The Public Speaking course was developed through the Ohio Department of Higher Education OER Innovation Grant. This work was completed and the course was posted in September 2019. The course is part of the Ohio Transfer Assurance Guides and is also named OCM013. For more information about credit transfer between Ohio colleges and universities, please visit: www.ohiohighered.org/transfer.Team LeadJessica Papajcik                                Stark State College   Content ContributorsJames Jarc                                        Central Ohio Technical CollegeJanny Nauman                                  North Central State CollegeCarrie Tomko                                     University of Akron LibrarianAllen Reichert                                   Otterbein UniversityReview TeamLaura Garcia                                     Washington State Community CollegeJasmine Roberts                               Ohio State University

What to speak about? How to find a topic?  Does the topic have the appropriate scope? Being stuck, not knowing what to talk about? How to move from general purpose to specific purpose and a thesis statement? These are key questions speakers must answer as they prepare for a presentation.  First, determining general purpose: Is the goal to inform, to persuade or to entertain.   Next, the section discusses how to broaden the topic or narrow the topic down to meet speaking constraints. Finally, it suggests tools to help to come up with topic ideas for topics. Once a topic is selected, the speaker must determine their specific purpose and central idea. 

In this learning area, you will find step-by-step support for writing a research paper (a paper with source material) for your college courses. In Research, the Excelsior OWL will help you as you begin to write your paper, pick a topic, conduct research for articles and books, draft your work, integrate your research, and revise and edit your finished paper.