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Chapter 7
RESEARCHING YOUR SPEECH IN THE DIGITAL AGE
In the years since the first edition came out, we’ve witnessed an explosion of information available
electronically. (The first manuscript went to the editor in December of 1993; this means that I finished
the original research chapter a year before pictures went onto the Internet in 1994.) The rapid
expansion of technology for recording and storing information means that I must continuously
update this chapter.
Chapter Goals
At the end of this chapter, your students should be able to:
•
Plan your research
•
Locate and gather materials from a variety of sources
•
Critically evaluate your sources
•
Record information in a way that suits your learning style and avoids plagiarism
At the end of this chapter, you should be able to:
Understand and assist more effectively with students who may have difficulty doing research. (See
Research Note 7.1 in Supplemental Resources.)
Chapter Outline
I.
Gather appropriate materials which is related to the rhetorical canon of invention.
A.
Choosing the best material combines several skills.
1.
Formulate a research plan.
2.
Locate the data you need to support your ideas.
3.
Critically evaluate sources and choose the best materials available.
4.
Record your findings in a systematic way that avoids plagiarism.
B.
First, analyze your topic to decide exactly what you need.
1.
Return to your speech goals and consider the type of material you need to engage your
audience.
C.
Let your topic guide your choice of sources.
D.
Budget enough time into your schedule.
E.
Use your librarians’ expertise.
1.
Reference librarians are the “go–to” people at the reference desk.
2.
Subject librarians have an advanced degree in a specialized discipline as well as a library
degree.
F.
Identify key terms for your search.
1.
You can use your library’s Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC).
G.
Keep a running list of all sources you search.
H.
Make critical evaluation a part of your plan.
II.
Locate the data you need.
A.
Use written materials like books, journals, reference works, and opinion pieces.
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1.
Books are a good source of information if they are not outdated.
a.
Many classics and other full text books are now online.
b.
Scholarly books
are written by experts and based on research.
c.
Trade books are aimed at a general audience and include bestselling novels.
2.
Reference materials provide a quick source for specific information.
a.
Encyclopedias collect and summarize information.
1)
General encyclopedias summarize thousands of topics; many are available
online.
2)
Specialized encyclopedias provide information on specific subject areas.
b.
A dictionary defines and provides information about words and specialized subjects.
c.
Sources for statistics store numerical information on a variety of topics including
population, education, government finance, and crime.
d.
Indexes help researchers locate articles from both scholarly and popular periodicals.
e.
Avoid Wikipedia for academic work.
3.
Periodicals are issued once during a time period—weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly.
a.
Popular or general-interest magazines have a wide audience.
b.
Trade and academic journals target specific occupations or people who share a
research interest.
c.
Most major magazines and many scholarly journals are on the Internet, your library’s
databases, and InfoTrac College Edition.
4.
News sources are valuable for in-depth coverage and opinion pieces about current issues.
a.
Traditional or legacy journalism includes your local town newspapers as well as the
New York Times, Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times.
b.
Elite newspapers, like the Washington Post and the New York Times, have detailed
coverage of stories that smaller papers often use.
c.
Native digital news outlets have taken journalism to the Internet where trained
journalists being their skills to new platforms.
i. Although various outlets may have a clear bias, the writers and editors are
generally professionals.
5.
Opinion sources can be useful.
a.
Look in the editorial section of reputable news outlines
b.
The quality and trustworthiness of other opinion sources is less assured.
B. Take advantage of non-print sources.
1. You can use personal experiences in your speech.
2. You can interview someone who is knowledgeable about your topic.
a. Experts know their subjects because of their studies and their
occupation.
b. Laypeople or peers have opinions and insights learned through ordinary
living.
3. Keep the following interview tips in mind.
a. Prepare in advance.
b. Listen carefully.
c. Aim to understand your topic from your interviewees’ perspective.
d. Be time conscious.
4. Lectures and performances can be helpful sources.
II. Think critically about the resources you are gathering.
A. The MAPit technique can be used.
1. The M refers to message.
2. The A refers to author (or source).
a. Primary sources are materials created by individuals and groups who
are directly involved in events as they take place.
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b. Secondary sources are nonparticipants who summarize or interpret
events.
c. Tertiary sources distill primary and secondary sources into collections.
d. The source type can overlap.
e. Look for Internet domain suffixes which indicate the provider’s primary
purpose and tax status.
3. P refers to purpose.
a. Apply what you remember about the four general purposes from
Chapter 2.
b. The mission statement of an organization is a way to discern the
perspectives and purposes for the material.
III.
A method of recording information is vital.
A.
Note cards have several advantages, especially in avoiding cut-and-paste plagiarism.
1.
Source cards are written in standard bibliographic format.
a.
They tell where the material came from—its author, date, URL, and the like.
b.
Annotate the bibliography by including brief descriptions of the information found
in the source.
2.
Information cards each contain a different idea.
a.
Having a separate topic on each card makes it easy to sort the cards into piles by
topic.
b.
Supporting material can then be arranged and rearranged under the points.
B.
Some people like to photocopy materials or download and print them from computer sites.
1.
They then write directly onto the copy.
2.
It is important to be sure the entire reference is on each copy.
3.
The Fair Use provision of the federal Copyright Act allows for printing and using
information for non-profit educational purposes.
C.
Using a standard format like those from the American Psychological Association (APA) or
Modern Language Association (MLA) is important for source citation.
1.
Use the style your instructor recommends.
2.
Use the style consistently.
Suggested Videos
Recording of a televised interview Record a segment of an interview by Charlie Rose (PBS), an
interviewer on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer (PBS), or a host on MSNBC, CNBC, CNN, or Fox
News (Bill O’Reilly, Shepard Smith, Sean Hannity).
•
Refer to the textual discussion of oral sources (interviews).
•
Play the interview, and have students take notes on what’s said.
•
Have them compare and contrast their notes within small groups. How hard was it to get the
information down?
•
What are the advantages and disadvantages of live interviews compared to mediated
interviews? (evaluation)
•
Teach the source citation for a mediated interview, using the bibliographical style manual of
your choice. (knowledge)
Discussion Topics
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Begin Your Research Plan (pp. 82-83) Emphasize the importance of having a plan throughout the
chapter. Occasionally ask them to share their plan with a small group. (application, synthesis)
Interviewing (p. 87) Show a video of a skilled interviewer as described above. Analyze the
interviewer’s verbal and nonverbal behaviors, using the guidelines found in the text on pp. 11-12
and the suggestions provided in Suggested Videos. (application)
Key Terms (p.83) For an interesting experience, have students look up a single word or key term on
different domains. For example, the Catholic Church worldwide has millions of adherents and
millions of websites devoted to Catholic topics. Have students compare and contrast information
at various domains, including www.catholic.org; www.catholic.com; www.catholic.net;
www.catholic.edu; www.catholic.jp; www.catholic.ca. (comprehension)
Critical Thinking and the Internet (pp. 88-90) The Internet contains everything from complete
novels by Kate Chopin to today’s weather report—with kiddie porn chat rooms lurking in the
shadows. What to do with this overwhelming mass of information? Discuss the difference in
trustworthiness between a Wikipedia version of President Obama’s biography and that put out
by the White House. (analysis)
Crediting Sources (p. 93) Many, even most, of my students do not know how to cite sources
correctly. Teach the style you (or your department) prefers. Most instructors use either APA
(American Psychological Association) or MLA (Modern Language Association). Use a style
manual in class to demonstrate how to cite sources.
Critical Thinking Exercises
(See pp. 94-95 of the textbook for Critical Thinking Exercises)
Application Exercises
(See p. 95 of the textbook for Application Exercises)
Internet Activities
You can access instructor’s resources at http://www.cengage.com/us/. You will need your instructor’s
access code. Students and instructors may also go to MindTap to find a broad range of resources that
will help students better understand the material in the chapter, complete assignments, and succeed
on tests. MindTap also features speech videos with critical viewing questions, speech outlines, and
transcripts.
Supplemental Resources
•
Teaching Idea 7.1 Expanding Your Students’ Library Skills
•
Research Note 7.1 Students with Physical Disabilities
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Teaching Idea 7.1. Expanding Your Students’ Library Skills
Purpose: To increase students’ skill in using the college or university library.
Procedure: Do one or more of these activities:
•
Schedule an instructional session with a librarian who will present specific information that will
help them use their college or university library effectively.
•
Share some of the materials your school librarians have created to assist students in using the
library effectively. Provide a printout of different guidelines for every two students. Have these
pairs examine one set of guidelines for one minute only before passing it on to the next couple—
until all students have skimmed all the materials. Discuss the variety of guidelines and how they
can use information in them in their own research.
•
Visit the library. Instead of working with a librarian, give pairs of students a handout with a list
of items to find. (A SILENT scavenger hunt.) Have them find:
➢
dictionary
➢
encyclopedia title
➢
index
➢
article title on educational reform (from the Reader’s Guide)
➢
newspaper from another country
➢
scholarly journal in their major(s)
➢
ethnic periodical
➢
item from a media library such as a CD of the work of an Italian composer or a videotape of
JFK’s inaugural address
Research Note 7.1: Students with Physical Disabilities
A trip to the library often makes a physical disability salient. Most students easily walk into the
building and perch on stools at computer terminals; a blind student or a student in a wheelchair
approaches the research task differently. An able-bodied instructor must take these physical
challenges into account.
Hart and Williams (1995) studied the interactions between able-bodied instructors and students with
physical disabilities. They found that instructors tended to respond in one of four ways when their
classroom includes a wheelchair, a seeing eye dog, or an interpreter.
•
Avoiders are nervous; they avoid interaction and don’t mention the disability. Able-bodied
students notice this, and they may think it’s OK to similarly avoid interacting.
•
Guardians are overly protective, so much so that they lower their standards to protect the student
emotionally, physically, or intellectually. Guardians feel sorry for the students, and they often
believe them to be less capable. This response is detrimental both to the students, who may come
to feel they should get special favors, and to the rest of the class, who resent the unequal
treatment.
•
Rejectors destroy the student’s confidence in his or her ability to be a productive class participant.
Rejectors withdraw emotionally and academically. For instance, a rejector might address the
student’s interpreter, but never the student. The rest of the class may feel anger and contempt for
this type of behavior from an instructor.
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•
Nurturers instruct physically challenged students as persons with capable minds, and they give
them opportunities to learn as capable students. Nurturers are patient, self-assured, and
concerned. They focus on commonalities, not differences.
What causes negative responses to students with physical challenges? Hart and Williams suggest that
instructors experience the communication apprehension that typically accompanies uncertainty. To
reduce uncertainty, they suggest more verbal interactions and more nonverbal expressiveness toward
students with physical disabilities.
Source. Hart, R. D. & Williams, D. E. (1995). Able-bodied instructors and students with physical
disabilities: A relationship handicapped by communication. Communication Education, 44, 140-154.