supporting Your Ideas

Preparing supporting ideas and materials

It's important to select the right evidence and supporting materials to help you establish the various points you plan to make throughout your speech.

Once you have solidified your position in your thesis statement, you want to back up your thesis with a variety of supporting ideas and examples. To do this, there are several ways you can support your claims while adding variety and interest to the overall story of your speech.

Set the Stage

Using exposition is a great way to get your audience all on the same playing field. When you use an expository approach, you're carefully laying out all of the background information your audience needs to know in order to understand your point.

Appeal to Commonalities

As you notice commonalties between audience members, the audience and your topic, and you and your audience, appeal to those commonalities to not only establish rapport but also to more easily persuade them to your thesis and claims. Your audience is more likely to trust and believe you if they feel they share something in common with you and your topic.

Finding a Consensus

Your audience may already feel a certain way about your topic. Depending on what you're trying to argue, you may want to go ahead and appeal to that consensus. Just be careful: you don't want to bore your audience by "preaching to the choir. "

Tell a Story

One of the best ways to back up your claims–besides cold, hard, facts and data–is to share a personal story or anecdote. This shows your audience that you really connect to your subject, making you more believable and personable. Using anecdotes are a perfect opportunity to lighten the mood and add some humor as appropriate to your speech.

Deconstruct Your Topic

You might have a particularly complex subject or thesis. In these instances, it's helpful to break it down into its simplest parts. By breaking your information down into bite-sized chunks, your audience may have an easier time of following your train of thought or logic.

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