Chapter 7

Never has the adage been more true than when applied to the Internet:

"Don't believe everything you read."

During the interview ...

- Dress Appropriately and Be on Time - Repeat the Purpose of the Interview - Set Up the Recorder, If You Are Using One - Keep the Interview on Track - Listen Carefully - Don't Overstay Your Welcome

types of questions to avoid

- Questions you can answer without the interview - Leading questions (like "You do think it's a problem, too, don't you?" - Hostile, loaded questions

After the interview ...

- Review Your Notes as Soon as Possible - Transcribe Your Notes (you should transcribe that material so it is in the same format as the rest of your research notes) -

Four tips for doing research

- start early - preliminary bibliography - take notes effeciently - think about your materials as you research

five steps you should take ahead of time to ensure a successful outcome.

1) Define the Purpose of the Interview 2) Decide Whom to Interview 3) Arrange the Interview 4) Decide Whether to Record the Interview 5) Prepare Your Questions

secondary audience

50/50 people can go either way (some interested and some not)

academic database

A database that catalogues articles from scholarly journals

preliminary bibliography

A list compiled early in the research process of works that look as if they might contain helpful information about a speech topic

catalogue

A listing of all the books, periodicals, and other resources owned by a library

call number

A number used in libraries to classify books and periodicals and to indicate where they can be found on the shelves

newspaper and periodical database

A research aid that catalogues articles from a large number of magazines, journals, and newspapers.

abstract

A summary of a magazine or journal article, written by someone other than the original author.

reference work

A work that synthesizes a large amount of related information for easy access by researchers.

The best place to find scholarly research is in one of the following academic databases:

Academic OneFile, JSTOR and Google Scholar

research interview

An interview conducted to gather information for a speech

sponsoring organization

An organization that, in the absence of a clearly identified author, is responsible for the content of a document on the Internet.

The best-known collection of quotations is

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations

CRAAP is

Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, Purpose

How can you use Google and other search engines systematically to find what you need?

Develop a search strategy that will allow you to zero in precisely on the information required for your speech

Two of the most valuable yearbooks are

Facts on File and World Almanac and Book of Facts

One way to gauge the credibility of an organization is to type its name into

Google. If commentators have raised serious questions about an organization, those questions will usually surface in the first few pages of search results

There are two major formats for citing documents in a bibliography

One comes from the Modern Language Association (MLA), the other from the American Psychological Association (APA)

The exact databases you can use will depend on what is available through your library. Here are three major databases

ProQuest, LexisNexis Academic and World News Digest

Databases

Pros: credible, concentrated, academic Cons: Not enough information

is Wikipedia a reliable source of information?

Several years ago, it was not. Today, however, its reliability ratings compare favorably with those for print encyclopedias.

Government Resources

Whether you are looking for information from the federal government or from a state or local agency, chances are you can find it by starting your search at one of these Web sites: - USA.gov - United States Census Bureau (www.census.gov) - World Factbook (www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook)

The most popular biographical aids are published by

Who's Who, which produces such titles as International Who's Who and Who's Who in America. More specialized biographical aids include Contemporary Black Biography, Dictionary of Hispanic Biography, and Who's Who Among Asian Americans

One benefit of Wikipedia is that its major articles are followed by an extensive set of

additional resources. Those resources include footnotes, a list of references, external links, and, in some cases, video and/or still images. If you take advantage of these resources, they will lead you to a vast amount of information beyond that in Wikipedia

Research gives speakers facts and figures to

back up their ideas. Whether researching online or in the library, you should use high-quality sources of information that will give your presentation strength and credibility

target audience

best group, those who are interested in what you have to say

The key to finding the book on the shelves is the

call number. Once you have the call number, all you have to do is find the right section of the shelves (or stacks, as they are called in some libraries) and retrieve your book.

The best way to determine the recency of an Internet document is to look for a

copyright date, publication date, or date of last revision at the top or bottom of the document

observation

educated guess

The major kinds of reference works you are likely to use for your speeches are

encyclopedias, yearbooks, quotation books, and biographical aids.

Too often students waste their time wandering aimlessly in the library because they are afraid to ask for assistance. Librarians are

experts in their own field, trained in library use and research methods. If you have a question, don't hesitate to ask

Search engines are the key to finding materials on the Internet. There are numerous search engines, but the most widely used by far

is Google, which provides access to billions of Web pages

interviewing (like many things) looks deceptively easy. In prac tice,

it is a complex and demanding art. The principles of effective interviewing fall into three groups—what to do before the interview, what to do during the interview, and what to do after the interview

Newspaper and periodical databases allow you to

locate articles in thousands of publications

Many Web documents are published by businesses, government agencies, public-interest groups, and the like rather than by individual authors. In such cases, you

must judge whether the sponsoring organization is impartial enough to cite in your speech

The Internet has been called the world's biggest library. But unlike a library, the Internet has

no central information desk, no librarians, no catalogue, and no reference section

You need not shy away from tough questions; just

phrase them as neutrally as possible and save them until near the end of the interview

Interviewing people with expertise on your speech topic can

provide valuable information. When conducting an interview, be sure to listen attentively and to take accurate notes

You should use the same format for all your

research notes, whether they come from Internet sources, library documents, or personal interviews

Just as you should not cite a book or magazine article without identifying the author and his or her credentials,

so you should not cite an electronic work (from the internet) in the absence of this information

When you choose a topic from your own experience, you may be tempted to depersonalize it by relying solely on facts and figures from books and the Internet. Such outside information is almost always necessary. But

supplementing it with the personal touch can really bring your speeches to life

The most important thing to know about Wikipedia is

that it can be a good place to start learning about a topic, but it is not a good place to end

Some of the most frequently used special encyclopedias are

the African American Encyclopedia, the Encyclopedia of Religion, and the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology

Wikipedia is

the biggest encyclopedia in human history. Each month, the site serves over 15 billion pages, making it the fifth most visited Web site in the world

the date of a Web page is easy to change, so someone who wants to make information appear up-to-date can easily do so. But if you have already verified

the credibility of the author and the sponsoring organization, you can usually assume that the date of the information is valid

In some cases, you may get an abstract of the article in addition to—or instead of

the full article. Keep in mind that the abstract is only a summary of the article. You should never cite an article in your speech on the basis of the abstract alone

Relevance

the importance of the information for your needs

Purpose

the reason the information exists

Accuracy

the reliability, truthfulness and correctness

Authority

the source of the information

Currency

the timeliness of the information

third audience

they don't care

As you do research for your speeches, be sure to

use quotation marks when you copy the exact words of a source. If you paraphrase, rather than quote verbatim, be sure to include the source when you record the note

disposition

what they are feeling on the speaker, occasion or topic

never record a conversation

without the knowledge or consent of the person being interviewed

Even if you record the interview,

you should still take notes by hand in case of technical malfunctions