Titanic outline

EXAMPLE OF INFORMATIVE SPEECH OUTLINE

Specific Purpose: To inform my audience about one of the most famous tragedies in history, the Titanic.

Thesis: From the disaster to the movie, the sinking of the Titanic remains one of the most famous tragedies in history.

I. Introduction

A. Attention Getter: An American writer named Morgan Robertson once wrote a book called The Wreck of the Titan. The book was about an “unsinkable” ship called the Titan that set sail from England to New York with many rich and famous passengers on board. On its journey, the Titan hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sunk. Many lives were lost because there were not enough lifeboats. So, what is so strange about this? Well, The Wreck of the Titan was written 14 years before the Titanic sank.

B. Reveal Topic Statement: From the disaster to the movie, the sinking of the Titanic remains one of the most famous tragedies in history.

C. Credibility Statement: I have been fascinated by the history of the Titanic for as long as I can remember. Consequently, I own a collection of books about the Titanic, and for this speech, I have enjoyed doing more in-depth research on the topic.

D. Preview of Main Points: So for this speech I will be discussing 3 main points

1. First, I will discuss the Titanic itself.

2. Second, I will discuss the sinking of the ship.

3. Finally, I will discuss the movie that was made about the Titanic.

Transition: From the disaster to the movie, the sinking of the Titanic remains one of the most

famous tragedies in history.

II. Body

A. The Titanic was thought to be the largest, safest, most luxurious ship ever built.

1. The Titanic was 882 feet long and weighed about 46,000 tons (Tibbals, 1997).

2. 2,345 passengers and 860 crew-members (Thresh, 1992)

3. The first class dining room was the largest on any liner; it could serve 500 passengers at one sitting. Other first class accommodations included a squash court, swimming pool, library, barber’s shop, Turkish baths, and a photographer’s dark room

4. Tibbals (1997), as previously cited, described the Titanic as having an outer layer that shielded an inner layer – a ‘double bottom’ – that was created to keep water out of the ship if the outer layer was pierced.

Transition: The Titanic was an amazing ship but unfortunately, its beauty was short-lived

B. The Titanic hit disaster head-on when it ran into an iceberg four days after its departure.

1. Tibbals (1997) stated that the ship departed from Queenstown in

Ireland at 1:30 pm on April 10th, 1912, destined for New York.

2. The journey took a horrible turn when the ship struck an iceberg and began to sink

3. As the ship went down, some were rescued but the majority of passengers had no place to go.

a. Thresh (1992) stated that there were only 20 lifeboats on the ship.

b. This was only enough for about half of the 2,200 people that were on board, and they filled quickly with women and children

c. Lynch (1992) reported that in the end, 1,522 lives were lost.

Transition: The actual sinking of the Titanic is embedded into American history, so much so that the movie "The Titanic" became the highest grossing film of its time

C. A movie depicting the Titanic and a group of fictional characters was written, produced, and directed by James Cameron produced.

1. According to Marsh in James Cameron’s Titanic from 1997, Cameron conducted six months of research to compile a highly detailed time line so that the film would be realistic.

2. Cameron spent more time on the Titanic than the ships’ original passengers because he made 12 trips to the wreck site that lasted between ten and twelve hours each.

3. Making Titanic was extremely expensive and involved much hard work.

a. According to a 1998 article from the Historical Journal of Films, Radio, and Television, Kramer stated that the film had a 250-million-dollar budget.

b. A full-sized replica of the ship was constructed in Baja

California, Mexico in a 17-million-gallon oceanfront tank.

c. Cameron assembled an expedition to dive to the wreck on the ocean floor to film footage that was later used in the opening scenes of the movie.

d. Kramer (1998) reported that Titanic made approximately 600 million dollars in the United States, making it the #1 movie of all time.

e. Titanic was nominated for a record eight Golden Globe Awards only a few weeks after its release, and won four.

Transition: In conclusion, The Titanic was a ship to remember

III. Conclusion

A. Review of Main Points:

1. It was enormous, built for luxury and safety

2. The sinking of the great ship was a tragedy unlike none other

3. Finally, the movie "The Titanic "was very successful

B.

Restate Thesis:

The tragedy and the movie about the Titanic will forever be embedded in our memory

C.

Closure:

In conclusion, remember The Wreck of the Titan, the story written fourteen years before the Titanic sank? It now seems as if it was an eerie prophecy, or a case of life

imitating art. Whatever the case, the loss of lives on the Titanic was tremendous, and it is something that should never be forgotten.

References

Ballard, R. (1988). Exploring the Titanic. Toronto, Ontario: Madison Press Books.

Kramer, P. (1998). Women first: ‘Titanic’ (1997), action adventure films and Hollywood’s female audience. Historical Journal of Films, Radio, and Television, 18, 599-618.

Lord, W. (1955). A night to remember. New York, New York: Henry Holt and Company.

Lynch, D. (1992). Titanic: An illustrated history. New York, New York: Hyperion.

Marsh, E. (1997). James Cameron’s Titanic. New York, New York: Harper Perennial.

Thresh, P. (1992). Titanic: The truth behind the disaster. New York, New York: Crescent

Books.

Tibbals, G. (1997). The Titanic: The extraordinary story of the “unsinkable” ship.

Pleasantville, New York: Reader’s Digest.