Public Speaking

Mary Warren

SPT1113-VCB

November 29, 2014

Specific Purpose: I want to persuade my audience that textbooks should be free for college students.

Organizational pattern: problem/solution

Introduction

I. The beginning of a freshmen’s college experience is an experience of a lifetime.

II. Dorms! Roommates! Freedom! Exorbitantly expensive textbooks!

III. Well the last one is not fun at all. When you go to the bookstore for the first time, you will be in a state of shock when you see the expensive textbooks.

IV. In a survey of more than 2,000 college students in 33 states and 156 different campuses, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group found the average student spends as much as $1,200 each year on textbooks and supplies alone.

Thesis Statement: Based on my findings and my personal experiences with the expenses of college textbooks, I am persuaded that college textbooks should be free for a college student. Especially the college students that are struggling with finances.

(Transition: First let me tell you the problem with the cost of college textbooks)

Body

I. Textbooks are expensive to make.

A. The National Association of College Stores had said that roughly 33 cents of every textbook dollar goes to production costs, and another 11.8 cents of every dollar goes to author royalties. 1. The glossy pages of a textbook is different from words on regular white paper.

B. Senack said the problem comes from a lack of competition in the textbook market, professors not students are responsible for selecting course materials.

1. Senack stated There is no consumer control over the market

2. There is no strict control over the prices of books cost have grown by 82 percent

3. Publishers can keep cost high by printing a new editions every year.

4. Due to the high cost of textbooks students are not buying books required for class.

C. Nicole Allen said it is evidence that link high textbook prices with negative academic...