Public Speaking

Locate the Data You Need (^85)
For statistics, the Statistical Abstract of the United States, a government document,
provides numbers on a wide variety of topics, including US population, health,
education, crime, employment, elections, the environment, and defense. Almanacs, such
as the World Almanac, also provide statistical data. Online, look for reputable sources
such as FedStats, which provides data from more than 100 agencies.
What about Wikipedia? Although the advice, in general, is to avoid this online
reference site for academic work, it gets more than 8 million views per hour,^11 and truth
be told, typical students consult it at some point. In fact, surveys find that 85 percent
of students check out it for “big picture” information,^12 much like former generations
skimmed encyclopedia articles for an overview of their topics.^13 Is using Wikipedia
justified? Some educators say yes.^14 It offers more than 17 million user-generated
entries in 270 languages,^15 and “netizens” add about 370,000 articles annually.^16
Moreover, it provides links to other articles, along with notes, references, and external
links. However, anyone, even you, can create or edit (or vandalize) an entry, and that’s
the problem. You’re not guaranteed that the group-generated material is reliable,
although a study comparing its articles with Encyclopedia Britannica’s found a similar
number of errors in each.^17 Over the years, some contributors have demonstrated
their ability to contribute objectively and accurately; others are banned from editing.
Some entries (Chuck Norris is one) are locked because of vandalism. Others, such as
George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Jesus, and Islam, are semiprotected—open only to
trustworthy Wikipedians.^18 Users must be careful, but the same is true about many
online sources.^19
Periodicals
Libraries subscribe to general interest periodicals like U.S. News & World Report or
Sports Illustrated and more specialized magazines such as Hiker’s World or Vital Speeches of
the Day. They also house trade journals, which contain topics related to specific occu-
pations such as nursing or architecture, and academic journals, such as Communication
Studies, which publish research findings of scholars writing in academic areas. One good
source for complex issues is Congressional Digest: The Pro-and-Con Monthly. For exam-
ple, March 2014 examines federal funding for early childhood education. It provides
a history, analysis of current programs, impact studies, and pro and con arguments. It’s
both in the library and online.
Your library makes available databases such as Academic Search Premier (full text
from thousands of peer-reviewed journals) or CQ Researcher (in-depth reports on
today’s issues). In addition, most major trade magazines such as Time, National Review,
and The Atlantic Monthly are available on the Internet, as are links to many scholarly
journals, although some, such as JSTOR, ask you to register and pay a fee to download
materials.
News Sources
Journalism is changing rapidly from print sources delivered to your doorstep to video-
only sources available exclusively online. Their value is in their ability to cover cur-
rent and breaking events. Traditional or legacy journalism^20 includes your local town
newspapers as well as the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times,
which are considered “elite media” because of their reputation for high-quality, detailed
reporting and because many smaller papers reprint their articles. Diversity in Practice:
International and Ethnic Presses also explains news sources targeted to co-cultural and
ethnic groups. These, as well as traditional television broadcasts, are available online—
some for a subscription fee—along with thousands of local, national, and international
news sources.
trade journal journal
that pertains to a specific
occupation
academic journals journals
that pertain to a specific area
of academic research
legacy journalism traditional
news sources such as local
and national newspapers
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