Finding Supporting Material for Your Speech

The purpose of this lesson is to discuss the different sources to gather material for your speech and to make you aware of what to look out for in terms of non-credible sources.

Primary Sources

Primary sources of research are considered to be the research that you gather through interviews or surveys. It's you going out and talking to people about the subject you are researching.

Interviewing
Interviewing deals with face-to-face, telephone, or email communication. The biggest mistake I see during the interview process is there are no prepared questions. Your job in conducting an interview is to get specific information. Here are some techniques that will help you.

1. Know your purpose/intent for the interview. What is it you are trying to find out?
2. Write down specific questions you would like to know. Word of caution though. You want to keep the questions "neutral" as in they don't direct the answer to a wanted response.
3. Forewarn the person you are interviewing by giving him or her a list of the questions you would like to ask at least 48 hrs in advance (email it to them).
4. Make sure the person you are interviewing know why you are interviewing them.
5. During the interview process, if you feel an answer given to you needs expanding, use the phrase (or something similar), "that's interesting, can you tell me more about _______?" or simply use a why, how, when, where, question to get additional information.
6. Don't be pushy.
7. Actively listen and restate what the interviewee stated to make sure you (and they) understood what was said.
8. Record the interview, but MAKE SURE THE INTERVIEWEE KNOWS IT'S BEING RECORDED!

Surveys
Surveys are similar to an interviews. You are gathering information from many individuals but you are not directly interacting with them. Just like an interview question is "neutral" so should your survey questions be neutral. Let the respondents be able to respond however they please. There are plenty of online services out there to help you with survey questions.

One tool that I use often is SurveyMonkey.com. It's a free tool that I can used to send out online surveys and gather information easily.

Secondary Sources

Secondary sources of information include the vast knowledge that is already out out there that has been gathered by someone else rather than yourself.

Internet. We live in a time that there is more information available at our fingertips than ever before. REMEMBER, just because it's on the Web, doesn't mean it is true.

Library. Nothing like some "old school" research and a crazy looking librarian that just got out of jail.

• Reference Desk. This is where you go and ask a Librarian to help you find a "unique mix" of print  works and database subscriptions.
• Databases. Think of a database as an online room with specific material/resources. There are often full text articles from credible resources. Your local library, school, or college should have access to a variety of databases.
• Preferred List of Databases
1. ERIC (Education Resources Information Center) www.eric.ed.gov
2. Scirus (Science specific) www.douglassarchives.org/
3. PsycINFO (Psychology/Psychiatry) http://www.apa.org/
4. American Rhetoric (Speeches, Sermons, Lectures, etc.) www.americanrhetoric.com
5. PubMed (Medicine Database) www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
6. FedStats (Government Statistics) www.fedstats.gov
• Books. Just make sure the author is credible and it helps if the material is researched based that is well documented. There are a lot of books out there that are not worth the paper they are printed on.
• Newspapers and Periodicals. Again credibility is the key here. Unfortunately, the media has been getting a bad rap on much of their reporting practices (just making stuff up). Be careful and be critical of articles written in any newspaper and periodical. Use common sense. If something sounds outrageous, it probably is.
• Government Publications. Most government publications are pretty safe. It's hard to say if what the government puts out is actually true or not or what crazy formula they used to come up with their numbers and statistics. I for one am not that trusting of what the government puts out.

SIDE NOTE AND PERSONAL OPINION. I have and MBA and I have taken courses in Economics. The formulas that the government uses to keep track of GDP and the National Debt or somewhat skewed. I just know if I ran a private business the way the government runs, I would be thrown in prison for illegal practices. 

With that said, "we the people" use the data that the government provides as a "reliable" and "credible" source. It's what we have to work with, so do as you see fit.

• Encyclopedias. As noted in an earlier lesson, the online encyclopedia Wikipedia is NOT considered a credible source because ANYONE can add to it. Personally, I think it's great and use it all the time. To get around the "Academia" issue of not being credible, I just trace the information back to it's root sources that are often documented and supply that information.
• Other secondary resources include Almanacs, Fact Books, Biography/Genealogy references, Books of Quotations, Poetry Collections (often speakers use lines of poetry to support or enhance a speech), and Atlases.

Your Plan of Action

The old saying, "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail" fits appropriately here. You need to have a plan on how you will begin your research for your speech topic.

A general outline of a plan may look like this:

1. What is my General Speech Purpose? (Informative, Persuasive, Special Occasion)
2. What is my Specific Speech Purpose? What do I want to accomplish with my speech? How will I know that I have been a success? (Measurable Outcome)
3. What is my thesis statement?
4. Who is my audience and what do they already know?
5. What do I already know about the topic?
6. What type of supporting material does my topic call for?
1. Interviews or surveys?
2. Facts and statistics?
3. Examples that will clarify?
4. Stories that will capture attention and make a point?
5. Testimony that will support my argument/material?
7. What type of supporting material will have the greatest affect/impact on my audience (NEED TO KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE)
1. Interviews or surveys?
2. Facts and statistics?
3. Examples that will clarify?
4. Stories that will capture attention and make a point?
5. Testimony that will support my argument/material?

Documenting Your Sources

A credible resource becomes credible if it can be verified. Here is a site I use to reference my material when I write papers or when I give speeches.
BOOKMARK THIS SITE!!!

http://www.citationmachine.net/

I prefer to use APA citation rather than MLA.

Evaluating Credibility of Your Sources

I have discussed this in previous lessons, but evaluating the credibility of your sources comes down to using common sense and looking to see if the information being used is well documented itself. Well known and name-brand sources will also help you (i.e. The Wall Street Journal as compared to The Muskrat High Gazette). Going through a database or library reference desk will help you with finding credible and reliable resources.

Developing Supporting Material for Your Speech

In this lesson you are going to learn how to use different types of supporting material to give your speech credibility. Not all speeches need researched data and statistics, but all speeches need to be credible.

Dictionary.com defines credible as:

1. capable of being believed; believable: a credible statement.
2. worthy of belief or confidence; trustworthy: a credible witness.

Synonyms of credible include: plausible, likely, reasonable, and tenable. 

Important!!! If you are not a credible person yourself, it doesn't matter what you say or do, you won't be believed. Credibility of any speech begins with YOU!!!!

With that being said, let's look at the next area of making your speech credible.

Use different types of supporting material.

Even if you are an expert in an area, your speech will be better received if you use a variety of supporting material.

14 Clubs and some luck

To help illustrate this point, let's look at the greatest game ever invented…Golf. The rules of golf say that the maximum number of clubs one can carry in their bag is 14. If you follow golf, you will notice that pros do not always carry the same clubs to each tournament, but they almost always carry 14 clubs. They know that each course plays different, and different clubs will serve different purposes. A pro will not be a pro for long if they do not adjust their equipment to the courses they are playing, and there will NEVER be a pro who only carries around a putter only.

This same approach applies to giving a great speech. Different material is needed for different speeches, but not always the same material will be used. Most importantly, you will always need more than one item of supporting material to be successful.

Before discussing the types of supporting material, make sure when you use supporting material that you cite the resource in your speech. Citing a credible resource in your speech actually makes you the presenter more credible.

Let me give you a personal example of how this works. Recently I was the Master of Ceremonies for an event where a well known United States Senator was the guest speaker. My wife and I also had the privilege of sitting with the Senator and his wife at the head table. We had an enjoyable evening together discussing politics and life in general. There were many other guests in attendance and many of them saw me "mingle" with the Senator. At the end of the evening, my wife and I had our pictures taken with the him. Later these pictures found there way on Facebook for many more to see. I instantly gained credibility with many associates because of my brief association with this man. This may seem like a "superficial" credibility to you, but the fact is, perception of credibility is still a form of credibility (in fact, I would say it's the only form of credibility).

Using the "good name" of others will help you become more credible. If you fail to let the audience know that you were using material from someone/somewhere else, you will lose your credibility.

Lost credibility can be difficult to regain.

Types of supporting material

When using credible sources for your material, it is going to take some common sense. For some this may be a difficult task and you will need to rely on the help of well respected, educated persons. You need to realize that quoting from an article in the National Inquirer is not the same as quoting from an article in Forbes magazine.

NOTE!!! Unfortunately, Wikipedia does not count as a credible source of information in the world of academia. The reason is, Wikipedia is open source and anyone is free to go in and change/add information. I often use Wikipedia as a starting point in my research because most of the information there is cited. I just go to the cited material and make sure it's credible.

Choose the best supporting material

So what's the best supporting material? That depends on the type of speech you are giving and what your audience needs. Going back to my golf analogy, you pick the right club based on the shot. I know that if I am sitting 150 yards out from the green, I am going to use a 9-iron.

If you are giving a speech on the importance of education, you will need to use research from credible education journals, statistics, and maybe even a testimony or two.

Here are 5 types of supporting material and their purpose.

Examples. Examples are used to illustrate, describe, or represents things. Examples can be real or hypothetical. You will often hear it said as "For example….". Using examples helps by making ideas, items, or events more concrete and it helps to create interest.

Story. Stories can be personal, fictional, imaginary, about somebody else, etc. It's a story, but make sure you let your audience know it's a story and if it's imaginary, make sure the audience knows it's imaginary. If you don't, it's not a story, IT'S A LIE! Stories help to personalize and a speech and can allow a "dry" topic to become humorous. A story can generate interest and make your speech relatable.

Testimony. A testimony is a first-hand or eye-witness account of something that has happened. It can also be the opinion of someone. Testimonies can come from "experts" or from just an ordinary "nonexpert" person. Based on what your speech needs will determine what kind of testimony you want. Someone who has lost weight following your instructions does not have to be an expert in losing weight. On the other hand, if you are giving a speech on the benefits of a new weight loss drug, a doctor would be a more credible resource for a testimony.

Facts. Facts are actual events, dates, times, places that are documented and can be independently verified. Facts are great for providing evidence and backing up the main points of an argument.

Statistics. There is an old saying that goes, "Liars use statistics." The truth is, any information can be skewed, that's why it's important to use a variety of sources, especially if the information your are providing is considered controversial. Statistics are data that demonstrate relationships.

WARNING!!! There can be a tendency to "skew" supporting material data in a way that really does not portray what the data was intended for. A "half-truth" is also a "half-lie."

Lastly, not everyone is going to believe the sources you use for supporting material, and rightly so. There is a lot of information out there that is not credible. You may need to convince your listeners that material you are using is reliable and credible. As stated earlier, make sure you cite you resources orally and MAKE SURE YOU USE THE NAME OF THE REFERENCE MATERIAL IT CAME FROM. This may not be enough though so you will need to build up the referring source by describing why it's a credible source. This may take some research on your part. Find out how long the "source" has been around and who has been involved with the referring source (maybe it's a journal that has had famous scientists contribute to it). Just ask yourself WHY this is a credible source, and then go answer the question.

Developing Speech Topic, Purpose, and MORE

There are really only two types of speech topics- a topic that are assigned to you and a topic that you get to choose.

If you get to choose a topic, choose wisely. If you don't get to choose, you get to make sure the audience will want to listen to you. Refer to the lesson on Understanding Who Your Audience Is.

Regardless of the topic you will also need to define a speech purpose. There are three GENERAL speech purposes.

1. Informative
2. Persuasive
3. Special Occasion

Informative. An informative speech does just what it says, it informs. Hopefully it will assist in increasing the audiences understanding and/or awareness of the topic. If you are to give an informative speech, make sure you don't try to be persuasive about the information provided. Let the "facts" do the talking. Think of it as walking up to a wall, painting some kind of picture, and then walking away without explaining why whoever is looking at it should like it.

Persuasive. Yes this kind of speech does what it says, it is meant to persuade the listener. The goal is to change the audience attitudes, beliefs, values, and behavior on a given topic. Referring back to the painting example above, now you are telling why this is a masterpiece and why such a piece of artwork should be enshrined.

Special Occasion. This type of speech is associated with a specific event like acceptance speech, funeral (eulogy), or some kind of celebratory event. These speeches are usually narrowly defined with what is expected. They usually are long in length.

Selecting A Topic (if you get to)

For many, selecting a topic to speak on is a difficult process because they feel there are so many things to talk on or they don't feel like they have anything to talk on.

IMPORTANT!!! Whatever side you are on, you must first take into consideration who your audience is. Refer to Understanding Who Your Audience Is

Once you are clear on who your audience is and you understand what you're GENERAL speech purpose is (inform, persuade, or special occasion), you can begin the process (and yes it is a process) of selecting a topic.

Here are some helpful hints on selecting your topic:

• Rely on your own interests and what you feel passionate about (again, remember audience).
• Consider something you can do better than others or something that not a lot of others know that is interesting.
• Consider issues/events going on around you locally or globally.
• Consider controversial issues (You will need to prepare for this. I highly suggest that those new to public speaking stay away from controversial issues until they gain confidence and better skills).
• Avoid boring or overused topics.

Brainstorm to Create Ideas

The one thing that will help you with brainstorming is to realize that there is no right or wrong way of brainstorming. There are no right or wrong words you can write down while brainstorming.

The key to brainstorming is getting anything and everything out on paper. 

Here are some ideas that you may want to try. If you don't like these suggestions then do something else.

• Write out lists
• Use word associations
• Diagram your ideas by using a topic map.
• Use the Internet to search for ideas.
• Ask others.
• Write down every thought (crazy or random as it is) and see where it leads you.

Define Your Topic and Purpose

Once you have an idea of the topic you want to speak on, start to narrow it down.

Begin by looking at:

• what time constraints you will have
• what the audience expects
• what does the audience already know about the topic
• what are the audience's values, beliefs, and attitudes (YOU MUST CONSIDER THESE!!!)

Next come up with a SPECIFIC speech purpose. This is like the GENERAL speech purpose but it is written out in a sentence and explains what you are going to accomplish.

Example: To persuade the audience to only purchase TOMS shoes in order to help third world children with no shoes.

Now you are ready to outline you speech. There are 5 main parts to any speech. Yes there are exceptions, but generally speaking, you will want to make sure you have clearly defined these 5 components.

The BIG 5

1. Get your audience's ATTENTION (aka Attention-Getter)
2. Introduction/Thesis (Tell them what you are going to tell them)
3. Main Body (Now tell them what you said you were going to tell them)
4. Conclusion (Tell them what you just told them, or sum up a main point or highlight)
5. Memorable statement (leave them with something memorable)

1. Attention-Getter: An attention-getter is just what it says it is, it gets the audience's attention. You may feel like you need to start out a speech with a "Hello, my name is...., and I'm glad to be speaking to you today." THIS IS STUPID AND BORING AND DOES NOT GET ANYONE'S ATTENTION!!! An attention-getter is related to you topic and can be stated in the form of a:

• Fact (unknown, startling, or interesting)
• Question (usually rhetorical and gets the audience to think about something that connects with them.
• Joke (must be clean and appropriate. NEVER SWEAR, DEGRADE, BE RACIAL, SEXIST, ETC. Be careful in using someone else's jokes).
• Quote (a thought provoking quote that will enhance your speech)
• Story (make sure it keeps the audience's attention throughout the length of the story. Story length is based on how long your overall speech is. Best rule of thumb- KEEP IT SHORT AND TO THE POINT!
• Referring to the occasion or a historic event.
• Using an audio/visual/prop opener (this includes a YouTube video, an audio clip, some kind of prop, etc. 
• Other (you decide what's best to get the audience's attention)

MAKE SURE THE ATTENTION-GETTER ENHANCES THE SPEECH AND DOESN'T DISTRACT FROM THE SPEECH!!!

2. Introduction/Thesis: Now you need to tell the audience what you are going to talk about. This statement will usually be a single, declarative statement that possesses the central idea of your speech. It goes along with SPECIFIC purpose statement.

3. Main Body: After the Introduction/Thesis you will need to transition into the main body of your speech. Now you get to tell the audience what you said you were going to tell them. More on this later (see Developing Supporting Material for Your Speech). The Main Body consists of Main Points with Supporting Points for each Main Point. In an outline format this would look like:

1. Main Point #1
1. Supporting Point
2. Supporting Point
3. Supporting Point
2. Main Point #2
1. Supporting Point
2. Supporting Point
3. Supporting Point
3. Main Pont #3
1. Supporting Point
2. Supporting Point
3. Supporting Point

*The number of Main Points and Supporting Points are established by length of speech and what you are trying to accomplish. You may only have one main point with 10 supporting points.

Your Supporting Points are those resources (information) you have gathered/researched that "support" the main points.

IMPORTANT!!! Make sure you are adding relevant information. Use words that will enhance your speech and are appropriate for the audience (understanding).

4. Conclusion: The concluding statement sums up what you just said (tell them what you just told them). It may go over a number of important points or it may sum up one main point/idea. Your audience MUST KNOW that you are finishing up. People like to know they are getting close to the end and they like to be reminded what you just told them.

5. Memorable statement: This an important aspect of the conclusion. It is your last statement that ends your speech and lets you and your speech be memorable. It may be a thought, a picture (mentally or visually), a call to action, or something for the audience to ponder about or want to do.

DO NOT LEAVE ON A "DOWNER" OR A NEGATIVE STATEMENT!!!