Public Speaking

88 CHAPTER^7 Researching Your Speech in the Digital Age

those limits. Confirm the appointment a few days beforehand. On appointment day

be early, even if your interviewee is late. If you must break an appointment for any

reason, give the person as much advanced notice as possible.

Yale Undergraduate Career Services^24 gives additional pointers such as making sure

you have the person’s correct name and title and following up with a thank-you note.

Lectures and Performances

Performances of various kinds are widely available, live and recorded. Check your

library’s holdings for recordings of lectures and performances. Universities often make

significant campus events available through podcasts. Important political speeches

and eulogies for significant public speakers are both televised and online; C-SPAN

broadcasts live deliberations from the House of Representatives as well as a variety of

speakers on topics of national concern. Internet sites such as TED feature “riveting talks

by remarkable people, free to the world”^25 categorized by speaker and by topic. TED

also provides transcripts of the speeches.

Stop and Check

Diversity

in praCtiCe

research in Kenya

Although you are expected to research your speech topic, different cultural groups

have different research traditions. For instance, a study compared the public

speaking norms in Kenya to the guidelines commonly taught in US colleges and

universities. Three Kenyan students described typical speech preparation in their

culture:

•   “Audiences in the African context do not expect researched and memorized

speeches, but speeches compiled spontaneously and using the speaker’s

wisdom.”

•   “Public speaking in Africa is not ... something that someone will spend a

week researching.”

•   “In the African context there are less rules to follow, or at least the emphasis

is not as much as it is in the West.”^26

Kenyan students, however, admitted that research and preparation is

becoming more common in their country.

The type of research described in this chapter is required for many, but not

all speeches, even in the United States. For example, the special occasion speeches

described in Chapter    18   are exceptions.

Think Critically about the Material

Educational Testing Service researchers found that although students may be digital

natives, a majority of them “do not currently have the skills to analyze and synthesize

information into something manageable and useful for their needs.”^27 To help remedy

this lack, librarians at Ohio State University developed a MAPit technique students

can use to ask questions about the data and sources they find.^28 MAP is an acronym that

stands for M (message), A (author or source), and P (purpose).

Mapit strategy developed
by librarians that evaluates
material according to mes-
sage, author, and purpose

Copyright 2016 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).

Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.www.ebook3000.com