Please no AI or Chat GPT . If you have any questions, please let me know. Please see attached file. Part 1 of this assignment has been answered. Please answer Part 2.
Develop a Research Plan
Moving from the visual brainstorming and concept mapping phase of topic selection to a more structured phase where you are thinking about main points and subpoints helps you also begin to envision your speech in an outline form. This format is also important because it will start to serve as a research guide we can use to build out each main point of the speech.
Questions to Ask Yourself While Researching for a Speech
What types of support do I want to include in this speech?
Theories, research studies, expert testimony, statistics, personal anecdotes, quotations, analogies, visual imagery or data visualizations, etc.
What are the most well-known, reputable publications or organizations related to my speech topic?
If I were an audience member who knew very little about this topic, what information would I need to understand the general ideas in the rest of the speech?
Consider the who, what, where, when, why, how elements of your topic
Given the organizational format I chose for this speech, what types of support should each main point have?
Common Research Mistakes
1. Relying on Outdated Evidence: I once listened to a speech in which the student proclaimed, “President Bush is deliberating with top military officials whether to withdraw troops from Afghanistan.” The problem with this statement is that my student delivered this speech in 2017. George W. Bush was no longer in office. Neither was Barack Obama. This may be an extreme example, but it nevertheless illustrates why it’s critically important for speakers to reference the most up-to-date information possible in their speeches: so audience members know you’ve done a good job of researching timely information that is still relevant in our present context. Citing outdated sources is a quick way to ruin your credibility.
2. Searching for the General Topic Instead of Specific Information: If you’re presenting a speech about a gun control topic, Googling the broad term “gun control” will lead to too many results that cover a vast array of issues. To make your research process more efficient, identify specific terms and/or arguments you want to make in the speech. For example: “landmark Supreme Court cases about the Second Amendment,” “how many firearms are there in the U.S.,” “safe storage gun laws,” etc.
3. Relying on Excessively Biased Sources: I once listened to a persuasive speech arguing that vaping should be banned in the U.S. The topic wasn’t the issue, but the speaker only cited sources like the American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, and FightFlavoredECigs.org. While these may sound like reasonable sources to cite for this topic, the problem is that these websites and organizations exist for a single purpose: to influence the passage of anti-smoking, anti-vaping laws in the U.S. In the student’s speech, it may have been appropriate to cite one of these more biased sources in conjunction with other, more credible sources like the Centers for Disease Control, Food & Drug Administration, Department of Health and Human Services, the peer-reviewed New England Journal of Medicine, etc.
4. Only Using Google: It is okay to use general search engines or Wikipedia when you are just getting started on a research topic. However, the limitation of Google is that it has no filter: You are more likely to get hits from conspiracy theorists writing blogs than you are to run across credible information.
Important note about research for your speeches:
Inspiration Speech (speech #1) requires the use of at least one source.
Informative Speech (speech #3) requires the use of at least three different sources.
Persuasive Speech (speech #4) requires the use of at least five different sources.
Evaluating Sources
It is essential that the information you share in your speeches comes from credible sources. Credible sources can be found both online and in print, but you must evaluate each source for its credibility. Review the resources below for some information about how to evaluate the credibility of sources.
Citing Sources
Why to Cite Sources
From PCC’s Library website: Plagiarism is the use of words and ideas written by others without giving credit to the authors of those words. You should cite the sources of information you use in your academic work because:
Citing makes your work more credible.
Citing tells your reader where you found your information.
Citing allows your reader to learn more, beginning with your sources.
Citing gives credit to the people whose words or ideas you are using.
Citing protects you from plagiarizing.
When to Cite Sources
Whenever you directly quote evidence (copy/paste text), you must give credit to the original source.
Whenever you paraphrase information you learned elsewhere, you must give credit to the original source.
Whenever you cite statistical information such as dollar figures, percentage results from a survey, population data, etc. (here are some examples from the News Literacy Project), you must give credit to the original source.
Whenever you use specific terminology and/or definitions, you must give credit to the original source.
If you’re citing “common knowledge” information (e.g., “Salem is the capital of Oregon” or “The Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776”), you do not need to cite a source.
If you’re citing generally observable and/or widely accepted facts (e.g., “Climate change has led to more extreme weather trends” or “Smoking can be dangerous for your lung health”), you do not need to cite a source.
How to Cite Your Sources
In this class, you may compose your bibliography using any standardized style guide, such as APA, MLA, or Chicago. We call come from different disciplines and might be accustomed to using differing style guides.
During your speeches, you should verbally cite the following information for your sources:
Date of Publication
Source, Publication, or Organization Name
Source Qualification Statement
For example:
“According to a 2023 study [date] published in the peer-reviewed medical journal [qualification statement] Pediatrics [publication]….
“According to data published last year [date] by the U.S. government’s [qualification statement] Bureau of Land Management [organization name]….”
“The Yale researcher Dr. Jessica Taylor [source], who is widely recognized as a leading expert on domestic violence [qualification statement], said in a 2023 [date] New York Times [publication] interview that….”
Important Note on Author’s Names: Authors names are usually only relevant when you are using expert testimony as supporting evidence. When using names as expert testimony, it is critical to briefly provide your audience with the expert’s credentials, as in the example above (so that your audience can distinguish real experts from the misinformation of crackpots). For statistics and studies, the author’s name is not usually helpful since audience members are more likely to recognize the name of a source (organization, business, or publication) than the name of an individual author.
Examples of Correct Speech Citations:
“According to The Atlantic – a left-leaning political commentary magazine – in November 2019…”
“The nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank Pew Research Center in December 2020 reported that 86% of US adults are familiar with streaming services like Netflix and Hulu.”
“Oregon Public Broadcasting – a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization in the Pacific Northwest reported in April 2022 that federal funds enabled Oregon school districts to purchase new technologies and build new infrastructure on campuses…”
Examples of Incorrect Speech Citations:
Only citing the author’s name without specifying her credentials or the publication source: “Dr. Luna Spaniel said in an interview published in March of 2021…”
Citing an academic database instead of the article’s publisher: “According to EBSCO in January 2021…”
“EBSCO” is a research database. Avoid citing databases by checking the “About” page for each non-scholarly source you cite in a speech.
Including just a URL link in a bibliography: For example, https://www.journalism.org/2020/12/08/measuring-news-consumption-in-a-digital-era/
Citing the Source After Explaining the Evidence: “86% of US adults are familiar with streaming services like Netflix and Hulu. That number comes from Barthel.” This makes sense when you’re writing an essay and need to follow APA formatting for in-text citations in parentheses at the end of a sentence. For speeches that are orally delivered to an audience however, it’s important to reveal details about the source upfront, so your audience will know that the information following your source citation is trustworthy and credible. Since your outline will be integral to how you orally deliver the speech, you should cite sources before the evidence in both your speech outline and presentation itself.
Helpful Hints for Developing Source Qualification Statements (SQS)
Why Include an SQS: In public speaking, your audience should be fully engaged in listening to your presentation, which means they don’t have the opportunity to quickly search for your sources to evaluate their credibility (like they could if reading a paper instead of listening to a live speech). Since there are innumerable sources out there – not just academic journals and newspapers but also blogs, podcasts, magazines, TV news, newsletters, etc. – your audience members may not be familiar with all of your sources. For this reason, speakers must reinforce their credibility by articulating to the audience why their sources should be considered trustworthy. Thus, you’ll be citing most sources with a source qualifications statement (SQS) for speeches in this class.
Ask Yourself: What makes this source credible on this subject, and why should my audience trust its information?
Is it right/left-leaning or nonpartisan?
If you can’t find the source on Ad Fontes Media’s interactive bias chart, review the language on the source’s homepage and use AllSides’ Red Blue Dictionary to decipher the potential political leanings of a source.
Is it for-profit (if so, what industry) or is it a nonprofit organization?
Is this source partnered with other credible individuals or organizations?