The topic is an often overlooked part of a speech. This is a grave mistake because your topic is the first part of a speech with which the audience comes into contact.

To select a good topic, follow the guidelines below:

• A topic should be appealing.
  • In other words, a topic itself should be interesting, and that it should make people want to hear your speech.
• A topic should be intriguing.
  • A topic should tell the audience just enough about your speech to get them wondering what it is going to be about.
• A topic should not tell too much about a speech.
  • Simply stating the subject matter is not a good idea for a topic. Something like, "Money Politics" or "International Trade" not only tells the audience what the speech is going to be about, but they also suggest the reasoning and the conclusion.
• A topic should be an integral part of a speech.
  • Although this is not an absolute requirement, I think it shows good form if you can somehow work your topic into your speech; e.g., going back to your topic at the conclusion of the speech, or even closing the speech by repeating the topic.
• A topic should not be too vague.
  • A problem which has become common or too much has already been talked about. For example, co-education, corruption.

In real life your topics will be determined by the situation or your boss. For example, you may be asked to give a presentation about how to fund a new project or you may be asked to speak at an awards banquet for writers. In other cases, such as an after-dinner speech, you may choose your own topic.

Begin early

Deciding on a topic early will give you more time to prepare and think, both consciously and unconsciously, about what you want to say. Although beginning early may cause initial stress that could be alleviated by procrastination, an early start will lower your stress level when you give your speech--when you really need to be as relaxed as possible.

Choose a topic you're interested in

If you are bored with or not interested in the topic, your audience will be even more bored--not because of the topic, but because of how you present it. Chances are, your lack of interest will show, and you will lack credibility. On the other hand, many people make the mistake of thinking that people are not interested in what they are interested in. This may be true, but a dynamic presentation can get people interested.

Select a topic you know about or easily research

Make certain that you choose a topic that is easily researchable. Research is becoming easier as a result of computer assisted communications such as the World Wide Web.

As you begin to work on your informative speech, you will find that you need to gather additional information. Your instructor will most likely require that you locate relevant materials in the library and cite those materials in your speech.

A number of strategies and techniques can be used to gather and organize source materials for your speech.

Gathering Materials

Gathering materials can be a daunting task. You may want to do some research before you choose a topic. Once you have a topic, you have many options for finding information. You can conduct interviews, write or call for information from a clearinghouse or public relations office, and consult books, magazines, journals, newspapers, television and radio programs, and government documents. The library will probably be your primary source of information. You can use many of the libraries databases or talk to a reference librarian to learn how to conduct efficient research.

Taking notes

While doing your research, you may want to carry note-cards. When you come across a useful passage, copy the source and the information onto the note-card or copy and paste the information. You should maintain a working bibliography as you research so you always know which sources you have consulted and so the process of writing citations into the speech and creating the bibliography will be easier. You'll need to determine what information-recording strategies work best for you. Talk to other students, instructors, and librarians to get tips on conducting efficient research. Spend time refining your system and you will soon be able to focus on the information instead of the record-keeping tasks.

Sources of material research: Books, encyclopedias, yearbooks, Periodicals (journals, magazines, newspapers), government publications, computerized databases.

• Journals publish articles written by scholars and researchers. Journals are often published by professional associations. Articles in journals usually include bibliographies.
• Magazines publish articles written for a general audience. Articles in magazines rarely include bibliographies.
• Newspapers, like journals and magazines, are a type of periodical. Periodical indexes allow you to find articles from newspapers. A search of a periodical index results in citations. Citations identify the actual articles.

In general, there are three kinds of newspaper indexes:

• Individual newspaper indexes;
• Newspaper indexes that include more than one newspaper;
• General periodical indexes that include one or more newspapers, and often include the full-text of newspaper articles.

Periodicals: Also called serials are publications printed in intervals that continue to be printed for an indefinite period of time. Journals, magazines, and newspapers are types of periodicals.

Citation: A citation is a reference to a source used in an article, essay, book, etc.

In most periodical indexes, citations include the following information:

• Author
• Article title
• Journal or magazine title
• Volume number of the journal or magazine
• Date of publication
• Page number of the beginning of the article
• Section or column number (for newspaper citations)

In some periodical indexes, citations include abstracts. Abstracts are brief summaries of articles.

Periodical indexes: Also called research databases allow you to find articles from journals and magazines. A search of a periodical index results in citations. Citations identify the actual articles.

Electronic Periodical Indexes: Electronic periodical indexes (also called research databases) are available via the World Wide Web, CD-ROM, and online systems.

Reference librarians

Virtually every library has a librarian designated as a reference librarian. Librarians in general are helpful, but helping you research is the specific job of the reference librarian, who would happily answer questions or offer research suggestions.

Organizing Notes and Research Time

Keep organized notes: Keep your notes in an outline form, or any form that you’ll be able to easily find later. You don’t have to get overly organized about it; just have well-marked notebooks or files with clearly defined categories.

Plan your time for the research: For most topics, you could go on and on, and research right up until the moment you have to give the speech. But decide on a time when you stop researching and actually create the speech.

Stay organized & build your note files: There is one important technique to staying organized so that you can find information quickly when writing: Organize as you go. Build your note files as you go. To do this, have a separate folder for research. Then create sub-folders.

Your notes should be a trail that always leads inevitably to the information you need. There’s nothing worse than not being able to find important information because it’s not in the correct folder or file. Use logic. Take the broadest categories and break them down.

For example, if you desire delivering a speech on “public speaking”, make a folder called "public speaking basic speech." Then a subfolder labeled "all techniques." As you gather more information, divide the folder further into subfolders called "stage fright techniques and causes," "general public speaking techniques" and "acting techniques."

The idea is to have your search lead inevitably to the information you need, so title the folders and subfolders for easy recognition and retrieval. Be specific with the titles of the subfolders. The additional benefit is that when you have files and folders with specific names on them, the speech virtually writes itself. For one version of the speech, you’ll be able to take certain sections, and leave certain files for another speech.

Narrowing/refining your research topic

(Time period, geographic region or country, particular aspect). A topic that covers too much material is a common problem for students. Depending on your interests, a general topic can be focused in many ways. For example, if you want to do a paper on government funding of the arts, consider the following questions:

• What do you already know about this subject?
• Is there a specific time period you want to cover?
• Is there a geographic region or country on which you would like to focus?
• Is there a particular aspect of this topic that interests you? For example, public policy implications, historical influence, sociological aspects, psychological angles, specific groups or individuals involved in the topic, etc.