Sample Persuasive Speech Outline
(adapted from a speech given by Kristi Isaacson, 1993)

PASSIVE SMOKE

Specific Purpose: To encourage people to recognize that no-smoking laws need to be broadened to include all public places as well as working environments.
 

Central Idea: Society must look at the problem of smoking and realize that environmental tobacco smoke is harming smokers and non-smokers.
 
 

I. (Attention Getter)  Lung cancer, emphysema, asthma attacks, cataracts, bronchitis, and death.
 

II. (Audience Adaptation)  Whether you pick up a cigarette and smoke it yourself or you get caught walking behind a smoker on the way to Arntzen Hall, you are inhaling smoke that kills the cilia in your lungs.
 

III. (Purpose)  Today I will encourage you to stay away from cigarette smoking so you don't harm your body as well as the non-smokers around you.
 

IV. (Preview)  There are three aspects of passive smoke that I will cover.
 

    A. First, I will talk about the harms passed onto non-smokers.
    B. Second, I will discuss what the federal, state, and local legislatures are doing for no-smoking laws.
    C. Third, I will talk about why public places and working environments should be smoke free.
 

TRANSITION:  Many people know that smoking cigarettes causes lung cancer, emphysema, and can eventually lead to death, but how many of you have thought about the effects of passive smoke?
 

I. The harms of smoking not only affect the persons themselves, but it also affects the non-smokers around them.
 

    A. The tobacco industry has conducted research on passive smoke to find the ways that it affects adults and children.
        1. According to Newsweek, June 29, 1992, the tobacco industry did a study and found a thirty percent increase in the risk of lung cancer in non-smokers exposed to high levels of smoke.
        2. A 1993 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, states that passive smoke causes 3,000 deaths a year from lung cancer alone in the United States.
 

    B. Passive smoke increases the severity of asthma depending on how much the person is exposed to.
        1. It triggers 8,000 to 26,000 new cases of asthma in previously unaffected kids.
        2. Asthma attacks occur more frequently and are more severe.
 

    C. The Journal of the American Medical Association states that a recent report of the Environmental Protection Agency concluded that environmental tobacco smoke is a human lung carcinogen.
        1. According to Rosie Mestel, a writer for New Scientist, each year in the United States approximately 434,000 deaths are attributed to tobacco use, particularly cigarette smoking and some 112,000 of these deaths are caused by lung cancer.
        2. There is also an estimated 1,500 deaths per year among non-smoking women and 500 deaths among non-smoking men that are attributable to passive smoke.
 

TRANSITION:  I've discussed just a few of the harms and statistics of passive smoke.  Now I will discuss what's going on with the no-smoking laws in the U.S.

II. No-smoking laws are being put into action by the federal, state and local legislation.
 

    A. The federal government's action mostly regards legislation banning smoking on virtually all domestic airline flights.
        1. Most public sector action has occurred at the state and local levels.
        2. The content of city and state no-smoking laws varies widely, and the result is a patchwork of smoking restrictions that affects a growing number of Americans at work and in public places.
            a) Americans are mainly affected by these laws if they work or go tot such places as government buildings, retail stores, restaurants, theaters, and sports arenas.
            b) People have to work so they don't have the choice or liberties to be in a smoke-free environment because they just can't quit their job.
 

    B. The intent of these laws and policies is to reduce an individual's environmental tobacco smoke exposure.
        1. According to Sara Hill and Chris Pashos, the intent of the laws represent a critical new direction in tobacco control policy, with the potential to influence social norms governing tobacco smoking and ultimately to affect smoking behavior.
        2. Limits on work place smoking should provide the greatest protection from ETS exposure and may have the greatest impact on smoking behavior because adults spend more time at work than in any other single place outside the home.
 

    C. Local government action has been more difficult to follow because the number of communities to monitor is large and there is no central registry of local legislation.
        1. By July 2, 1989 over half of local governments had taken some action to limit smoking in the U.S.
        2. As of 1991 forty-nine of the fifty states and the District of Columbia have current state laws.
 

    D. The Journal of the American Medical Association, July 28, 1993, stated that by the end of 1989 all but six states had adopted some restriction on smoking in public places or
work places.
 

INTERNAL SUMMARY: So far I've talked about the harms associated with passive smoking and what's being done by the federal, state and local legislatures about no-smoking laws, but for those of us who are non-smokers we should strive for working environments and public places to be smoke free.

III. All working environments and public places should be non-smoking establishments.

    A. Limited smoking in public places and work places in the U.S. is more widespread than previously appreciated, particularly at the local level.

    B. Since the work place is a major source of ETS exposure, and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has recommended that involuntary exposure to tobacco smoke be eliminated by prohibiting smoking in the work place.

    C. Public places are for everyone to enjoy, so it's unfair to the people who do not wish to be affected by those who smoke.
 

I. (Summary)  We must realize that smoking not only affects the person smoking first hand, but it can also cause non-smokers the same problems.
 

    A. Second hand smoke harms non-smokers as much as the individuals dispensing the toxins into the air.
    B. Federal, State and local legislatures are trying to get more cities and states involved with no-smoking laws.
    C. Every individual has the right to go to work and to public places without having to worry about ETS.
 

II. (Motivation)  You don't have to be a victim of passive smoke.
 

    A. At work you could push your employer to move to a smoke-free environment since that's where most adults spend their time if they aren't at home.
    B. Go to restaurants that are either non-smoking establishments or that has a designated non-smoking area.
    C. Support work places as well as public places that are smoke free.
 

III.  (Closing Statement)  We would all like our children and grandchildren, as well as ourselves, to live long and healthy lives.  One way to head in that direction is to build a smoke free environment.
 
 

Boyle, Peter. “The Hazards of Passive and Active Smoking.”  The New England Journal Medicine 69 (1993): 1708-9.
 

Cowley, Geoffrey. “Poison at Home and at Work..”  Newsweek.  29 June 1993: 55.
 

Higgins, Millicent W & Enright, Paul L. “Smoking and Lung Function in Elderly Men and Women.”  The Journal of the American Medical Association 269, 1993: 2741-8.
 

Hill, Sara & Pashos, Chris L. “No-smoking Laws in the United States.” The Journal of the American Medical Association 266 (1991): 3162-7.
 

Mestel, Rosie. “Tobacco Industry Fumes Over Passive Smoking.”  New Scientist. 17 July 1993: 5.
 

Murray, Andrew B. “The Decrease in Severity of Asthma in Children of Parents Who Smoke Since the Parents have been Exposing them to less Cigarette Smoke.”  The Journal of the American Medical Association 269 (1993): 2785.
 

Perkins, Kenneth A. “Weight Gain Following Smoking Cessation.”  Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 61 (1993): 768-75.
 

Petty, Thomas L. “It's Never Too Late to Stop Smoking.” The Journal of the American Medical Association 269 (1993): 2785.
 

Seigel, Michael, MD, MPH. “Involuntary Smoking in the Restaurant Workplace.” The Journal of the American Medical Association 270 (1993): 490-3.