Thesis Statement
Your thesis statement is what your speech is all about. To generate a thesis statement, first think about your topic’s angle, then formulate a single question about it.

Example:

Topic: Global Warming
Angle: Persuasive speech aiming to convince people that we need to look for alternative means of producing energy.
Question: Why do we urgently need to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy sources?

Your thesis is a direct and specific answer to your question.

Example:

Answer: Continued reliance on fossil fuels will eventually lead to economic and environmental disaster. From there you branch out to other talking points that will uphold your answer. The entire body of the speech is meant to support or defend your thesis statement. Ideally, no part of your speech deviates from or is otherwise unrelated to your thesis.
Theses are purposely brief and direct to the point. Again, the idea is to be simple. Limit your thesis statement to a single sentence with 15 words or less, and use this sentence emphatically in your speech.

Clustering

Mind-mapping, clustering, speech webs, these are different names for the same exercise—creating a visual tool for planning your speech. Say you have your thesis down. The next step is to come up with support statements. Then you’ll need to think up ways to support them with proof or examples. This is where clustering comes in handy.

Starting from you thesis statement, branch out to a few support statements that uphold your thesis (try to control the number of support statements; three or four are usually enough). From each support statement in turn, branch out to a few more sentences that support each point. Keep going until you’ve exhausted your ideas. If you need to supply your points with research, feel free to do so.

Create Continuity

Now that you’ve formed your topic, your thesis, and your talking points, how do you arrange it so that your speech makes sense? The idea of continuity is mold your speech into a coherent whole. It’s not enough that you make an interesting and well-thought out presentation. You need to guide your audience through your talk and organize it in such a way that it is easy to understand. Start by writing down your speech, all the while keeping these points in mind:

   1.  Remove all unnecessary statements. Look through your cluster map. Do you see any statements that are irrelevant or do not support your thesis? If you do, cut them out. The idea is to streamline your speech so that it is brief, concise and does not wander, while still getting your idea across. To quote Einstein, “everything should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler.”
   2. Provide a logical structure to your speech. A very simple structure outline would help:

          * Introduction
          * Thesis statement
          * Support statement 1
          * Support statement 2
          * Support statement 3
          * Conclusion (restatement of thesis)

If possible, arrange your supporting statements in chronological order or in a logical series of steps. Again, this is to make your points easier to follow. For greater audience impact, it also helps to save your most interesting or important points towards the end of the speech.

Indicate transitions among your talking points. This is to tell your audience where you are in the speech. One easy way to do this is provide enumeration. Use transitional phrases like “firstly, secondly, thirdly,” or even simply “to begin with, next point, finally.”

Online Resources

Nothing provides instruction like a good example. If you’re stuck for topics, ideas statements, or just need a sample of a good speech, take some time to look up these online resources.

Topics and introductions:
http://www.quotationspage.com/
http://www.speech-topics-help.com/
http://www.best-speech-topics.com/
http://www.famousquotes.me.uk/speeches/
http://www.oldandsold.com/articles09/toast-21.shtml

Research tools:
http://www.hawaii.edu/mauispeech/html/research_speeches.html
http://www.wikipedia.com

Pointers:
http://www.mindtools.com/CommSkll/PublicSpeaking.htm
http://www.hawaii.edu/mauispeech/html/outlining_a_speech.html
http://www.publicspeakingnow.com/how-to-open-a-speech.html
http://www.publicspeakingnow.com/how-to-close-a-speech.html

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