Monday, October 8, 2012

Analysis of Two Model Informative Speeches

Analysis of Two Model Informative Speeches


2. How do the speakers catch attention?

The Hidden World of Chili Peppers: The speaker creates an image and asks the audience to imagine something. This helps get them involved early and gets them interested. Also not explaining why their mouth is burning, eyes tearing and face going red gets the audience guessing what is going on. They are expectant for an answer so helps keep their attention on the speaker.

Medical Robots: From Science Fiction to Science Fact: The speaker tells a story at the very beginning. They talk about a surgery and after awhile they reveal it is being done using robotic arms. They then relate this to the audience by saying “and the next operation you or a family member undergoes may well involve a robot.” Talking about something where people think they know what is happening then reveal something different creates interest in the audience and gains their attention. Then relating it to them helps keep their attention on the speaker.


3. How does author of Chili Peppers speech show credibility?

The speaker shows his credibility in this sentence “My own desire for spicy meals led me to investigate why I get red in the face and salivate over the mere thought of eating a spicy chili.” This sentence explains why he had interest in this topic and shows that he investigated the topic as well.

6. Statistics cited in the The Hidden World of Chili Peppers speech are as follows:

25% of the world’s adult population uses chili peppers as a part of their daily diet

Intensity of chili peppers range for 0 to 3000 Scoville Heat Units

More than 1,300 medical studies on capsaicin 

7. Authorities cited or quoted in The Hidden World of Chili Peppers speech:

The Cambridge World History of Food

The Chili Pepper Book by Carolyn Dille and Susan Belsinger

Spices, Herbs and Edible Fungi by P.W Bosland

The Chili Pepper Encyclopedia by Dave DeWitt

Chili Pepper Institute at New Mexico State University

New York Times

The Nutrition Reporter by Jack Challem

Professor Kenji Okajima of Japans Kumamoto University School of Medicine




Evaluative Comments

2. How are these speeches “audience centered”?

The Hidden World of Chili Peppers: This speech is audience centered because it relates it to the audience. It focuses on getting the audience interested and then presenting why the audience will want to remain listening. The statement “what to do if you eat a too-hot pepper” gives a reason for the audience to listen as most people may be able to relate to this. However I believe the speaker could have related the speech to the audience more and given them more of an incentive to listen. The second speech did a better job of being “audience centered”.


The Medical Robots: From Science Fiction to Science Fact Speech: The speaker says “and the next operation you or a family member undergoes may well involve a robot.” This gives the listener something to relate to and gives them a reason to continue listening. This speaker also uses a visual aid to help the audience visualize the “light whiskers” used by the robots. This makes it easier for the audience and shows the speaker knows how to keep their attention.



3. How do the Authors build credibility?


The Hidden World of Chili Peppers: The speaker shows his credibility in this sentence “My own desire for spicy meals led me to investigate why I get red in the face and salivate over the mere thought of eating a spicy chili.” This sentence explains why he had interest in this topic and shows that he investigated the topic as well.

He then proves his credibility in the body of the speech by citing his resources and presenting some facts and statistics. He cited 8 different resources and this helped show he had done his research and knew what he was talking about.

The Medical Robots: From Science Fiction to Science Fact Speech: The speaker shoes his credibility in these sentences “As a pre-med student interested in becoming a surgeon, I’ve long been fascinated with medical robots. After researching this topic for this speech,” This explains why they had interest in this topic and shows that they investigated it as well.

They also prove their credibility by citing resources and showing some facts to do with their topic. They used more than 5 resources and this shows they had done research and had learnt about the topic.

Daniel Paull 






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