Page 67 - Between One and Many The Art and Science of Public Speaking

34 Part 1 Foundations

tronic databases, such as LexisNexis, which enables them to search newspapers,
magazines, and legal articles.
Of course, we cannot give you specific advice for your institution, since every

college library is different. However, we can give you some general advice to
help you fi nd information for your speeches. In Chapter 7 we will cover this in
much more detail. But for now, here are some good sources to consider for re-
searching your speeches.
Consider your library’s collection of books and periodicals. Depending on
your topic, there may be several published books readily available that will as-
sist you. Keep in mind that books may have a long lead-time before they are
published. Thus, on topics that require up-to-date information, you need to rely
on more recent sources, such as periodicals, rather than books. A speech on
why the United States got involved in the Vietnam War, for example, might well
rely on books and encyclopedias, whereas a speech on the current situation in
the Middle East would require the most recent sources available. Not only do
most libraries have magazines and newspapers to which they subscribe, many
also have computerized databases for accessing them. If your library lacks this
access, consider using Google News, which has numerous links to newspapers
throughout the world. You can also subscribe to the online version of many ma-
jor newspapers. For example, The New York Times and Los Angeles Times online
are free, although you need to register with them, as with many such publica-
tions. Beware, however, that older articles on many news sites require you to
pay to access them. Thus a library database, such as LexisNexis, may save you
money.
Other online sources readily available to students and non-students alike in-
clude blogs and wikis. However, as you probably know, anyone can start a blog
and wikis rely on their users to add and edit content. The very openness of these
sites means that false or misleading information can easily fi nd its way online.
When you use such “open Internet” sources, you need to be especially careful
that the source of the information is actually credible—something we address
in detail in Chapter 7. Conspiracy theories abound on the Internet, from those
who claim we never really landed on the moon to others who assert the World
Trade Center collapse was an inside job. Be particularly careful about quoting
anonymous sources from the Internet.
Another sad fact of life is that the Internet has made cheating easier to do.
On the other hand, it has also made cheating easier to detect. Cutting and past-
ing from the Internet is easy, but if you don’t tell your audience the words are
quoted and where you found them, you are guilty of plagiarism—a serious aca-
demic offense we discuss at length in Chapter 4. Here we want to focus on the
fact that if you can fi nd it on the Internet, so can your teacher. We have had the
experience of reading a student speech outline and thinking, “this just doesn’t
sound like it was written by a student.” A quick Google search often locates the
exact source of the plagiarism. There are two ways to avoid this problem. First,
when you copy things from the Internet, be sure to also copy down the source.
Second, when you present the material, be clear when the words are quoted, and
orally tell the audience where you got the material. So, for example, you might
say, “According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Web site, which I
accessed on Oct. 29, 2006, ‘A warming trend of about 0.7 to 1.5 F occurred
during the 20th century. Warming occurred in both the Northern and Southern
2
Hemispheres, and over the oceans.’” Incidentally, this not only will avoid pla-