There is more to delivering an effective speech than just speaking. Planning, preparing, and organization are essential elements in speech delivery. This guide just deals with researching your speech topic. The main research you’ll need to make for your speech is finding information, quotes, opinion, statistics, as well as charts, graphs and images if you are using PowerPoint for your presentation. So where do you go?
Books How to find print books and eBooks.
Search the Catalog
We have about 50,000 print books in the library, so if you search in the COM Library Catalog using your speech topic, you’ll probably find something you can use. Access the catalog at: http://comcat.com.edu/.
Tip
If you are using more than one word to describe your topic, try quotes around the word to search for a phrase using the default keyword search. Example: “gun control” will get better results than gun control. This works well with Internet search engines, too.
Reference Books
Reference books can be great resources when you need statistics, definitions, quotations, and so on. Reference books are kept in a separate collection on the main floor of the library. The list below includes reference books that can be very useful for speeches. Check the Library Catalog for additional reference materials at: http://comcat.com.edu/.
American attitudes : what Americans think about the issues that shape their lives HN90.P8 A527 2005x
The Cambridge Fact Finder AG 5 C264 1994
Famous first facts about American politics E 183 A64 2001
Famous first facts, international edition : a record of first happenings, discoveries, and inventions in world History AG 5 A69 2000
National Geographic almanac of geography G123 .N37 2005
The New York Times ... almanac AY 67 N5 N48
The Oxford dictionary of American quotations PN6081 .A623 2006
The quotable woman : the first 5,000 years PN 6081.5 Q65 2001
Statistical abstract of the United States HA 202 Un3
Texas almanac AY 311 D3 T5
The World almanac & book of facts AY 67 N5 W7
Series Books
COM Library has several series of books that can be good for speech topics. You can access these in COMCAT by performing a Series search and typing in the title of the series. If you do a subject search, these series books will show up on your list if the series covered that subject. The series listed below with are especially good. The titles with , indicates a series with both pro and con articles for each topic covered, so they are great for persuasive speeches. These series books are a good resource for getting ideas for topics.
At Issue
Contemporary Issues
Contemporary Legal Issues
Contemporary World Issues
Current Controversies
The Information Series on Current Topics
Legal Almanac Series
Opposing Viewpoints Series
Reference Shelf
Taking Sides
eBooks
As COM students, you have access to COM Library’s collection of full text eBooks, electronic versions of printed books. To access them, go to Find Books and click on eBooks. From this page you can access both free eBooks and the eBooks only available to COM Library users. Try searching NetLibrary for your speech topic.
Articles and More
How to find articles and other resources from online databases. The COM Library has online databases that can help you locate articles on your speech topic. Several of them also have charts, graphs, and images that you can use in a PowerPoint presentation.
Best Bet Databases
Here is a list of your best bets for speech, with a description of the kinds of information you'll find with each.
To access them, go to COM Library's Databases: Speech (http://library.com.edu/articles/databases.htm#Speech).
Encyclopædia Britannica: Encyclopædia Britannica Online
Quotations, timelines and video can be retrieved by selecting them under Research Tools on the main page. For facts, biography, and media, just perform a search as normal on your topic. Results are separated by columns.
biography
facts
images
quotations
timelines
video
Encyclopædia Britannica: World Data Analyst
A unique collection of in-depth information on countries around the world, allowing you to create comparative charts and tables.
statistics
CQ Researcher
Once you find your topic and open an article, just scroll down to find all the images, charts, etc. that pertain to that topic.
charts
facts
graphs
images
Persuasive information in the Pro/Con section of each topic.
EBSCO MasterFILE Premier
Once you’ve performed a search in MasterFILE Premier, you should see icons for types of resources: Periodicals, Newspapers, Reference Books, Country Reports, Biographies, Primary Source Documents, Images. The images are especially nice, because when you click on the Image icon, you get a list of all images that match your topic with thumbnails by the description.
biogarphies
country reports
images
primary source documents
EBSCO TOPICsearch
If you look below the search box in TOPICsearch, you can just highlight a topic, click search and you’ll get all resources in the database on your topic. The resources available in TOPICsearch are Periodicals, Newspapers, Government Documents, and Opinions. The Government Documents and Opinions are the hardest to find in other places. The opinions are polls taken by Gallup. Polls can be great for persuasion.
government documents
Persuasive: opinion polls
Facts on File: Issues & Controversies
Great information on all topics, with persuasive information to be found mainly in the Issues Pro and Con category, but also in the Interview section and opinion polls.
charts
editorial cartoons
graphs
maps
persuasive info: Issues Pro and Con and opinion polls
photos
primary documents
interviews
statistics
Oxford Reference
Once in the database, retrieve by clicking on any of the categories lsited belwo and eihter perform a search or browse for your topic.
Maps & Illustrations
Quotations
Timelines
ProQuest: eLibrary Curriculum and History Study Center
Retrieve media by performing a search on your topic. If there are any matches within the categories below, you can accesss them clicking on the category icon.
Audio/video
Maps
Pictures
Transcripts of tv/radio shows
Internet Resources How to find articles from Web sites and other Internet resources.
Media
These sites are best for finding media you might use in your presentation:
Flickr Copyright is predetermined by those who post the images.
Best Bets on the Internet
The Internet can be an excellent resource, though you have to be discriminating. Most of the sites listed below are sites that are not objective and therefore generally best for persuasive speeches:
Informative
Just about all of our books and databases are good for informative speeches.
Persuasive
The resources listed below are your best bets for sources that are persuasive, but keep in mind that information like facts and statistics can be also be used to persuade:
Books
Opposing Viewpoints Series
Taking Sides Series
Databases
CQ Researcher: The Pro/Con section of every report
Facts on File: Issues & Controversies: the Pro Con category
EBSCO TOPICsearch: opinion polls
Web sites
Almost all the web sites listed under Best Bets are persuasive.
Questions?
If you still have questions after reading this guide, try some of COM Library's FAQs (http://library.com.edu/faqs/FAQs.htm), access Library Jargon (http://library.com.edu/help/jargon.htm) for definitions of library terms, or you may ask the Reference Librarian for assistance. The Reference Office is located on the ground floor of the library near the Online Library.
are especially good. The titles with 
, indicates a series with both pro and con articles for each topic covered, so they are great for persuasive speeches. These series books are a good resource for getting ideas for topics.
