Major Harris Essay, Research Paper

Anthony Paletti

Com 103

I wanted to inform the audience about the dangers of alcohol, and how alcohol effects pregnant mothers, the brain, and the liver. I also wanted the audience to know what alcoholism is and what kinds of behaviors can cause alcoholism. I think the audience knows a little bit about alcoholism and the other risks of consuming alcohol, but I think the audience does not take these dangers seriously. They might say ?that can not happen to me, or you have to drink all of your life for that to happen. I had to relate to the audience because most people were strongly opposed to the topic. So I wanted to relate to the audience, so I would not lose their interest.

I felt that my introduction was very successful. I came out with a good attention getter, I had a clear thesis statement, attention getter, and plain of development. I used reasoning by example, reasoning by sign, and reasoning by testimony. My strongest type of reasoning was reasoning by testimony. I had some startling testimonies from doctors telling the dangers of fetal alcohol syndrome. My Weakest type of reasoning was reasoning by sign. I used invention by first brain storming ideas then picked the best ideas. My best evidence were the statistics about the dangers of alcohol by doctors. I tried to appeal to the audiences emotions through fear. I tried to convince the audience by informing hem of the dangers of alcohol. This might cause people to stop drink because they might think this could happen to me. I felt that some of the audience got the point of the speech. My conclusion was accomplished by closing the speech on a strong point, restating the main points, and closing the speech correctly ( I did not leave the audience in suspense I let them know the speech was over). I felt that my conclusion was effective. I left the audience with something to think about. I felt that my delivery was average. I had an effective speaking voice, good information, and an effective visual aid. I could have make my speech better by looking at the audience more, use more hand gestures, and move around more.

Since my topic was so controversial for a collage class I felt that I did not persuade many, but I probably changed a few peoples mind. The whole point of my speech was just to change at least one person?s opinion. I felt that my main points were the best persuasive strategy in my speech. Usually when people are aware of the dangers of an activity most will quit doing the activity. The only thing I would change in my presentation would have to be more visual aids. I would bring pamphlets explaining alcoholism and pamphlets that tell about the dangers of alcohol.