FORMAL SENTENCE OUTLINE FORMAT
Student’s Name:
Date:
Topic: Key statement that describes the topic of your speech
General Purpose: To inform
I. Introduction
A. Attention Getter: Something that grabs the attention of the audience.
Examples of this: startling statistics, stories, rhetorical questions, quotations, scenarios, etc. This point should be more than one sentence long.
B. Reason to Listen: Why should the audience listen to your speech, make it personal to each of them.
C. Thesis Statement: Exact same statement as above.
D. Credibility Statement:
1. What personally connects you to this topic?
2. What type of research have you done to establish credibility?
E. Preview of Main Points:
1. First, I will describe …
2. Second, I will examine …
3. Third, I will discuss…
II. Restate thesis, exact statement as above.
A. Statement of the first main point; you should not use a source in this sentence.
1. Idea of development or support for the first main point
a. Support material (ex: statistics, quotation, etc.- cite source)
b. Support material (ex: statistics, quotation, etc. - cite source)
2. More development or support
a. Support material (ex: statistics, quotation, etc.- cite source)
b. Support material (ex: statistics, quotation, etc. - cite source)
3. More development if needed
Transition: (Required) Statement of movement that looks back (internal summary)
and looks forward (preview).
B. Statement of second main point. Do not use a source in this statement.
1. Idea of development or support for the first main point
a. Support material (ex: statistics, quotation, etc. - cite source)
b. Support material (ex: statistics, quotation, etc. - cite source)
2. More development or support
a. Support material (ex: statistics, quotation, etc. - cite source)
b. Support material (ex: statistics, quotation, etc. - cite source)
3. More development if needed
Transition: (Required) Statement of movement that looks back (internal summary)
and looks forward (preview).
C. Statement of third main point. Do not use a source in this statement.
1. Idea of development or support for the first main point
a. Support material (ex: statistics, quotation, etc. - cite source)
b. Support material (ex: statistics, quotation, etc. - cite source)
2. More development or support
a. Support material (ex: statistics, quotation, etc. - cite source)
b. Support material (ex: statistics, quotation, etc. - cite source)
3. More development if needed
III. Conclusion
A. Review of Main Points:
1. Restate your first main point.
2. Restate your second main point.
3. Restate you third main point.
B. Restate Thesis: Exact same as above.
C. Closure: Develop a creative closing that will give the speech a sense of ending. This point may be more than one sentence. You should refer back to your Attention-Getter.
Works Cited
· MLA format; all references need to be sited in MLA format.
· Be sure to make sure that the references are in Alphabetical order.
· Double-Spaced; all references should be double-spaced and indented.
· Please note: The citations given by the electronic databases along with EasyBib and other bibliography websites are created by a computer and are often incorrect. You may use these; however, you do need to double check the format.
· Three source minimum: two must be electronic databases.
