How would you make a 2 minute elevator speech about a topic in your field of study

Forum Objective: Create one informative topic for your speech and create 2 debatable topics for your 2 papers in this class.

Whatever you communicate, you have to consider the purpose, the audience, the tone, the content and the topic. If you are writing to your boss, you want to write in a respectful tone while when you write to your friend, you write in a more casual tone.  Who will be your audience, your teacher? fellow students? the general public?

Answer the following questions to help you come up with topics for your Week 3 speech, your Week 5 Position paper and your Week 7 Analysis Paper.  Use these questions to help you create and narrow your assignment topics for this class.

Sample post

Week 3 topic How to lose weight

1. Ask yourself a research question: How do I lose weight?

2. I found 2 research articles such as Article X and Article Y.

3. Fashion a response:  You lose weight by doing Step1, Step2 and Step3

Week 5 topic Global Warming

1. Ask yourself a Research Question: Is Global Warming a hoax?

2. Fashion a response to your research question: Global Warming is a hoax because Reason1, Reason 2 and Reason 3.

Week 7 topic

1. Ask yourself a research Question: Should teachers be armed and have guns in the classroom to reduce the incidence of school shootings?

2. Fashion a response to your research question: Teachers should have guns in the classroom to reduce the incidence of school shootings because Reason 1, Reason 2 and Reason3.

The response to your research question will become your thesis statement (main idea sentence) central idea of your essay or speech.

(It is okay if you just write Reason1, Reason 2 and Reason 3–I just want you to come up with topics and possible central ideas for your paper. You can find out the reasons later on as you do the Peer Review forums each week.)

How do I create a topic?

1. First, you ask yourself a research question: Is Global Warming a hoax?

2. Then fashion a response to your research question: Global Warming is a hoax because Reason1, Reason 2 and Reason 3.–The answer to your research question will become your thesis statement!

Thesis statement formula: Topic + Controlling idea + Reasons

Global Warming (topic) is a hoax (controlling idea) because Reason 1, Reason 2 and Reason 3. (Example thesis statement)

After reviewing the LESSON for Week 2: Informative Communication, consider your chosen discipline. Begin to narrow topics from your discipline  for your Week 3 speech, your Week 5 Position paper and your Week 7 Analysis paper. As you narrow your topics, consider your field of study. Choose one informative topic for your Week 3 speech and choose 2 debatable topics for your Week 5 and Week 7 paper. You should have a total of 3 topics for your initial post.

If you do not have a field of study or you have not decided on your field of study, you can go to any debate website to find debatable topics. Just google the words ‘debate topics’ and for informative topics, just google the words ‘informative speech topics). Some popular debate websites are debate.org or ProCon.org . If you do know what you are majoring in, then just google and put in the search box, the name of your field of study, then type in ‘hot topics’, ‘debatable topics’ or ‘informative topics’. Example: Homeland Security ‘hot topics’ or Homeland Security ‘debatable topics’ or Homeland Security ‘informative topics’.

If you are majoring in Homeland Security, you just google “Homeland Security hot topics” and here will be your results:

Academic Engagement. …

Border Security. …

Citizenship and Immigration Services. …

Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. …

Critical Infrastructure Security. …

Cybersecurity. …

Disasters. …

Economic Security

All I did was google ‘Homeland Security’ and then ‘hot topics’ into the search box and topics related to the major ‘Homeland Security came on my screen. I also got a web page aboutHomeland Security with even more topics to write about for that major.

There are two kinds of topics, an informative topic and a debatable topic.

An informative topic simply tells the facts or makes a complex idea more understandable to the reader. (See the Informative Speech assignment tab for more details). An informative topic simply informs the reader of a topic. An informative topic does not seek to persuade the reader of another point of view or change the reader’s mind. You will need to find an informative topic for your Week 3 Informative speech. There are 4 kinds of informative topics:

4 Kinds of Informative Speech topics

Explanatory Informative speech topic–explain the state of something: Explain the state of Bilingual Education in middle school.

Descriptive  Informative speech topic–give the reader a mental picture of your topic:  What moon craters look like

Demonstrative Informative speech topic–show someone how to do something: How to lose weight, How to become rich

Definition Informative speech topic–define a concept or idea.: What is an atom?

A debatable topic/persuasive topic  is a topic that people can agree or disagree on and a debatable topic typically has a pro and con side. A debatable topic is a topic some people agree and some people disagree as in a debate. A debatable/persuasive topic aims to change the reader’s mind. The writer’s purpose is to persuade the reader of the writer’s point of view. In order to persuade the reader, the writer has to argue his point by using a thesis statement with supporting paragraphs to prove his thesis.

Are there aspects of your field that interest you more than others? Are there topics that you want to learn more about? Consider some possible topics that you will use as the basis for your Week 3 speech, your Week 5 Position paper and your Week 7 Analysis paper.

*** Since you are all majoring in different fields of study, some of you may be using APA, some of you may be using Chicago Turabian or some of you may be using MLA for your citations, please tell me in your post which notation style you are using.***

Consider the following questions as you narrow your topic and discuss these in the forum:

What do you want to know more about in your field of study? Why?

Do these topics have a place in politics, the environment, economy, or another broad subject?

How can your topic be interdisciplinary? In other words, how can your topic fit in with subjects other than your specific field?

What details will you use to inform your audience? Where do these details come from?

How would you make a 2 minute elevator speech about a topic in your field of study?

For instance, in the teaching profession, some hot topics are Should  teachers carry guns in the classroom?  Which is a better way to learn English, Bilingual Education vs English only classes?  What are some interesting ways to teach grammar? Is the 5 paragraph essay structure too limiting for English composition students? How can teachers motivate students to learn how to read? How can teachers encourage more kids to read? How can parents encourage school districts to have healthier school lunches to fight childhood obesity?   What are the hot topics in your field of study?

Student replies suggestions:

1. Ask each other questions on hot topics: What are the hot topics in your field of study? What debatable topics are hot in your field of study? What informative topics are there in your field of study? (Choose 1 informative topic (for the informative speech), choose 2 debatable topics (For the Week 5 and Week 7 papers).

2. Quiz each other on the reading by using the quiz questions from the reading. (optional) Remember the quiz questions at the end of your Lessons are all extra credit. However, the Comma quiz and Grammar quiz are NOT extra credit and are worth 5 points each.

3. What hot topics would you use for your Week 5 Position paper? or the Week 8 Analysis paper? (Week 5 paper asks you to take a stand on an issue and the Week 8 paper asks you to write about both sides of an issue) Find debatable topics from your field of study.

4. If you have not yet decided on a major, you can find a debatable topic by using a debate website like Procon.org for ideas and discuss what hot topics you want to write about for this class.

We will be looking at three different purposes for communication over the next several weeks. They are: to inform, to take a position, and to analyze. Choose a topic that is narrow enough to fit the parameters of this assignment, but one that is also capable of becoming a topic that you can write your Week 3 speech, your Week 5 Position paper and your Week 7 Analysis paper.

Instructions: Your initial post needs to be thorough, meaningful, and collegiate. Be sure to respond to all of the parts of the prompt and organize your response. In this forum, consider making each of the four (4) questions above their own paragraph. OR, if you prefer a visual representation, create a thorough visual representation that addresses each of the four (4) components from above. Please respond to the initial postings of at least two (2) other students and manage your personal discussion thread. Ask questions of each other and return frequently to extend the dialogue. Be sure to answer questions your instructor presents to you. Expect your instructor to post questions about the reading material, lesson material, and your experience

Make your initial posts to the Forum by 11:55pm ET, Thursday.

During the week, read the messages posted by your instructor and classmates and join the discussion. Your instructor may ask questions, provide explanations, and include links to other resources.

Please respond to at least 2 classmates, and in your response posts, try to bring together pieces of the discussion and take those ideas further.

Week 2 Forum Checklist

Forum Rubric