Speaking-
Before You Speak, Do Your Homework!
By: Kevin Richter
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Speaking- Before You Speak, Do Your Homework! By: Kevin Richter
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Back when I
was in high school, I remember receiving an assignment in my speech class
to talk about how to make stained glass. I had never made stained glass
before, but now I had to figure it out in a hurry so I could tell everyone
else how to do it. First I looked in the encyclopedia, but that only gave
a cursory explanation. I went to the library and checked out a couple
books on stained glass, and I ended up spending many hours sifting through
the books for the basic steps so that I could put together my speech. It
was an arduous process, and there were some people in the class who didn't
bother doing the research for their topics...they just gave high-level
explanations, took their C, and called it a day. Speakers in this day and age are very fortunate. Whatever the topic, however obscure, chances are they'll be able to find some references for their material. With the advent of the Internet, information on a wide variety of topics is readily available.... just a few keystrokes away. With information so easy to obtain, why would anyone give a presentation without doing the necessary research? Now clearly you have the old standard resources: encyclopedias, magazines, newspapers, books, etc. But since the early 90's, the Internet has really come to the forefront with regard to research. Are you looking for quotes or anecdotes? How about statistics or opinions? Maybe you're wondering how to make stained glass. I just did a search on how to make stained glass and I found 20 websites talking about it. If only I had the Internet 15 years ago! But the point is, whatever it is you're looking for, it is just waiting to be found on some remote computer out there. One common complaint of the Internet is that there is just way too much information; there's so much garbage to sift through that it is difficult to find what you need. While it can be frustrating, there is an opportunity to obtain information that would be difficult, or in some cases nearly impossible, to find without the Internet. In addition, with a few tricks, you can narrow your search so you don't have to wade through so much irrelevant information. Here are a few tricks of the trade to keep in mind when visiting your favorite online search engine: |
Now that last item might leave you scratching your head; many people have not heard of search engine math. Not to worry...we're not talking about algebra, geometry, or calculus here! I'll explain with a simple example. Say you're looking for hiking trails at Lake Tahoe. You could go to google.com and type in [hiking trails at Lake Tahoe] (brackets here are used to denote what's typed in the search engine), but that will bring back any website that has at least one of those words. A site that talks about Lake Michigan would be a valid result since it has the word 'Lake'. Adding some search engine math will narrow your set of results.
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Using the '+' sign in front of words you
want included, and the '-' sign in front of words you want excluded, you
can narrow your search. In addition, you can search for specific
combinations of words by surrounding them with double quotes. So if you
search using [+hiking +trails +"Lake Tahoe" -book -books], you will only
bring back sites that include all of the words with a leading '+'. The
results will also exclude any site that has the words 'book' or 'books'.
Keep playing around with your search criteria to give you a manageable
number of results.
Even with the Internet as a resource, research can be quite time consuming. However, there is so much information that can be used to enhance your presentation that it is not only a worthwhile exercise, but in some cases it is imperative. Make sure you use caution when researching on the Internet. Consider the source when you obtain information to ensure it is accurate, and double check with other sites to verify. In addition, make sure you cite your sources. Citing your sources will not only lend credibility to your message, but it will ensure that if a source you're citing has inaccurate information, you're off the hook!
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