176 8.4 GatherinG and UsinG sUpportinG Material
The Best Supporting Material
8.4 List and explain six criteria for determining the best supporting
material to use in a speech.
In this chapter, we have discussed six criteria for evaluating Web sites: account-
ability, accuracy, objectivity, currency, usability, and diversity. We have also pre-
sented guidelines for using each of six types of supporting material effectively.
However, even after you have applied these criteria and guidelines and have
eliminated some material, you might still have more supporting material than
you can possibly use for a short speech. How do you decide what to use and
what to eliminate? Use the following criteria to help you to make that final cut.- Magnitude. Bigger is better. The larger the numbers, the more convincing
your statistics. The more experts who support your point of view, the more
your expert testimony will command your audience’s attention. - Proximity. The best supporting material is whatever is the most relevant to
your listeners, or the closest to home. If you can demonstrate how an inci-
dent could affect audience members themselves, that illustration will have
far greater impact than a more remote one. - Concreteness. If you need to discuss principles and theories, explain them
with concrete examples and specific statistics. - Variety. A mix of illustrations, opinions, definitions, and statistics, for
example, is much more interesting and convincing than is the exclusive use
of any one type of supporting material. - Humor. Audiences usually appreciate a touch of humor in an example or
opinion. Only if your audience is unlikely to understand the humor or if
your speech is on a very somber and serious topic is humor not appropriate.
8.4
Quick Check
Types of Supporting Material
illustrations relevant stories
descriptions Word pictures
explanations statements that make clear how something is done or why it
exists in its present form or existed in a past form
definitions Concise explanations of a word or concept
analogies Comparisons between two things
statistics numbers that summarize data or examples
opinions testimony or quotations from someone else