Topic outline

  • BADGE – Becoming a Digital Global Engineer


  • Objectives

    • After studying this unit you will be able to:

      1. Identify and describe the function of the main parts of your presentation.
      2. Write the outline (a plan) of your speech depending on its topic.
      3. Get ideas for interesting introductions and conclusions.

  • Discussion questions

      1. When you listen to somebody speak in public, can you easily recognize the structure of their speech? How?
      2. Think of different types of speeches that you hear every day, made by politicians, professors, preachers, etc. Do you think all of them have the same structure? Can you remember a speech that you thought was well-structured?
      3. In your opinion, what is the best way to organize the ideas in your speech?

  • Did you know?

      1. The introduction is very often the last part to be written. It is easier to prepare it when you know in detail what you are going to say in your speech. The introduction is, in fact, a statement which includes all the major points, so leaving it until the end makes a lot of sense.
      2. The structure of a speech has been summarized as follows: “In the first part I tell them what I’m going to tell them; in the second part- well, I tell them; in the third part I tell them what I’ve told them.” (Ascribed to a Mr. J.H. Jowett, who quoted an unnamed veteran preacher describing three parts of a sermon, published in Northern Daily Mail of Durham, England in 1908)
      3. The outline can be written as topics or phrases, or the different points can be written as complete sentences (for a more detailed version).

  • Reading

  • Activities

  • Further practice

  • Bibliography and references

      1. Himstreet, W.C., Baty, W.M., Business Communications: Principles and Methods, PWS-Kent, 1998.
      2. Porter, P., Grant, M., Communicating Effectively in English, Heinle & Heinle, 1992.
      3. Purnell, S., 25 Transitional Phrases That Will Make Your Next Speech like Butter, retrieved from ShanePurnell.com.
      4. Quote Investigator, Tracing quotations, retrieved from https://quoteinvestigator.com/.
      5. Spring-Wallace, J., English for Corporate Communications, Prentice Hall Regents, 1993.
      6. 6zczuka-Dorna, L., Vendome, E., Introduction to Interpersonal Communication, Poznan University of Technology, 2017.
      7. Verderber, R., Verderber, K.S., and Sellnow, D. D., The Challenge of Effective Speaking, 15th ed., Cengage Learning, 2011.

    • Intellectual Output