Speech Topic Resources
Please follow the guidelines in your textbook on pages 77-79. In addition, remember:
- The topic should affect your audience collectively.
- The topic should be debatable by reasonable persons.
- The topic should be manageable in 6-8 minutes.
- You should argue from among existing options; don't write a new, unheard of policy
Here are some places to prompt your thinking about what is currently being proposed and debated:
UW issues
Seattle issues
- City Council issues
- Council Conversations on the Seattle Channel
- the mayor's blog
- Ask the Mayor on the Seattle Channel
- The Conversation on KUOW
- City Inside/Out on the Seattle Channel
- Publicola (Seattle politics blog)
- Strange Bedfellows (Seattle politics blog)
Neighborhood Blogs (NextDoor Media)
Washington issues
- The State Legislature (when you find an interesting bill, be sure to read the bill analysis).
- The Governor's page (this is list of her current legislative priorities)
- Living Voters' Guide (an online forum for discussing ballot initiatives)
- Ballotopedia (a storehouse of various ballot issues listed by state)
- The Capitol Record (a state politics blog on TVW)
National issues
- What's currently happening on the floor of the House of Representatives
- Pending legislation in the Senate
- Policies supported by the President
General resources
- The Seattle Times and the New York Times are often useful for triggering a good topic (see the editorial pages especially)
- COM 220 Library Page
- CQ Researcher (if you're off campus, you'll need to log in to your UW account)
If you're still struggling to find a topic, here are a few recent ones with an article to get you started.
State
- Medical marijuana bill
- Evaluation (rather than tenure) based teacher layoffs
- Pregnancy centers transparency
- Ban smoking in cars with kids
- updating program provisions to the advanced college tuition payment (GET) program
City
UW