FREE ESSAY ON MAJOR HARRIS

MAJOR HARRIS

Anthony Paletti 
Com 103 
I wanted to inform the audience about the dangers of alcohol, and how alcohol effects
pregnant mothers, the brain, and the liver. I also wanted the audience to know what
alcoholism is and what kinds of behaviors can cause alcoholism. I think the audience
knows a little bit about alcoholism and the other risks of consuming alcohol, but I think
the audience does not take these dangers seriously. They might say "that can not happen
to me, or you have to drink all of your life for that to happen. I had to relate to the
audience because most people were strongly opposed to the topic. So I wanted to relate to
the audience, so I would not lose their interest.
I felt that my introduction was very successful. I came out with a good attention getter,
I had a clear thesis statement, attention getter, and plain of development. I used
reasoning by example, reasoning by sign, and reasoning by testimony. My strongest type of
reasoning was reasoning by testimony. I had some startling testimonies from doctors
telling the dangers of fetal alcohol syndrome. My Weakest type of reasoning was reasoning
by sign. I used invention by first brain storming ideas then picked the best ideas. My
best evidence were the statistics about the dangers of alcohol by doctors. I tried to
appeal to the audiences emotions through fear. I tried to convince the audience by
informing hem of the dangers of alcohol. This might cause people to stop drink because
they might think this could happen to me. I felt that some of the audience got the point
of the speech. My conclusion was accomplished by closing the speech on a strong point,
restating the main points, and closing the speech correctly ( I did not leave the
audience in suspense I let them know the speech was over). I felt that my conclusion was
effective. I left the audience with something to think about. I felt that my delivery was
average. I had an effective speaking voice, good information, and an effective visual
aid. I could have make my speech better by looking at the audience more, use more hand
gestures, and move around more.
Since my topic was so controversial for a collage class I felt that I did not persuade
many, but I probably changed a few peoples mind. The whole point of my speech was just to
change at least one person's opinion. I felt that my main points were the best persuasive
strategy in my speech. Usually when people are aware of the dangers of an activity most
will quit doing the activity. The only thing I would change in my presentation would have
to be more visual aids. I would bring pamphlets explaining alcoholism and pamphlets that
tell about the dangers of alcohol.