| Your success as a speaker depends on
the beliefs and values of your listeners. Your success is contingent on your listeners
believing that what you have to say is credible, and that the problem or issue matters to
them. These two goals, credibility and importance, are the primary reasons for supporting
your ideas with evidence and sound reasoning. |
| A belief is a statement that may be
characterized by the word is. A value is a statement characterized by the words ought
or should be, or on judgmental terms such as good, beautiful,
or important. |
| If the goal of your
speech is to change beliefs or values held by the audience, use sound reasoning. If your
goal is to show that your position is consistent with beliefs your audience already holds,
show the connection. You can accomplish these goals by arguing from sign, cause, example,
analogy, or principle. |
| Any evidence you use must
seem to the listeners consistent with their beliefs or values. Evidence may be drawn from
written and oral testimony and from things. Although a court of law may require concrete
evidence of things to establish some truth, evidence generated by people, in written or
verbal form, is more persuasive. Testimony may be factual ( verifiable ) or it may be
opinion. In the case of opinion, the value of the evidence lies in the credibility of the
source. |
| Use specific information,
statistics, testimony, definition and explanation, and illustrations and examples. These
forms of support can be used to achieve a variety of purposes, but the most important ones
are to make the set of statements seem consistent to the listeners, and to make them
important. In the final analysis, whether a listener is moved by what you say depends
almost entirely on the quality of the supporting materials you use. |
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