Chapter 6: Gathering Materials

• INTERVIEWING (before, during and after)
• WRITING AWAY
• INTERNET
• LIBRARY RESEARCH

GATHERING MATERIALS

SUPPORTING EVIDENCE
What is it?

* anecdotes, statistics, quotes

What does it do?

* enlivens and illustrates your speech, enhances credibility

FOUR WAYS OF GATHERING SUPPORTING EVIDENCE

• interviewing
• writing away
• internet
• library research

INTERVIEWING (before, during and after)

What must you think of when PREPLANNING AN INTERVIEW?

* define your purpose
* know what you want to find out
* decide who you want to interview
* aim as high as you can
* decide whether or not to tape record

What are the advantages of taping interview?

* no note taking: allows better attending to interviewee
* exact record leads to better quotes, no misquoting
* always ask permission

What are the disadvantages of taping interview?

* people become uncomfortable; guarded
* extra post interview work created: transcribing notes
* you must prepare questions beforehand 

DURING INTERVIEW

What should you never do in an interview?

* ask question with answers already known
* ask vague questions
* leading questions or assuming you already know the answer
* ask hostile, loaded questions

What should you do as you arrive for an interview?

* be dressed appropriately
* be on time
* state your purpose; it will lead to better answers

What should you do in an interview?

* stick to your purpose; even through tough questions
* keep it on track
* adjust to feedback
* follow leads where they take you but remember to get back on track
* be a good listener
* ask for clarifications when needed
* don't overstay your welcome

What should you do AFTER THE INTERVIEW?

* review notes as soon as possible
* find main points
* distill useful information
* find succinct answers to specific questions

WRITING AWAY

• find email links on pages
  • look for companies: company-name.com
  • look for organizations: organization-name.org
• seek information from all sides of your position
• ask for more than information
  • visual aids
  • samples
  • brochures to distribute
• government agencies are good sources
  • U.S. Government printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20401
• use e-mail for quicker response
  • U.S. Government printing Office
• Use search engines to find e-mail addresses

INTERNET RESEARCH

• use only as preliminary overview
• general search engines return many non-academic sources
• too many web citations may damage your credibility
• do not use internet material that
  • is not dated
  • author or source is not clear

LIBRARY RESEARCH

Check out the Library Activity

Library catalog

What do you find in reference sections?reference section

* encyclopedias; general and specialized
* dictionaries
* quotations
* biographical aids
* atlases
* gazetteers:geographical dictionaries
      --spelling and pronunciation of places
      --charts, graphs

Periodicals databases best for Comm 100 Students

Full Text Periodicals

EBSCOhost

Omnifile

CQ Researcher

Lexis/Nexis

Proquest

TIPS FOR LIBRARY RESEARCH

* start today!
* work on your informative and persuasive speeches at the same time
* get lots and lots of leads from card catalogs
* gets lots of material and use what works

take good notes

* use index cards (leads to efficient note taking)
* on each, list your source, topic heading, and bibliography information
* 1 card for each note
* take plenty of notes

use computer database

* create good fields
* be able to sort on those fields
* make sure fields relate to bibliography data

Think about material as you research

* refocus your speech based on findings

Learn more about Library Reasearch with Research Roadmap.