Claudette Gilhespie
Informative Speech
Oral Communications
Professor McLin
Outline Informative Speech
Topic: Alcohol
General Purpose: To Inform
Specific Purpose: To inform my audience the culture alcohol differences in UK in comparison
with the US
Thesis: Cultural differences of drinking in college life
1. Introduction
A) In the United States of America 18-years old can vote, drive a car, own a gun, fight as
soldiers, die in foreign territory for their country, and even become governor of the state of
Rhode Island. For all those things the law accepts 18-year olds to be old enough to take
responsibility. Drinking alcohol and handling the consumption responsibly seems to bear
way less risk than many of the listed above. Regardless the consumption of alcohol is other
than in most countries a privilege for 21-years old. You could argue that it made teenagers
dealing with alcohol more responsible if acquainted to drinking at an earlier stage in life. An
age when parents wield way more influence on their offspring. How many freshman suffer
intoxication from alcohol because they don’t know how to handle the consumption properly.
Because their parents weren’t legally permitted to introduce them to the socially accepted
drug when having the chance. Because they have no or shouldn’t have experience.
B) Reason to listen / thesis statement
Is it time to take Europe as a working model with the contact of alcohol and minors. Is it less
responsible than it seems to be in the first place to keep teenagers away from responsible contact
with alcohol, not to let them grow up getting to know the effects of a drug they’ll definitely get
in touch with in today’s society. Eventually even let the inexperience caused by law let them
have disadvantages in later stages of life. Because of embarrassing moments that could’ve been
avoided by smarter way of introduction.
C) Credibility
being raised and when in Europe see how people back home handle alcohol usually better
than people you encountered in college
Also researched this particular topic.
D) Preview of main points
1. In my speech I want to compare the different legal situations of the alcohol consumption in
the UK and USA
2. I want to talk about how alcohol is consumed in the uk regularities
3. My drinking experience in the US
4. I want to discuss the pros and cons of either and point out the most important facts
5. I want to conclude whether the legal situation in the USA makes sense (or should be
supported or changed or something)
Information
In Europe, by contrast, more people enjoy drinking alcohol without binge drinking
because leisurely drinking is an important part of social interaction.
The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism defines binge drinking as a
"pattern of alcohol consumption that brings the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) level
to 0.08% or more.
American drinking culture, particularly among teens, is defined by binge drinking or
heavy, excessive alcohol consumption. In fact, the rate of binge drinking in the U.S. is the
highest in the world. Despite the U.S. drinking age, binge drinking is the biggest problem
for people under the age of 21.
90% of all the alcohol consumed by young people is consumed during a binge drinking
session," said Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Center for Disease Control.
One in five high school girls binge drink, a statistic that should be taken into
consideration to explain the estimated 23,000 annual death rate among females, attributed
to excessive alcohol consumption.
According to the New York Times, the fact that laws make it illegal for most college
students to drink, they "inadvertently made it more likely that students would engage in
clandestine — and difficult to supervise — binge drinking."
European binge drinking levels reveal a different trend. In general, Europeans
consume more alcohol than people on other continents, but they do not tend
to drink excessively.
Romero, Melissa. “DC Has One of the Country's Highest Binge-Drinking Rates: Washingtonian
(DC).” Washingtonian, 11 Jan. 2012.
“Top 10.” AskMen, www.askmen.com/top_10/travel/218c_travel_top_ten.html.
Reporter, Daily Mail. “U.S. Teens Worst in Western World for Binge-Drinking, Drugs and Violent
Deaths.” Daily Mail Online, Associated Newspapers, 25 Apr. 2012
https://www.mic.com/articles/57211/can-you-guess-where-in-the-world-people-are-binge-drinking-
the-most
