Chapter 12
Researching, Supporting,
and
Outlining Your Speech
ABOUT CHAPTER 12
In this chapter, students continue their work on public speaking, examining the topic-
development stage of the process. They learn about gathering various research materials and
integrating these materials effectively into their presentations. Books, journals, magazines, and
newspapers are considered as well as personal observations and experiences.
Verbal support is also examined, in the form of definitions, statistics, examples, illustrations,
testimonials, and comparison and contrast. Visual and audio support is explored, in the form of
models, photographs, drawings, videotapes, audiotapes, and other sources.
CHAPTER LEARNING OUTCOMES AND CONTENT
Learning Outcomes Activities and Resources
LO1 Research your speech topic using
materials found both on and offline.
In the Text
Pages 324-328
Discussion Starters
Google research page
Review, Reflect, & Apply
Understand
Analyze
Create
In the Instructor’s Manual:
12.1 Skill Builder: Support System
12.2 Skill Builder: Enriching Your Ideas
12.6 Skill Builder: CSI
12.9 Skill Builder: Spin, Spin, Spin
12.10 Skill Builder: Librarian
12.11 Skill Builder: Newsgroups
12.12 Skill Builder: Evaluating Information
On the Online Campus
Self-Inventory
LO2 Define and conduct primary research. In the Text
Pages 328-331
Sample Note Cards
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Discussion Starters
Review, Reflect, & Apply
Recall
Understand
Apply
In the instructor’s manual
12.13 Skill Builder: Definitions
LO3 Explain how to use various types of
support to enhance a presentation.
In the text
Pages 331-336
Exploring Diversity: Experts and Cultural
Groups
Review, Reflect & Apply
Recall
Understand
Analyze
Evaluate
Create
In the Instructor’s manual
12.14 SKILLBUILDER: Vital Speeches
LO4 Explain the speech framework and
outlining stages and principles including the
identification of main and subordinate ideas.
In the text
Pages 336-340
Discussion Starters
Outline Construction
Sample Outline
Review, Reflect, & Apply
Understand
Apply
Analyze
Create
In the instructor’s manual
12.15 SKILLBUILDER: Patterning
12.16 SKILLBUILDER: Art
12.17 SKILLBUILDER: Lay it all Out
LO5 Summarize the types and features of
traditional speech formats and the reasons for
using them.
In the text
Pages 340-346
Outline Examples
Skill Builder: Speaker’s Choice
Ethics and Communication: Sound Bites
Review, Reflect, & Apply
Recall
Understand
Apply
In the instructor’s manual
12.18 SKILLBUILDER: Outline Maker
12.19 SKILLBUILDER: Text Outline
12.20 SKILL BUILDER: Too Many Experts
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12.21 SKILLBUILDER: Speaker’s Choice
LO6 Compare and contrast nontraditional and
traditional speech formats.
In the text
Pages 346-348
Outline Examples
Exploring Diversity: Is Paying Attention
Cultural?
Skill Builder: Speaker’s Choice
Review, Reflect, & Apply
Recall
Understand
Apply
12.22: SKILLBUILDER: Conversational
Storytelling
LO7 Discuss characteristics of effective
introductions and conclusions
In the text
Pages 349-357
Introduction Examples
Conclusion Examples
Ethics and Communication: Sound Bites
Exploring Diversity: Is Paying Attention
Cultural?
Discussion Starters
Sample Outline: Granny Dumping
Review, Reflect, & Apply
Recall
Understand
Evaluate
Apply
LO8 Use a checklist to evaluate a speech’s
supporting materials, organizational format and
outline
In the text
Pages 356-357
Communication Skills: Practice Tips
Checklist for Supporting Material
Review, Reflect, & Apply
Understand
Evaluate
LESSON OUTLINE FOR CHAPTER 12
I. The Research Process: Finding Supporting Material
A. Conducting Online and Offline Research
B. Conducting Primary Research
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C. A Note on Recording Information
Incorporate activities from the text and the instructor’s manual.
II. Integrating Your Research: Types of Supporting Materials
A. Definitions
B. Statistics
C. Examples and Illustrations
D. Testimony
E. Comparisons and Contrasts
F. Repetition and Restatement
Incorporate activities from the text and the instructor’s manual.
III. The Speech Framework and structuring a speech.
Incorporate activities from the text and the instructor’s manual.
IV. Introductions and Conclusions
Incorporate activities from the text and the instructor’s manual.
TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION
1. How do you approach a research topic? What resources do you use?
2. How can you use your own experiences to support your ideas in a speech? Can you give
examples of some personal experiences that could be used to illustrate a specific topic?
3. What experts do you know that you might be able to interview about a specific topic?
How would you approach an expert who has interesting information or insights about
your topic, but who you have never met?
4. How can statistics be incorporated into a speech? Should statistics stand alone, or should
they relate to an issue or idea?
5. What advantages do you see in “media aids”? What potential limitations are involved in
using videotape? Audiotape? How long do you feel an audiotape or videotape segment
should run in a typical five-minute speech? Do you fear that a speaker might fall into the
trap of trying to let the tape give the speech? If so, how can you avoid this trap?
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6. What general guidelines can you follow for using graphs and charts? When should they
be used in a speech? In your opinion, should they be covered or concealed until they are
needed to support a certain point?
7. In what ways can computers aid the presenter?
8. Have you seen a presentation supported by PowerPoint-type slides? What are the
advantages and disadvantages of using such technology?
MORE DISCUSSION STARTERS
1. Have students consider the chapter-opening quotation from Werner von Braun: “Basic
research is what I am doing when I don’t know what I am doing.” Have them relate this
quotation to what they learn about research in this chapter.
2. Which search engine is your personal favorite? Why?
3. Choose a word for which people have different associations. Write your own definition,
and share it with the class.
ADDITIONAL SKILL BUILDERS
12.1 SKILL BUILDER: Support System
Find a recent issue of Vital Speeches in your library, and choose a speech to analyze.
Identify the types of support the speaker used to reinforce his or her ideas.
12.2 SKILL BUILDER: Enriching Your Ideas
The following is a list of statements. Select one, and use at least three forms of support to
develop it. (Note: Feel free to use your imagination. For example, you can invent statistics, draw
a pictograph, or create “facts” to flesh out your statement.)
– The movie industry is facing hard times.
– Sports are big business.
– Foreign cars sell well in the United States.
– Romance novels have a large and eager audience.
12.3 SKILL BUILDER: Video Guest
Videotape a news program on which someone is interviewed. Identify and cue up (edit, if you
have the necessary equipment) an interesting quote from the interviewee.
Develop an introduction to the tape. Begin a brief presentation in which you “invite” your guest
to speak.
An effective alternative to this exercise is for the instructor to tape segments of a news program.
Working in groups, students choose a quotation and prepare an introduction for it.
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12.4 SKILL BUILDER: Large-Screen Video Simulation
If you have access to a large-screen monitor, have students set it up adjacent to the speaker. Use a
camcorder to focus on the speaker and connect it to the monitor. You are simulating the corporate
presentation with projection screens that simultaneously show the speaker during the speech.
Have students consider the value of such equipment in corporate presentations. When would it be
appropriate to use it? When would it get in the way?
Although such technology may dress up the presentation situation, students will realize that it
does not affect the speech in any dramatic way.
12.5 SKILL BUILDER: Analyzing Evidence; Did We Really Go to the Moon?
On occasion the Fox television network runs a program that asks the provocative question, “Did
we really land on the Moon?” The program caused some controversy because it tried to make the
case that the moon landings were faked.
The source of the program is a booklet entitled, We Never Went to the Moon: America’s Thirty
Billion Dollar Swindle. Written by Bill Kaysing and Randy Reid, it is published by Health
Research—888-844-2386. The booklet makes an excellent case study in evidence analysis. In
class, students can rate the various pieces of information in the booklet based on the evidence
analysis system in the chapter.
The video is available as A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon. An earlier video, We
Never Went to the Moon is also available. Both videos can be purchased through Amazon.com.
12.6 SKILL BUILDER CSI: Its Your Turn
1. Working individually within groups, choose one well-known criminal case to investigate.
Possibilities include the Jeffrey Dahmer, Scott Peterson, Mumia Abu-Jamal, Natalee
Holloway and Jon Benet Ramsey cases.
2. Using the resources available in the local or college library, compile a bibliography of
relevant materials.
3. Rank the entries in your bibliography from 1 (what seems to be the most useful source), 2
(the next most promising) and so on.
4. Compare your list with lists developed by the other members of your team. Discuss the
number of sources cited by each individual in your group, the most unusual material
located, and the decisions you made in the ranking process.
5. Share your experiences with the entire class.
12.7 SKILL BUILDER The Proper Prop
Read this article by media relations practitioner Merrie Spaeth.
Prop Up Your Speaking Skills
When Moses came down from the mountain with clay tablets bearing the Ten Commandments, it
was perhaps history’s first example of a speaker using props to reinforce his message. It wouldn’t
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have had the same impact if Moses had simply announced: “God just told me 10 things and I am
going to relay them to you.”
Props can be an invaluable tool in business presentations. They drive home the point in ways
words alone cannot. A partner from a Big Six accounting firm showed clients and article
criticizing executive compensation. “We’re going to see more of this,” he said, “and that’s why it
is important to look at how you executive stack up against industry standards.” Seeing the article
dramatized the topic’s importance.
Pictures or illustrative objectives make great props. A Texas banker was speaking to potential
clients about his bank’s expertise in foreign exchange. He held up various foreign bills. . . . Most
were at a loss to identify currencies from places like Liberia and Turkmenstan. The bank, he
made clear, had specialized knowledge that could help improve clients’ profits.
Props make a wonderful tool to introduce humor. To point out how difficult it is for executives to
juggle all their responsibilities, one CEO juggled three small beanbags. He got them going,
looked up and lost his rhythm. As he grabbed for the beanbags, he said, “I said it was hard. Now
I proved it.”
Select one of the following topics: Cell phones and public places; privacy and the Internet;
Product Safety; External Defibrillators. What props might you use to ensure the audience
remembers the speech?
12.8 SKILL BUILDER: Changing Visuals
A university found itself embroiled in controversy when graphic artists used computer
technology to alter a photo in an attempt to make the school appear more racially diverse.
The photo, on the cover of the undergraduate application form, featured a crowd of white
football fans from a game played in 1993. An image of a black student was digitally inserted into
that scene, creating the impression that he was also in the stands.
Do you feel that such changes are appropriate? Have they happened before?
12.9 SKILL BUILDER: Spin, Spin, Spin
Work with a group. Research examples of how various groups online have used spin to advance
their position on a topic such as healthcare.
12.10 SKILL BUILDER: Librarian
Have a reference librarian give you a tour of the library and instruction of how to use resources
both on and offline. Since every library is set up a little differently, it will save you a great deal of
time and effort if you know how your particular library functions.
12.11 SKILL BUILDER: News Groups
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Work with a group. Research a list of potentially relevant listservs and news groups for a speech
on date rape. Or, a topic of your choice.
12.12 SKILL BUILDER: Evaluating Information
Work with a group. Develop a tip sheet for evaluating information found on the internet to share
with students in grades 10-12.
12.13 SKILL BUILDER: Definitions
Work with a team or alone. Choose a word for which people have different associations. For
example, an abstract concept such as honesty, jealousy, freedom, justice or love.
Your team should write a definition and share it with the class. Does the term mean the same to
everyone? How does this affect the work done by the public speaker?
12.14 SKILL BUILDER: Vital Speeches
Go with your team to the library for a short exercise. Locate recent issues of Vital Speeches of
the Day. Work together to locate examples of speakers using 5 or more of the supporting
materials discussed in this chapter. Return to the classroom and share your examples with your
classmates.
12.15 SKILL BUILDER: Patterning
1. Individually or in groups, choose a weekly newsmagazine to work with.
2. Find an interesting story in the magazine.
3. Outline the body of the article.
4. Identify its organizational pattern. Do you think the pattern is effective? What other choices
did the writer have? Do you think these alternative possibilities would have been more or less
effective than the one used? Why? How would they have changed the presentation?
12.16 SKILL BUILDER: Art and Design
Public speaking is, in a sense, an art form. You can help your students appreciate this fact by
asking them to bring in copies of artwork or copies of well-designed advertising art.
(They may find, for instance, that some ads for clothing or perfumes are particularly well
designed.) Have them work in groups to determine what they especially like about their art or
advertising pieces, and then report their findings to the class.
How is design in art or advertising related to pubic speaking? Does an artist or designer simply
throw some ideas onto paper? Or does he or she seem to take time to ensure that the viewer will
understand the message? Is the design unusual? Shocking? Humorous? How do speakers use
these same tools?
12.17 SKILL BUILDER: Lay It All Out
Give students the opportunity to practice organizing a presentation with this exercise. Record
each of the following items on a separate 3×5 card.
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Barry Keenan and Joseph Amsler kidnapped Frank Sinatra, Jr. from his hotel room in
Lake Tahoe on December 8, 1963.
C. Burke Elbrick, U.S. ambassador to Brazil, was kidnapped by revolutionaries on
September 4, 1969.
Children of wealthy people are easy prey for kidnappers.
Lt. Colonel Donald J. Crowley, a Unites States air attaché in the Dominican Republic,
was kidnapped by terrorists.
J. Paul Getty, 3rd grandson of an American oil mogul, was kidnapped by people who
demanded $2.8 million in exchange for his life.
Kidnapping victimizes the rich.
Kidnapping victimizes the famous.
Patricia Hearst was kidnapped by members of the Symbionese Liberation Army, who
demanded that her father, Randolph Hearst, donate $2 million in food to the poor.
Daniel A. Mitrione, a U.S. diplomat to Uruguay, was abducted by terrorists who
demanded the release of political prisoners.
An Exxon executive living in Campana, Argentina, was kidnapped by Marxist guerrillas.
Terrorist organizations have used kidnapping to publicize their varied causes.
Kidnappers prey on the rich, the famous, and those they perceive to be in a position to
help further their political ends.
Charles A. Lindbergh, Jr., son of the famous aviator, was abducted and eventually killed
by kidnappers who demanded a $50,000 ransom.
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Lay out the cards on a large table or some other open surface. After examining various
options, develop a purpose statement. Then, arrange the items into a main idea and
subordinate ideas. You need not use all the cards. Select only those that support your
purpose statement and main idea.
2. Compare your layout with other students’ arrangements.
3. Finally, you should put the information into the standard outline form given in the text.
12.18 SKILL BUILDER: Outline Maker
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Ask students to go to the Outline Maker on the CD-ROM. Ask them to work in teams to create
an outline on a topic of their choice. That topic may be something in the news, a campus issue, or
a state or national development. Ask them to print out their outlines. Students from other teams
can compare and critique their work.
12.19 SKILL BUILDER: Text Outline
Ask students to open their text to this chapter. Using standard outline procedures, outline the
chapter. Which sections of the chapter do they believe are well organized? What suggestions do
they have for the authors?
12.20 SKILL BUILDER: Too Many Experts?
What do the experts think? Is nuclear power safe or unsafe? Does affirmative action work or not
work? Do vitamins prevent cancer? Using one of these controversial issues, or another of your
choice, search the Internet for studies and arguments on both sides of the issue. Does your search
lead you to agree or disagree with the New York Times, which noted that the “volleys of data”
published on issues result in endless arguments but no decisions? Explain. How can a public
speaker solve such an issue?
12.21 SKILL BUILDER: Speaker’s Choice
1. Find a rock, shell, piece of driftwood or other natural object.
2. Describe the object to a partner, a group or the entire class using spatial order.
3. Explain why your spatial ordering took the form it did.
4. Would approaching the object from a different angle have altered the audience’s
understanding?
12.22 SKILL BUILDER: Conversational Storytelling
1. Divide the class into teams.
2. Ask each team member to tell a story about his or her life.
3. Rehearse the story two or three times for the team.
4. Ask each student to stand and tell the story.
5. If time, students can link another story to their first one and return to the platform to tell both
stories. Add an introduction and conclusion and they are very close to having a speech.
6. Ask students to discuss the storytelling technique. In what ways can it be incorporated into a
more traditional speech?
12.23 SKILL BUILDER: Reflect and Respond
Agree or disagree with the following observations
According to Aristotle, “Of the three elements in speech making—speaker, subject and person
addressed, it is the last one the hearer that determines the speech’s end.
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Worksheet for Vital Speeches Activity.
Analyze a speech from a recent issue of Vital Speeches of the Day, identifying the types of
support used.
Title of Speech:
Type of Support How Used
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
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