 You may be wondering how to go about writing a speech. Now, writing a speech does have several components that go into it, and especially when it comes to exam writing, you need to get these components right, otherwise you're gonna lose marks. Now, what I thought would be helpful is to create a mind map, summarizing all of the components that go into speech writing, so that you can be really, really clear on what it takes to write a really top level answer when it comes to writing a speech in response to an argument or a question. Now, you might get in your questions for your exams a set statement such as climate change is not a big deal, so we're gonna use that as an example. And this question might ask, write a speech in which you argue for or against this view. Now, when it comes to putting together a speech, first of all, always remember that this is written for an audience. The intention is to address an audience. Now, this speech could be, for example, for parents that are in your school or for fellow students or indeed for an MP, for your local MP. Now, there are different ways to open your speech and I've put this here. And this depends, of course, on the audience that you are addressing. Now, if you're, for example, addressing a group of parents or a group of adults, you should always start off with, ladies and gentlemen, this is a really nice and generic opening for a group of people who are older and, of course, the formality of how you address them would be far more formal. However, less formal would be, for example, if this speech is intended for students. It shouldn't be informal, but perhaps a bit more conversational. It could also be a little bit more discussive rather than, for instance, if you're talking and addressing parents, so you would begin by saying, fellow students, because you are a student yourself. Also, for instance, if you are writing or rather you're writing a speech for your headmaster, headmistress, or someone in authority, you could begin with sir or madam name and surname. Or, of course, if you're writing a speech to be delivered to a member of parliament, you could start with honorable MP. And these are your openers depending on the audience. And, of course, do you remember, least formal would be if you're addressing fellow students. However, all these other people that you're addressing, the formality would be fairly high. Now, once you begin with this opening, you then begin with the first paragraph where you introduce the issue and you introduce your standpoint. So let's go back to our example of climate change is not a big deal, write a speech on whether you agree for or against this perspective. And let's argue that you disagree and you believe that actually climate change is a big deal and it's an important issue. So in your first paragraph, you would begin with, and I would suggest starting off with, there are some people who would say that the keywords, so let's say the keywords in this question would be climate change, not a big deal. So there are some people who would say that climate change is not a big deal, yet I would disagree. Then you restate the issue. Of course, you talk about why you disagree with this very briefly because this is just your opening, you're introducing this issue to your audience. And then you state your viewpoints or you disagree. Why do you disagree? Why do you think climate change is an issue or whatever keywords or whatever the statement is. And then you always make sure that consistently you have a direct address to your audience. To use pronouns such as you, such as we make your audience feel really included. Then after your first paragraph, in your second paragraph, you outline your first reason why you disagree or rather why you support your particular perspective or your particular side of the argument. So for example, going back to the example of climate change, the first reason is actually it's going to affect all of us. And it's affecting all of us because, you know, greenhouse gases, they've created a hole in the ozone layer. This is affecting different parts of the world. Different countries are having very unseasonable weather. And that's an issue. So that could be the first issue and the first reason. Then you can give a statistic. Now, of course, do remember that the question could be on anything. So the examiners do not expect you to be an expert on everything. You can make up the statistics. The reason why you were including these statistics is because you're showing an appreciation for the fact that when you are composing or creating an argument to make it more convincing for your audience, you want to use statistics to back up your argument. Make sure your statistics, of course, are realistic. Even if you're making it up to make it too crazy, don't say a thousand percent of people believe climate change is an issue. Make it more realistic. 75% of people who were polled in London believed climate change was a problem. And then, of course, you can also use hyperbole. If climate change, and if the climate change were to get worse, this would be a disaster for all of us. That is speaking and exaggeration. Then after your second paragraph, and your third paragraph, this is your second reason why you support your perspective. And then you can use rule of three. So, for example, rule of three means any three words that are somehow thematically linked. Ladies, gentlemen, and children, men, women, children, pots, plates, and pans, all of these are rules of three. They are words which are thematically linked. Now, you can use that as a way of persuading your audience. This is a persuasive device. And of course, another important persuasive device to use within your argument is the rhetorical question. Then after this third paragraph, in your fourth paragraph, you give your third reason for your perspective. And then you can also add an anecdote. Anecdote meaning you give a really relatable individual experience or an individual example. So, John Smith, who lives up the road for me, has been affected by this because of X, Y, Z. And then also, you can use repetition. Repeat the keywords in the question, make it more persuasive. However, given that this question is an argument, you need to show that you have an appreciation for balancing both sides of the argument. So obviously, in addition to having your three arguments where you give reason number one, two, and three for your perspective, you balance it with giving two counterarguments. This is two reasons why some people will disagree with you. And so I would say in paragraph five, you add your counterarguments one and two, and you give examples of why people will disagree with you. One way to introduce your counterarguments you can begin with, there's some people who would say that, blah, blah, blah. There's some people who disagree with me and they would argue that climate change actually is not a big deal because of blah, blah, blah. So I'm going back to that original example. And then of course you can give statistics to counter that and to support their perspective. University of Oxford found that people who lived in Hampshire actually believed climate change was not really a big deal and they've never been affected by climate change. That can be a statistic to use as part of your counterargument. And of course, you can also add a rhetorical question. However, after you show your counterarguments and after you show that you can appreciate other differing viewpoints from you, of course you end your final part of your speech in paragraph six by completing but refuting these counterpoints and saying why in spite of considering these counterarguments, you still stand with your viewpoints and you still believe your perspective is correct. Then of course, after you do so and after you refute these counterarguments and you summarize points number one, two and three, you then end. Now, this is a speech. So you need to show that you are ending by appreciating your audience's attention. So a good way to end this would be by saying, thank you for your attention. I hope you learned something new. So that's a really, really nice way to end your speech. So I hope this helped. This mind map will be available as a downloadable resource. So make sure you watch this video again, download this mind map and make notes as you go along. So thank you so much for listening.