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The
Basic CourseThe Research Zone is a collection of links to on-line sources of information public speakers may find useful, as well as a research guide for beginning researchers.
Research is one of the most important aspects of effective public speaking. Without sufficient quality research to support your speech, you will not be successful. Indeed, your very credibility as an advocate is at stake. The presentation of inaccurate or misleading information is not only unpersuasive, but also it is unethical. As an advocate, you must acquire information responsibly. This requires not only a thorough acquaintance with the arguments on both sides of an issue, but also a critical investigation of those sources for bias. This can be accomplished only through a well executed research plan.
Today, potential sources of electronic research are constantly growing. Quality research previously required hours in the library. The researcher had to start in the reference room by looking through year after year of an index. Then, she had to look up the call number and location for each periodical, only to trudge off to the stacks to find the articles. Research in this way consumes time, energy and resources. And, while electronic research has not yet replaced library research it is an important supplement that can be more efficient in many ways. However, you still will need to round out your research by going to the library and using the old fashioned way to research. Despite all of the attention being given to the internet these days, it is still the case that most peer reviewed journals and books are published only in the conventional print medium.
It is relatively easy to discern the bias of many periodicals or books by their reputation, the author's qualifications, and through any affiliations of the publication. With electronic information, it is a bit more difficult. If, for example, you are using the National Review, the conservative bent of the publication is well known. With self-publication on the web, however, you do not have the luxury of quickly identifying the bias of the author through such an affiliation. Your best bet in this case is to look for the author's institutional affiliations or other qualifications. If that does not work, check their web page to identify other things they have written.
Perhaps the most important reason to incorporate electronic research into your research effort is that electronic information is frequently more recent than information published in other mediums. For example, books and journals usually have a time lag between completion and publication of months and years. The advantage of electronic publication is that information can be distributed instantaneously. This does not mean, however, that all electronic information is recent. Once published, electronic information is available until the author (or the site administrator) removes it. Therefore, it is important that you check all materials for recency. It should not be assumed that because something is available electronically, that it is recent and/or up-to-date.
One of the problems with many of the resources found on the World Wide Web is that many of them do not contain full citations. For the public speaker, citations should include at least: author, date-of-publication, article title, and URL. For example, if you were citing this page your citation might look like this: O'Donnell, Timothy. (1997). "The Research Zone." URL: http://www.pitt.edu/~present.
Frequently, this information can be found on pages other than the text you are are citing. You should locate each of these elements and record them. They will be necessary for preparing your bibliography (which should be available to your audience). Hint: when you print from a web browser (and are using Netscape or several other recent browsers), in "Page Setup," make sure you have the URL of the page you are on print as a header or footer -- this can save you time, as well as prevent you from incorrectly recording the URL.
The beauty of the web is that anyone, anywhere can self-publish his or herwork. The problem for the researcher is that such publications do not undergo the rigorous standards of peer-review that are applied to most print publications. As a public speaker your sources should be well qualified. To find those qualifications, you need to takethat extra step and look for them. If it is the case that you cannot find such qualifications, the chances are your author is not qualified.
Limiting your search terms is the most important aspect of electronic research. If, for example, you used one of the popular search engines and typed in "public speaking" you might have tens of thousands and even hundreds-of-thousands of hits returned. Finding the best search engine, and learning its advanced searching techniques, is crucial for maneuvering between thousands of useless hits and the ones that will provide useful information.
There is no one correct way to research -- there are only more or less efficient ways. Research is an acquired skill that requires practice, creativity and rigorous attention to detail. Whether you are using the World Wide Web or a local university library, you should approach your project as if it were a treasure hunt, in which there are many clues and many clue detection devices. Without a certain thirst for the hunt, you are not likely to be successful. The suggestions offered here are by no means comprehensive, although they do cover the basics for beginning researchers.
There are several excellent World Wide Web search engines that can provide a great starting point for your efforts.
In the last few years, the Federal Government has gone increasingly on-line. From the full text of every Presidential speech and news conference, to Congressional hearings, floor testimony, court decisions and the U.S. code, government publications are becoming accessible to everyone over the internet. Each of these sources provides relevant, up-to-date information for public speakers.
Every day it seems that another newspaper goes on-line. Although coverage varies from highlights of the print edition, to full text, and access can require registration, most are still free and offer, on-line, what previously could be found only in newsprint. As a public speaker, you always should check the newspaper. Not only might it be the case that something significant happened which directly affects your message, but you also might find useful ways to identify with your audience. The beauty of on-line newspapers is that if you are traveling to a city to give a speech, you can check the local headlines before you leave. As on-line newspapers and wires continue to grow, we can expect more and more news sources will create archives of information previously published electronically. This is already the case with some sites that allow you to search the last year or two. In the future, a great deal of historical research also will be possible.
While there are some excellent "e-zines" available at no charge, most journals and magazines that are published conventionally only offer a sampling of what is in the printed edition. The result is that you can probably get the cover story, but you are unable to retrieve, electronically, the entire issue of a journal or magazine. One of the most useful engines for finding on-line fulltext articles of many magazines and journals is the Electronic Newsstand [http://www.enews.com].
Think tanks and other research organizations are a tremendous source of on-line information. Research reports, policy papers, and opinion pieces that previously were available only to subscribers are now available on-line at no cost (at least for now), although some are only summaries, while full copies require payment.
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