164 8.3 GatherinG and UsinG^ sUpportinG Material
will even use presentation aids in your speech, it can’t hurt to print out, photo-
copy, and/or print out any good possibilities, recording those sources of infor-
mation just as you did for your written materials. Then, when the time comes to
consider whether and where presentation aids might enhance the speech, you
will have some readily at hand. In Chapter 14, we discuss types of presentation
aids and provide guidelines for their use.Take Effective Notes from Your Sources
• Begin with the resources that you think have the greatest potential.
• Record any examples, statistics, opinions, or other supporting material that might be useful
to your speech. Depending on the resources, you can photocopy them, cut and past them or
save them into a computer file, and/or print them out.
• If you copy a phrase, sentence, or paragraph verbatim from a source, be sure to put quotation
marks around it. You might need to know later whether it was a direct quote or a paraphrase.
(This information will be obvious, of course, on printouts or photocopies.)
• Record the source of the supporting material. In Chapter 4, we discuss the ethical importance
of crediting all sources of ideas and information. If you consistently record your sources when
you take notes, you will avoid the possibility of committing unintentional plagiarism.How To
Quick Check
Research Strategies
• develop a preliminary bibliography.
• locate materials.
• assess the potential usefulness of sources.
• take notes.
• identify possible presentation aids.Types of Supporting Material
8.3 List and describe six types of supporting material.
Once you have discovered likely sources, developed a preliminary bibliography
of those sources, read them, assessed their usefulness, taken notes, and identi-
fied possible presentation aids, you are ready to make decisions about how to
use your information to best advantage. You will need to look at your speech
from your audience members’ perspective and decide where an explanation
might help them to understand a point, where statistics might convince them8.3