This lecture explains the importance of consciously structuring ideas to ensure an audience can easily follow and understand the message, providing practical organizational strategies for effective communication.
Mind Map
Click to expand
Click to explore the full interactive mind map • Zoom, pan, and navigate
this is a lecture on structuring
something that you might not be too
familiar with but once I explained the
ideas you're gonna say oh okay this
makes sense to me it's really a way to
put your ideas together consciously so
that it makes sense so it just is a
process that we that we used create a
structure or an organization for ideas
that we can follow as audience members
I'm sure you'll remember that good
communication is always about the
audience so the fact that you can follow
it but no one else can is probably
irrelevant the issue is can an audience
follow your ideas and your ideas are
important so you want to make sure that
your audience understands what you're
doing so we're going to talk about how
to put those ideas together in a way
that we can follow and that makes sense
this requires a process of consciously
thinking about how am I going to develop
that idea how am I going to do it and it
gives you tools or knowing ways to do
that or for going through that process
so so we're gonna talk about so this
helps as I said consciously
and clearly organize your ideas it's a
process that's reflective and conscious
communication should be conscious it
should be something that you think about
always before you speak
you know our mom's told us to always
think before you speak this is one of
the things you should think about right
you know maybe choosing your words
should be important but choosing how to
organize is also something that's
important this also helps your audience
follow your ideas because you're going
to plug into a structure or an
organizational strategy that makes sense
to them that they can follow you should
structure your three main points
certainly but then also the A's and the
B's the sub points under each of the
main points you should consciously say
how am i developing how am i
structurally each of those ideas
so to do that you need to know what are
the common structures I'm going to talk
about each of these common structures
and then give some examples that's all
so there's a chronological structure
there's a spatial structure causal
structure topical structure these are
the ones you'll choose from there's also
a problem-solution structure which we're
going to use for the argumentative
speech as well as for part of the
persuasive speech but it's not for the
informative speech so I'm not going to
talk about problem-solution today so
let's talk about the first structure
chronological structure okay I know I
think I know what she's talking about
and you do because you know what
chronological structures are right it
follows a time sequence that follows
things in terms of a pattern of
organization of ideas that follows time
topics are divided into the history of
right when you start out in 1960s and
then you go to the 1980s and then you go
to the 2000s right now the history of
would follow a time sequence I'm or the
steps of like the steps of learning
something first you have to learn this
then you learn this then you learn this
or making a recipe first you do this
then you do this so you understand the
sequence of ideas and the sequence of
ideas matters so questions that fit with
the chronological structure that you
might ask because this chronological
structure is how did it get here right
60s to the 80s to the 2000s how does it
work you have first understand this then
this then this how do I make it right
how did it get to this point so that
would explain the sequence that you use
to build something so is the sequence of
steps important if you're talking about
something then you could do the third
step first it doesn't really matter and
it's probably not a chronological
structure if it matters you have to do
first before you can do two then you do
three then that matters so for example
just for these informative lectures I
couldn't begin with
make an outline because you don't even
know what your purpose is right you
don't even have a topic so you have to
start with the topic before you can get
to outlining so the sequence matters and
so that's true for probably most of your
classes the sequence of information
matters so first this then this then
this that's a chronological structure
sample topics using chronological
structures the evolution of rodeos from
1930 to 2000 these are our speech topics
that were actually used in my classes
not things that I've just generated on
my own brain as it would be a lot how to
build a haunted house was actually a
terrific speech major developments in
the civil rights movement first there
was this thenn miss than this and it
happened within a five-year span she
argued how to make banana pudding how to
have a perfect golf swing first you have
to stay in this way then hold the grip
this way right then make the swing so
the sequence matters next structure
spatial this is a parts two whole
structure right so that you understand
how the parts fit to make a whole so
typically when you're talking about
things organized geographically or
according to physical proximity or
objects if you're describing parts of an
object then you would likely be using
the spatial structure so questions for
the spatial structure am I using a
spatial structure well how does it look
how does it fit together where is it
right in relationship to this where is
it here those would be evidence of a
spatial structure so the test is does
your topic emphasize physical
descriptions or relationships between
objects and if it does then you're
probably using a spatial structure or a
spatial structure might be the best way
to organize it
sample topics using spatial structure
again these actually came from students
parts of an Egyptian burial tomb right
she talked about the layout of the
burial tombs very cool speech parts of
the space station components of a
fuel-injected engine where they are in
relationship to each other and how they
all fit together to make it a
fuel-injected engine parts of a drum kit
Waterfalls to visit in this state park
one is located here then north of that
and then east of that that's how this
was organized next structure causal a
causal structure is one that traces the
condition or action from its causes to
its effects okay the birds plus the bees
equal a baby
for example now medical topics are
really traditionally using the causal
structure a some sociological topics are
also presented in this structure causes
of crime that kind of thing so what
caused it would be a question what does
it cause okay or what's the impact of it
the effects so the tests can this
condition be best explained in this
linear fashion these two these two
causes have this effect for example
sample topics using a causal structure
include things like causes of erosion on
America's sea coasts the student was an
environmental major and he talked about
three causes
causes and effects of sickle cell anemia
causes of unemployment that was a
sociological issue that I was talking about
about
next structure it's called the topical
structure this is the final one we're
going to talk about it's sort of the
catch-all category it's the pattern says
here that's broken down into parts that
are determined by the speaker so if you
could talk about six types of these but
you're only talking about three as
you're making me because three is the
magic number and it's probably a topical
structure I've just decided on these
three things even though there are more
okay so you're artificially imposing the
limit that's a topical structure it's
the most common pattern it's the one
because you're our topics are generally
huge and you're just focusing on three
oh but can I do six instead and I'll say
no you know why because the rule of
three because three is the magical
number so reflects categories that break
so it's typically used when you are
returned imposed the rule
so how can this topic be divided is the
question here and the test is could you
include more than three categories
does it matter the order of the
categories right did you do it because I
made you pick three probably then it's a
topical structure so sample topics using
topical structures symbols in Native
American art well there's more than
three right but three ways to cook potatoes
potatoes
best summer songs traits of humpback
whales could just talk about three kinds
of whales to talk about three activists
right so there's many different ways to
talk about this but I just picked three
because those are samples using the
topical structure so think what is your
three main points your central idea
statement your thesis statement what's
the structure of those and then as you
develop it ideally you'll want to
develop each of that each main point
with some points that are similar or
parallel so I'm going to talk about its
definition then I'm going to talk about
two causes and then two effects of each
of these three things for example I'm
talking about humpback whales I might
talk about its physical characteristics
and then its physical traits what it
eats and its social traits
which would be a topical structure of
the whale so I'm talking about three
kinds of whales we're going to talk
about right whales humpback whales blue
whales and under each of those that's a
topical structure because I'm not
talking about orcas right I'm not
talking about right these other kinds of
whales so I'm just talking about these
three it's topical structure then under
that what am I going to talk about with
each whale I could talk about dozens of
things I'm gonna talk about its physical
traits its diet and its sociological or
its social traits which is three things
also a B and C are topical so each of
your sub-point should also be used
organizing these ideas and it could you
could say I'm doing a topical structure
but then I'm organizing it cause effect
I'm organizing it spatially right the a
B and C some points so each structure
each chunk of information should be
structured and you should consciously
think about how you're organizing those
ideas that will make your ideas more
clear if you can organize each main
point in a similar way that will also
help the audience sometimes that's
harder depending on your topic talk with
Click on any text or timestamp to jump to that moment in the video
Share:
Most transcripts ready in under 5 seconds
One-Click Copy125+ LanguagesSearch ContentJump to Timestamps
Paste YouTube URL
Enter any YouTube video link to get the full transcript
Transcript Extraction Form
Most transcripts ready in under 5 seconds
Get Our Chrome Extension
Get transcripts instantly without leaving YouTube. Install our Chrome extension for one-click access to any video's transcript directly on the watch page.
