Advanced Extemp

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Advanced Extemp

Internal Point Structure: Monsters of the Deep

The Beach

Before you start swimming with the sharks, make sure that you are already organizing speeches with not only the 5 point structure of Intro, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, Conclusion pattern, but that even your internal points have a clear structure within them.

Tag for Main PointThis should be a complete/succinct sentence.

Sub A

• Claim (should support Main Point)• Warrant (Source) and

Interpretation/Explanation• Impact on Society/Relevance to

Question

Sub B

• Claim • Warrant (Source) and

Interpretation/Explanation• Impact on Society/Relevance to

Question

Trans

• Therefore we can see that (Restate Tag for Main Point)

• Next Point (Walking to next Main Internal Point)

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How to Go Deeper

Causality

Analogy

Imagery History

Historical Connections

Compare a current world conflict to Roman Empire, American Civil War, World War II, or Revolutionary War.

Use a quote from a historical figure in your intro that relates to the current news event, return to it in conclusion.

Discuss key periods of transition: Hunter-gatherer to Agriculture, invention of printing press, the Space Race.

Compare rights struggles to previous movements: women’s suffrage, March on Washington, Emancipation of slaves.

Pay attention in History class and always ask how the past relates to the present.

Causal Relationships

Organize your points chronologically

Make each point a complete idea that clearly supports your main thesis.

Within your analysis of each source clearly highlight the cause/effect relationship.

Specify the type of cause/effect: political, social, educational, psychological, economic.

Extended Analogies

Compare the current event to an extremely different idea

The UN is like Wonder Woman – lots of potential power but ultimately can’t run well in high heels.

Obamacare is like a snowflake – a beautiful idea, but ultimately full of holes.

Peace in the Middle East is like going a a quest for a unicorn – lots of travel, but ultimately elusive.

Use culture – compare Japans elections to kibuki, German politicians to strudel, France’s economy to a Monet painting.

Interwoven Controlling Image

Introduce it in the Intro, develop it a little further in each successive point. It is the motif for your speech.

Return to it in the conclusion with a new twist or with a famous quote about it that relates to your topic.

Mention it or allude to it in each of your 3 internal points. If your Controlling image is a horse, mention saddles in the first point, horseshoes in the second, and bridles in the third.

Keep it subtle – it may just be a short phrase like “the president is bridled by his own party” or “Democrats are saddled with a poor reputation.”

Points for Style

Create an interesting trio for your Controlling Image (AGD) that can be threaded into each Internal Point: 3 little pigs, 3 bears, spoon/fork/knife, a tricycle, 3 legs of a stool, BLT.

Comment briefly upon the bias/perspective/qualifications of your sources: “Even the highly conservative Heritage Foundation, agrees that women should have access to the pill.”

Use pop culture: OPEC is like the Kardashians, Stocks are like Yugio cards, the Vladimir Putin is the Hulk of world politics.

Have a humorous quote/joke for the intro/conc that is from a humorous source. Read The Onion, watch The Daily Show, etc.)

Use a science concept as a controlling image: “All the countries of Asia are like electrons circling the giant nucleus of the Chinese economy.”

Ultimately, refining and improving as a speaker is about finding your voice. You will learn whether you can pull off humorous moments, prefer historical examples or gain energy from highlighting injustices. Maybe your forte will be humorous references to superheroes or you will have a great collection of fascinating quotes. Focus on what you do well and stretch yourself. Challenge yourself to create more interesting, more persuasive, more knowledge-packed speeches.

And keep smiling.