The following work is an outline of a speech I gave which served to motivate students to study abroad. I chose to include this speech in this portfolio because I felt that the motivational sequence of need, satisfaction, visualization, and action was clearly defined and directional. Further, rhetorical strategies were employed throughout the speech to increase motivational assertion. Motivation is accomplished by the act of persuasion, and persuasion is accomplished by the use of effective rhetoric. In this speech, motivation is played upon by the use of rhetorical strategies such as the appeals to ethos, logos, and pathos. The beginning of my speech appealed to ethos, or my credibility, in sharing why traveling abroad is personally important to me, and why it should be important to everyone else in the United States. A large part of my speech also lends itself to the use of logos, or logical and reasoning appeals, through the use of staggering statistics on how many United States citizens have never been out of the country and how the majority of students are not utilizing their opportunities to study abroad. Through an appeal to pathos, listeners become aware of the detrimental effects that result from not taking the opportunity to study abroad and why this trend could create an uncultured, ignorant society. Finally, listeners learn the converse and are enlightened upon the benefits of studying abroad and how it can stimulate global awareness.
