COM 213

Public Speaking

Professor Sullivan-Morgan

Spring 2008

Resources for Finding Information For your speeches, you need to have sources that will give you good information on your topic. Here are some ideas.
General Sources	Finding Articles	Finding Internet Resources
Finding Books	Persuasive Speech Resources	Writing and Citing Help

General Sources

Electronic Reference Tools

Credo Reference - An online collection of 150 reference books covering many disciplines. Click here for a list of titles.
Gale Virtual Reference Library - an online collection of reference books, including Countries and Their Cultures, Dictionary of American History, Encyclopedia of Sociology, Gale Encyclopedia of Everyday Law, among other titles
Britannica Online ~ The online version of the Encyclopedia Britannica, also available in print.

Useful Reference Books

The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, Reference R031 B862N1991 ~ A good source of background information and bibliographies. Look up your topic in the index to get started.

Some other encyclopedias you may find useful:

The Encyclopedia of Multiculturalism, Reference R 306.4460973 E56
Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups, R 305.8 H339
Routledge International Encyclopedia of Women, Reference R 305.403 R869
Culturegrams: The Nations Around Us Reference R909.82C968
The DK Geography of the World Reference R910D626g
The Europa World Year Book Reference R341.184E89
Western Europe 2000 ~ The World Today Series R909.83 W527 2000
The World Almanac & Book of Facts Reference R317.3W927
WorldMark Encyclopedia of Cultures and Daily Life 4 vols. Reference R 305.8003 W927

Finding Books

How do I find books on my culture?

Use I-Share Online to find books held in the Elmhurst College library as well as books owned by 65 other Illinois libraries.

Quick Searches A good way to start looking for books.

You can either look for particular items (such as a particular title), or you can do keywords searching.
Use the main words describing your topic. For example, to find books about England, type the word England (with or without capitals).The word England can be anywhere in the description of the item, like the name of the publisher.
To do a more focused search on, say, phonics and whole language learning, select Boolean, and type in England and culture

Browse Subject Searches A more precise way of searching.
- I-Share Online uses Library of Congress Subject Headings (or LC subject headings) to arrange and organize information.
- Subject headings are very specific; you can guess what they might be, but you can't make them up. Some examples of subject headings:
  - Mexico City (Mexico)--Social life and customs.
  - Mexico --Civilization --Spanish influences.
  - South Africa--Civilization
  - South Africa--Social life and customs.
  - France--Civilization--Roman influences.
  - France--Social life and customs

Guided Keyword Searches Allow you more flexibility.
- Click the appropriate tab, and fill in the blanks as desired.
- You can change your searching options to look for either some or all of the words you've typed in, and to look in different areas of the item's catalog record.
- For example, select all of these and type eating disorders treatment.

Ordering books from other libraries ~ I-Share Online allows you to request books held by 71 other libraries in Illinois.

How do I get a book that is not available in the library? Use this form only if all else fails...

Finding Magazine, Journal and Newspaper Articles using the Library's Resources

Database Sources for Specific Cultural Information

Daily Life Online ~ A suite of databases that explore life and culture from the past to the present, allowing researchers to compare and contrast social issues through the ages.

American Mosaic ~ A collection of databases dealing with different American ethnic groups. As of summer 2007, there are two groups represented: African Americans and Latino Americans. Future releases will concentrate on Native Americans and Asian Americans.

Sources for Magazine, News and Journal Articles:

Academic Search Complete ~ General database with everything from Time magazine to scholarly sources. Good place to start.
Periodical Abstracts ~ Includes indexing, abstracting, and some full text for magazine and journal articles.
WilsonSelectPlus ~ Includes indexing, abstracting, and full text for a variety of magazines and journals.

Newpaper Article Sources

Wall Street Journal ~ full text from 1985 to present.
New York Times ~ full text back to 1999, with indexing available back to 1990. For older articles, try ProQuest Historical Newspapers: New York Times, which has full text articles back to 1851. On campus access only.
Chicago Tribune ~ full text from 1985 to present.
Lexis-Nexis Academic ~ accesses a variety of news and business sources, many of which are full text.
Newspaper Source ~ full text from more than 100 U.S. and international newspapers. Includes sources such as USA Today, the Philadelphia Inquirer, The (London) Times, and transcripts from NPR's Morning Edition.

Finding Internet Resources

A word about Google and Wikipedia.

Google and Wikipedia are 2 tools that are available to help you find information on the Internet. Google is an Internet search engine. It will find websites for you on the subject of cultures. Wikipedia is a collaborative encyclopedia.It contains lots of information about different cultures. But you need to be careful when using these 2 tools. Google will just find sites for you. It will not tell you whether or not those sites are accurate, or unbiased, or current. Wikipedia can be useful to help you get started finding information. But because anybody can edit a Wikipedia page, you have to take information you find there with a grain of salt. Wikipedia is a fine source for some information--but always backup information you find there with another source.

Why should I evaluate web sites? Can't I just trust everyone's website?

Dissing the King ~ a cautionary tale detailing how websites are not always what they seem
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: Or, Why It's a Good Idea to Evaluate Web Sources

What should I look for in a trustworthy web site?

Evaluating Web Sites
Bibliography on Evaluating Internet Resources ~ links to various on-line articles on web site evaluation

Where can I go for trustworthy sites that have already been evaluated?

Librarians' Internet Index
Internet Public Library
BUBL ~ a selection of "Internet resources covering all academic subject areas"

Resources for Persuasive Speeches

For your persuasive speeches, you may find it useful to look at resources that "take sides" on an issue.

Use the I-Share Catalog to search the following series of books that deal with both sides of contemporary issues in modern society:

Opposing Viewpoints
Taking Sides
Current Controversies

To find books in these series that deal with your topic, perform a "Guided Keyword" search. Enter your topic in the first search box, and enter one of the series titles in the second box.

Example: Abortion AND Taking Sides

Also try...

CQ Researcher

Look for the "Pro/Con" links in the article headers.

Writing and Citing Information

For help with writing your outlines and bibliographies, try the Elmhurst College Writing Center online help page.

You can also try these online resources

Developing an Outline From OWL at Purdue University
College Writing and Citing
Citing Electronic Resources
ONLINE! Citation Styles
Citing Sources from the Duke University Libraries

If you need any help finding articles or writing, you can also contact the Reference Desk any time the library is open:

Reference: 630-617-3173
Email: ref[at[elmhurst[dot]edu
AIM: elmhrstcollibref | Yahoo!Messenger: eclibraryreference | MSN Messenger: ref[at]elmhurst.edu

Web Pages for Courses: Communications	Elmhurst College Library	Communication Arts & Sciences Dept.
This page was created by Peg Cook, Assistant Reference Librarian On September 14th, 2007 and last updated on March 2, 2008