Sample Persuasive Speech Outline

Topic: Factory Farming

Organizational Pattern: Monroe’s Motivated Sequence

Specific Purpose: To persuade the audience that factory farms are dangerous and abusive and therefore need to be banned.

Primary Audience Outcome: I the want the audience to join or support national organizations that protest against factory farms.

Thesis Statement: The U.S. government should ban factory farms and require the meat industry to raise animals in their natural environments.

Attention:

Close your eyes and step into the world of an individual. You are born into a world where nights and days are never constant (attention getter). You are fed three to five times a day, but no one is there to nurture you. Not even the numerous others crammed into your living space. You grow frantic, scared, and sickly. Now open your eyes, to reality. What I have just described is one of America’s worst ghettos. You know this individual who is trapped in this environment. He is your breakfast, lunch and dinner. It is the meat you eat . Today’s farms not only abuse their animals they also produce harmful diseases and environmental hazards that affect each and every one of us, regardless of whether you consume animal products or not. The U.S. government should ban factory farms and require the meat industry to raise animals in their natural environments (preview of points and statement of purpose).

I. What used to be Old McDonald’s farms have now become factory farms that produce animal abuse, disease and ecological hazards. A. Animals are abused on factory farms (Marquadt, 1993) (Reasoning: Inductive) 1. Broiler chickens are often debeaked, due to fear of cannibalism (Jasper, 1992). 2. Cattle are often dehorned and castrated without anesthetics. 3. Geese are often overfed with grains