Writing the outline

After you have gathered information, you need to choose the most vital pieces (delete anything that is not necessary) and organize them in some pattern. The main options are: chronological (according to timing), topical (according to a central idea) and problem/solution (describing the problem with possible solutions). Very often the pattern of your speech will emerge naturally while you are gathering your material. It seems natural to talk about someone’s life in chronological order, or use topical pattern for a description of different parts of a company.

You may then proceed to writing an outline of your speech. The main simplified structure may look as follows:

  1. Introduction
  2. Main body
    1. different paragraphs
    2. examples
    3. data
  3. Conclusion