An informative speech gives unbiased, factual information on a topic, person, event, or concept. The goal is to educate the audience without an opinion, judgment, or intent to change the audience's attitude. The informative speech should enlighten listeners on a subject that is non-controversial.
Types of Informative Speeches
The four types of informative speeches are definition speeches, demonstration speeches, explanatory speeches, and descriptive speeches. A definition speech explains the meaning, theory, or philosophy of a specific topic that the audience likely does not know much about.
Topic Selection
The informative speech can cover any type of topic. It's important to choose a topic wisely. It must be of interest to the presenter, but also to the audience. Preferably, the speech would be on a topic in which other students are not well informed. Here are some links to sites that assist with topic selection:
This video tutorial walks you through how to identify keywords in your research question.
Practice Lesson #1 - Create a search string of keywords for your topic in an MSWord or Google document. Also, please locate and find synonyms that go with each of your keywords. (10 minutes) EXAMPLE
What is a Scholarly Article?
Databases & Books
Once your topic is chosen, you are ready to begin your research. Use your keyword search string to focus in on articles on your topic. Go to your favorite general information database or choose a database based on a subject based on your topic. From the library website and/or this guide please use your critical thinking skills to determine which database will have information on your topic.
Congressional Quarterly provides in-depth unbiased reports of health, social trends, criminal justice, international affairs, education, the environment, technology, and the economy.
This database brings together academic articles, audio, videos, opinion essays and primary sources about contemporary controversies and hot topics. Whether you need a balanced view or support for your position, Opposing Viewpoints is the first place to go when you're researching a controversial or contentious issue. It's also a great place to find or narrow a topic.
Academic reference sources on a variety of topics. A great place to get background information.Provides access to popular Gale specialized encyclopedias and resources in arts, biography, business, education, environment, history, science, social science and more.
Locate physical books and media from all ten MCCCD colleges. If there is a book at another Maricopa College library, you may request it, and it will arrive within 3-5 business days.
Use A-Z Databases: eBooks to locate various vendors eBooks on all of your topics.
Practice Lesson #2 - Pick out one database that supports your research on your topic and pick out one scholarly journal article. Use the citation tool to copy and paste the APA citation to an MSWord or Google document. (10 minutes)
A broad, interdisciplinary database that covers a wide range of subjects. It includes a mix of scholarly articles, popular publications, and newspaper coverage. It’s an excellent starting point for the kind of research you will need to do in college courses.