{"id":104,"date":"2015-08-13T21:53:03","date_gmt":"2015-08-13T21:53:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.candelalearning.com\/standupspeakoutxmaster\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=104"},"modified":"2015-08-13T21:53:03","modified_gmt":"2015-08-13T21:53:03","slug":"using-outlining-for-success","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-standupspeakout\/chapter\/using-outlining-for-success\/","title":{"raw":"Using Outlining for Success","rendered":"Using Outlining for Success"},"content":{"raw":"<div class=\"bcc-box bcc-highlight\">\r\n<h3>Learning Objective<\/h3>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>Understand five basic principles of outline creation.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\nAs with any part of the speech process, there are some pretty commonly agreed upon principles for creating an outline. Now that we\u2019ve examined the basics of outline creation, there are some important factors to consider when creating a logical and coherent outline: singularity, consistency, adequacy, uniformity, and parallelism.\r\n<div id=\"wrench_1.0-ch12_s03_s01\" class=\"im_section\">\r\n<h2 class=\"im_title im_editable im_block\">Singularity<\/h2>\r\nFor the sake of clarity, make sure your thesis statement expresses one idea only. Only in this way will it be optimally useful to you as you build your outline. If you have narrowed your topic skillfully, you can readily focus the thesis statement as one central point. For instance, if you have a thesis statement that says the Second Amendment protects gun ownership rights but most people are unaware of the responsibility involved, you have a thesis statement focusing on two different issues. Which focus will you follow? It\u2019s crucial to choose just one, saving the other perhaps for a different speech.\r\n\r\nThe same holds true for your three main points: they should each express one clear idea. For the sake of your audience, maintain clarity. If many different ideas are required in order to build a complete message, you can handle them in separate sentences with the use of such transitions as \u201cat the same time,\u201d \u201calternately,\u201d \u201cin response to that event,\u201d or some other transition that clarifies the relationship between two separate ideas.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div id=\"wrench_1.0-ch12_s03_s02\" class=\"im_section\">\r\n<h2 class=\"im_title im_editable im_block\">Consistency<\/h2>\r\nThe entire point of framing a thesis with one clear focus is to help you maintain consistency throughout your speech. Beyond the grammatical requirements of subject-verb agreement, you will want to maintain a consistent approach. For instance, unless your speech has a chronological structure that begins in the past and ends in the future, you should choose a tense, past or present, to use throughout the speech. Similarly, you should choose language and use it consistently. For instance, use humanity instead of mankind or humans, and use that term throughout.\r\n\r\nSimilarly, define your terms and use those terms only to designate the meanings in your definition. To do otherwise could result in equivocation and confusion. For instance, if you use the word \u201cright\u201d in two or three different senses, you should change your language. The word \u201cright\u201d can be applicable to your <em class=\"im_emphasis\">right<\/em> to a good education; the ethical difference between <em class=\"im_emphasis\">right<\/em> and wrong; and the status of a statement as <em class=\"im_emphasis\">right<\/em>, or accurate and correct. By the same token, in a health care setting, saying that a medical test had a positive outcome can be confusing. Does the patient test positive for the presence of disease, or does the test reveal some good news? If you find yourself using the same word to mean different things, you will need to spend extra time in your speech explaining these meanings very clearly\u2014or avoid the problem by making other word choices.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div id=\"wrench_1.0-ch12_s03_s03\" class=\"im_section\">\r\n<h2 class=\"im_title im_editable im_block\">Adequacy<\/h2>\r\nTo make sure your audience will understand your speech, you must set aside the assumption that what is obvious to you is also obvious to your audience. Therefore, pay attention to adequacy in two ways: definitions of terms and support for your main points.\r\n\r\nYou should use concrete language as much as you can. For instance, if you use the word \u201ccommunity,\u201d you\u2019re using an abstract term that can mean many things. You might be referring to a suburban neighborhood; to a cultural group, such as the Jewish community; to an institutional setting that includes an academic community; or to a general sense of overarching mainstream community standards for what materials should or should not be broadcast on television, for instance. You may not find any definition of \u201ccommunity\u201d that conveys your meaning. Therefore, you will need to define for your audience what <em class=\"im_emphasis\">you<\/em> mean by \u201ccommunity.\u201d\r\n\r\nAdequacy is also a concern when you use evidence to support your main points. Evidence of the right kind and the right weight are needed. For instance, if you make a substantial claim, such as a claim that all printed news sources will be obsolete within ten years, you need expert sources. This means you need at least two well-known experts from the institutions that provide news (newspapers, television news, or news radio). They should be credible sources, not sources with extreme views whose contact with reality is questioned. This will give you the right kind of evidence, and a large enough amount of evidence.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div id=\"wrench_1.0-ch12_s03_s04\" class=\"im_section\">\r\n<h2 class=\"im_title im_editable im_block\">Uniformity<\/h2>\r\nA full-sentence outline readily shows whether you are giving \u201cequal time\u201d to each of your three main points. For example, are you providing three pieces of evidence to support each main point? It should also show whether each main point is directly related to the thesis statement.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div id=\"wrench_1.0-ch12_s03_s05\" class=\"im_section\">\r\n<h2 class=\"im_title im_editable im_block\">Parallelism<\/h2>\r\nParallelism refers to the idea that the three main points follow the same structure or make use of the same kind of language. For instance, in the sample outline we used previously, you see that each of the main points emphasizes the topic, smart dust.\r\n\r\nParallelism also allows you to check for inconsistencies and self-contradictory statements. For instance, does anything within main point two contradict anything in main point one? Examining your text for this purpose can strengthen the clarity of your message. For instance, if in main point one you claim that computer crime leaves an electronic trail, but in main point two you claim that hackers often get away with their crimes, you have some explaining to do. If an electronic trail can readily lead to the discovery of the electronic felon, how or why do they get away with it? The answer might be that cybercrime does not fall within the jurisdiction of any law enforcement agency or that the law lags behind technology. Perhaps there are other reasons as well, and you must make sure you don\u2019t leave your audience confused. If you confuse them, you will sound confused, and you will lose credibility. There is no doubt that a full-sentence outline provides the most useful opportunity to examine your message for the details that either clarify or undermine your message.\r\n\r\nFinally, your conclusion should do two things. First, it should come \u201cfull circle\u201d in order to show the audience that you have covered all the territory you laid out in your preview. Second, it should provide satisfying, decisive, psychological closure. In other words, your audience should know when your speech is over. You should not trail off. You should not have to say, \u201cThat\u2019s it.\u201d Your audience should not have to wait to see whether you\u2019re going to say anything else. At the right time, they should feel certain that the speech is over and that they can clap.\r\n<div class=\"bcc-box bcc-success\">\r\n<h3>Key Takeaway<\/h3>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>For an outline to be useful, it\u2019s important to follow five basic principles: singularity, consistency, adequacy, uniformity, and parallelism.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"bcc-box bcc-info\">\r\n<h3>Exercises<\/h3>\r\n<ol>\r\n\t<li>Look at an outline you\u2019ve created for your public speaking course. Did you follow the five basic rules of outlining? How could you have changed your outline to follow those five basic principles?<\/li>\r\n\t<li>Write an outline for your next speech in your course, paying special attention to the structure of the outline to ensure that none of the principles of outlining are violated.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<\/div>\r\n","rendered":"<div class=\"bcc-box bcc-highlight\">\n<h3>Learning Objective<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Understand five basic principles of outline creation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>As with any part of the speech process, there are some pretty commonly agreed upon principles for creating an outline. Now that we\u2019ve examined the basics of outline creation, there are some important factors to consider when creating a logical and coherent outline: singularity, consistency, adequacy, uniformity, and parallelism.<\/p>\n<div id=\"wrench_1.0-ch12_s03_s01\" class=\"im_section\">\n<h2 class=\"im_title im_editable im_block\">Singularity<\/h2>\n<p>For the sake of clarity, make sure your thesis statement expresses one idea only. Only in this way will it be optimally useful to you as you build your outline. If you have narrowed your topic skillfully, you can readily focus the thesis statement as one central point. For instance, if you have a thesis statement that says the Second Amendment protects gun ownership rights but most people are unaware of the responsibility involved, you have a thesis statement focusing on two different issues. Which focus will you follow? It\u2019s crucial to choose just one, saving the other perhaps for a different speech.<\/p>\n<p>The same holds true for your three main points: they should each express one clear idea. For the sake of your audience, maintain clarity. If many different ideas are required in order to build a complete message, you can handle them in separate sentences with the use of such transitions as \u201cat the same time,\u201d \u201calternately,\u201d \u201cin response to that event,\u201d or some other transition that clarifies the relationship between two separate ideas.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"wrench_1.0-ch12_s03_s02\" class=\"im_section\">\n<h2 class=\"im_title im_editable im_block\">Consistency<\/h2>\n<p>The entire point of framing a thesis with one clear focus is to help you maintain consistency throughout your speech. Beyond the grammatical requirements of subject-verb agreement, you will want to maintain a consistent approach. For instance, unless your speech has a chronological structure that begins in the past and ends in the future, you should choose a tense, past or present, to use throughout the speech. Similarly, you should choose language and use it consistently. For instance, use humanity instead of mankind or humans, and use that term throughout.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, define your terms and use those terms only to designate the meanings in your definition. To do otherwise could result in equivocation and confusion. For instance, if you use the word \u201cright\u201d in two or three different senses, you should change your language. The word \u201cright\u201d can be applicable to your <em class=\"im_emphasis\">right<\/em> to a good education; the ethical difference between <em class=\"im_emphasis\">right<\/em> and wrong; and the status of a statement as <em class=\"im_emphasis\">right<\/em>, or accurate and correct. By the same token, in a health care setting, saying that a medical test had a positive outcome can be confusing. Does the patient test positive for the presence of disease, or does the test reveal some good news? If you find yourself using the same word to mean different things, you will need to spend extra time in your speech explaining these meanings very clearly\u2014or avoid the problem by making other word choices.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"wrench_1.0-ch12_s03_s03\" class=\"im_section\">\n<h2 class=\"im_title im_editable im_block\">Adequacy<\/h2>\n<p>To make sure your audience will understand your speech, you must set aside the assumption that what is obvious to you is also obvious to your audience. Therefore, pay attention to adequacy in two ways: definitions of terms and support for your main points.<\/p>\n<p>You should use concrete language as much as you can. For instance, if you use the word \u201ccommunity,\u201d you\u2019re using an abstract term that can mean many things. You might be referring to a suburban neighborhood; to a cultural group, such as the Jewish community; to an institutional setting that includes an academic community; or to a general sense of overarching mainstream community standards for what materials should or should not be broadcast on television, for instance. You may not find any definition of \u201ccommunity\u201d that conveys your meaning. Therefore, you will need to define for your audience what <em class=\"im_emphasis\">you<\/em> mean by \u201ccommunity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Adequacy is also a concern when you use evidence to support your main points. Evidence of the right kind and the right weight are needed. For instance, if you make a substantial claim, such as a claim that all printed news sources will be obsolete within ten years, you need expert sources. This means you need at least two well-known experts from the institutions that provide news (newspapers, television news, or news radio). They should be credible sources, not sources with extreme views whose contact with reality is questioned. This will give you the right kind of evidence, and a large enough amount of evidence.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"wrench_1.0-ch12_s03_s04\" class=\"im_section\">\n<h2 class=\"im_title im_editable im_block\">Uniformity<\/h2>\n<p>A full-sentence outline readily shows whether you are giving \u201cequal time\u201d to each of your three main points. For example, are you providing three pieces of evidence to support each main point? It should also show whether each main point is directly related to the thesis statement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"wrench_1.0-ch12_s03_s05\" class=\"im_section\">\n<h2 class=\"im_title im_editable im_block\">Parallelism<\/h2>\n<p>Parallelism refers to the idea that the three main points follow the same structure or make use of the same kind of language. For instance, in the sample outline we used previously, you see that each of the main points emphasizes the topic, smart dust.<\/p>\n<p>Parallelism also allows you to check for inconsistencies and self-contradictory statements. For instance, does anything within main point two contradict anything in main point one? Examining your text for this purpose can strengthen the clarity of your message. For instance, if in main point one you claim that computer crime leaves an electronic trail, but in main point two you claim that hackers often get away with their crimes, you have some explaining to do. If an electronic trail can readily lead to the discovery of the electronic felon, how or why do they get away with it? The answer might be that cybercrime does not fall within the jurisdiction of any law enforcement agency or that the law lags behind technology. Perhaps there are other reasons as well, and you must make sure you don\u2019t leave your audience confused. If you confuse them, you will sound confused, and you will lose credibility. There is no doubt that a full-sentence outline provides the most useful opportunity to examine your message for the details that either clarify or undermine your message.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, your conclusion should do two things. First, it should come \u201cfull circle\u201d in order to show the audience that you have covered all the territory you laid out in your preview. Second, it should provide satisfying, decisive, psychological closure. In other words, your audience should know when your speech is over. You should not trail off. You should not have to say, \u201cThat\u2019s it.\u201d Your audience should not have to wait to see whether you\u2019re going to say anything else. At the right time, they should feel certain that the speech is over and that they can clap.<\/p>\n<div class=\"bcc-box bcc-success\">\n<h3>Key Takeaway<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>For an outline to be useful, it\u2019s important to follow five basic principles: singularity, consistency, adequacy, uniformity, and parallelism.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"bcc-box bcc-info\">\n<h3>Exercises<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>Look at an outline you\u2019ve created for your public speaking course. Did you follow the five basic rules of outlining? How could you have changed your outline to follow those five basic principles?<\/li>\n<li>Write an outline for your next speech in your course, paying special attention to the structure of the outline to ensure that none of the principles of outlining are violated.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t <section class=\"citations-section\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t <h3>Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t <div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <div id=\"citation-list-104\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div class=\"licensing\"><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Public Speaking: Practice and Ethics. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: Anonymous. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Anonymous. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/2012books.lardbucket.org\/books\/public-speaking-practice-and-ethics\/\">http:\/\/2012books.lardbucket.org\/books\/public-speaking-practice-and-ethics\/<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/section>","protected":false},"author":9,"menu_order":4,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"Public Speaking: Practice and Ethics\",\"author\":\"Anonymous\",\"organization\":\"Anonymous\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/2012books.lardbucket.org\/books\/public-speaking-practice-and-ethics\/\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by-nc-sa\",\"license_terms\":\"\"}]","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-104","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":99,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-standupspeakout\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-standupspeakout\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-standupspeakout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-standupspeakout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-standupspeakout\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":457,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-standupspeakout\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/104\/revisions\/457"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-standupspeakout\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/99"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-standupspeakout\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/104\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-standupspeakout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-standupspeakout\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=104"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-standupspeakout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=104"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-standupspeakout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}