{"id":74,"date":"2015-08-13T18:02:30","date_gmt":"2015-08-13T18:02:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.candelalearning.com\/standupspeakoutxmaster\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=74"},"modified":"2015-08-13T18:07:38","modified_gmt":"2015-08-13T18:07:38","slug":"using-research-as-support","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-standupspeakout\/chapter\/using-research-as-support\/","title":{"raw":"Using Research As Support","rendered":"Using Research As Support"},"content":{"raw":"<div class=\"bcc-box bcc-highlight\">\r\n<h3>Learning Objectives<\/h3>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>Define the term \u201csupport.\u201d<\/li>\r\n\t<li>Understand three reasons we use support in speeches.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>Explain four criteria used to evaluate support options.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\nIn public speaking, the word \u201c<span class=\"im_margin_term\"><span class=\"im_glossterm\">support<\/span><\/span>\u201d refers to a range of strategies that are used to develop the central idea and specific purpose by providing corroborating evidence. Whether you are speaking to inform, persuade, or entertain, using support helps you create a more substantive and polished speech. We sometimes use the words \u201csupport\u201d or \u201cevidence\u201d synonymously or interchangeably because both are designed to help ground a speech\u2019s specific purpose. However, \u201cevidence\u201d tends to be associated specifically with persuasive speeches, so we opt to use the more general term \u201csupport\u201d for most of this chapter. In this section, we are going to explore why speakers use support.\r\n<div id=\"wrench_1.0-ch08_s01_s01\" class=\"im_section\">\r\n<h2 class=\"im_title im_editable im_block\">Why We Use Support<\/h2>\r\nSpeakers use support to help provide a foundation for their message. You can think of support as the legs on a table. Without the legs, the table becomes a slab of wood or glass lying on the ground; as such, it cannot fully serve the purpose of a table. In the same way, without support, a speech is nothing more than fluff. Audience members may ignore the speech\u2019s message, dismissing it as just so much hot air. In addition to being the foundation that a speech stands on, support also helps us clarify content, increase speaker credibility, and make the speech more vivid.\r\n<div id=\"wrench_1.0-ch08_s01_s01_s01\" class=\"im_section\">\r\n<h2 class=\"im_title im_editable im_block\">To Clarify Content<\/h2>\r\nThe first reason to use support in a speech is to clarify content. Speakers often choose a piece of support because a previous writer or speaker has phrased something in a way that evokes a clear mental picture of the point they want to make. For example, suppose you\u2019re preparing a speech about hazing in college fraternities. You may read your school\u2019s code of student conduct to find out how your campus defines hazing. You could use this definition to make sure your audience understands what hazing is and what types of behaviors your campus identifies as hazing.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div id=\"wrench_1.0-ch08_s01_s01_s02\" class=\"im_section\">\r\n<h2 class=\"im_title im_editable im_block\">To Add Credibility<\/h2>\r\nAnother important reason to use support is because it adds to your credibility as a speaker. The less an audience perceives you as an expert on a given topic, the more important it is to use a range of support. By doing so, you let your audience know that you\u2019ve done your homework on the topic.\r\n\r\nAt the same time, you could hurt your credibility if you use inadequate support or support from questionable sources. Your credibility will also suffer if you distort the intent of a source to try to force it to support a point that the previous author did not address. For example, the famous 1798 publication by Thomas Malthus, <em class=\"im_emphasis\">An Essay on the Principle of Population<\/em>, has been used as support for various arguments far beyond what Malthus could have intended. Malthus\u2019s thesis was that as the human population increases at a greater rate than food production, societies will go to war over scarce food resources.<span id=\"wrench_1.0-fn08_001\" class=\"im_footnote\">[footnote]Malthus, T. R. (1798). <em class=\"im_emphasis\">An essay on the principle of population as it affects the future improvement of society, with remarks on the speculations of Mr. Godwin, M. Condorcet, and other writers<\/em>. London, England: J. Johnson, in St. Paul\u2019s Churchyard.[\/footnote]<\/span> Some modern writers have suggested that, according to the Malthusian line of thinking, almost anything that leads to a food shortage could lead to nuclear war. For example, better health care leads to longer life spans, which leads to an increased need for food, leading to food shortages, which lead to nuclear war. Clearly, this argument makes some giant leaps of logic that would be hard for an audience to accept.\r\n\r\nFor this reason, it is important to evaluate your support to ensure that it will not detract from your credibility as a speaker. Here are four characteristics to evaluate when looking at support options: accuracy, authority, currency, and objectivity.\r\n<div id=\"wrench_1.0-ch08_s01_s01_s02_s01\" class=\"im_section\">\r\n<h2 class=\"im_title im_editable im_block\">Accuracy<\/h2>\r\nOne of the quickest ways to lose credibility in the eyes of your audience is to use support that is inaccurate or even questionably accurate. Admittedly, determining the accuracy of support can be difficult if you are not an expert in a given area, but here are some questions to ask yourself to help assess a source\u2019s accuracy:\r\n<ul id=\"wrench_1.0-ch08_s01_s01_s02_s01_l01\" class=\"im_itemizedlist im_editable im_block\">\r\n\t<li>Does the information within one piece of supporting evidence completely contradict other supporting evidence you\u2019ve seen?<\/li>\r\n\t<li>If the support is using a statistic, does the supporting evidence explain where that statistic came from and how it was determined?<\/li>\r\n\t<li>Does the logic behind the support make sense?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nOne of this book\u2019s authors recently observed a speech in which a student said, \u201cThe amount of pollution produced by using paper towels instead of hand dryers is equivalent to driving a car from the east coast to St. Louis.\u201d The other students in the class, as well as the instructor, recognized that this information sounded wrong and asked questions about the information source, the amount of time it would take to produce this much pollution, and the number of hand dryers used. The audience demonstrated strong listening skills by questioning the information, but the speaker lost credibility by being unable to answer their questions.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div id=\"wrench_1.0-ch08_s01_s01_s02_s02\" class=\"im_section\">\r\n<h2 class=\"im_title im_editable im_block\">Authority<\/h2>\r\nThe second way to use support in building your credibility is to cite authoritative sources\u2014those who are experts on the topic. In today\u2019s world, there are all kinds of people who call themselves \u201cexperts\u201d on a range of topics. There are even books that tell you how to get people to regard you as an expert in a given industry.<span id=\"wrench_1.0-fn08_002\" class=\"im_footnote\">[footnote]See, for example, Lizotte, K. (2007). <em class=\"im_emphasis\">The expert\u2019s edge: Become the go-to authority people turn to every time<\/em>. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.[\/footnote]<\/span> Today there are \u201cexperts\u201d on every street corner or website spouting off information that some listeners will view as legitimate.\r\n\r\nSo what truly makes someone an expert? Bruce D. Weinstein, a professor at West Virginia University\u2019s Center for Health Ethics and Law, defined <span class=\"im_margin_term\"><span class=\"im_glossterm\">expertise<\/span><\/span> as having two senses. In his definition, the first sense of expertise is \u201cknowledge <em class=\"im_emphasis\">in<\/em> or <em class=\"im_emphasis\">about<\/em> a particular field, and statements about it generally take the form, \u2018S is an expert <em class=\"im_emphasis\">in<\/em> or <em class=\"im_emphasis\">about<\/em> D.\u2019\u2026 The second sense of expertise refers to domains of demonstrable skills, and statements about it generally take the form, \u2018S is an expert <em class=\"im_emphasis\">at skill<\/em> D.\u2019\u201d<span id=\"wrench_1.0-fn08_003\" class=\"im_footnote\">[footnote]Weinstein, B. D. (1993). What is an expert? <em class=\"im_emphasis\">Theoretical Medicine, 14<\/em>, 57\u201393.[\/footnote]<\/span> Thus, to be an expert, someone needs to have considerable knowledge on a topic or considerable skill in accomplishing something.\r\n\r\nAs a novice researcher, how can you determine whether an individual is truly an expert? Unfortunately, there is no clear-cut way to wade through the masses of \u201cexperts\u201d and determine each one\u2019s legitimacy quickly. However, Table 1 \"Who Is an Expert?\" presents a list of questions based on the research of Marie-Line Germain that you can ask yourself to help determine whether someone is an expert.<span id=\"wrench_1.0-fn08_004\" class=\"im_footnote\">[footnote]Germain, M. L. (2006). <em class=\"im_emphasis\">Development and preliminary validation of a psychometric measure of expertise: The generalized expertise measure (GEM).<\/em> (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Barry University, Florida.[\/footnote]<\/span>\r\n<div id=\"wrench_1.0-ch08_s01_s01_s02_s02_t01\" class=\"im_table im_block\">\r\n\r\n<span class=\"im_title-prefix\">Table 1.<\/span> Who Is an Expert?\r\n<table cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\r\n<thead>\r\n<tr>\r\n<th>Questions to Ask Yourself<\/th>\r\n<th>Yes<\/th>\r\n<th>No<\/th>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/thead>\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>1. Is the person widely recognizable as an expert?<\/td>\r\n<td><\/td>\r\n<td><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>2. Does the person have an appropriate degree\/training\/certification to make her or him an expert?<\/td>\r\n<td><\/td>\r\n<td><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>3. Is the person a member of a recognized profession in her or his claimed area of expertise?<\/td>\r\n<td><\/td>\r\n<td><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>4. Has the person published articles or books (not self-published) on the claimed area of expertise?<\/td>\r\n<td><\/td>\r\n<td><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>5. Does the person have appropriate experience in her or his claimed area of expertise?<\/td>\r\n<td><\/td>\r\n<td><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>6. Does the person have clear knowledge about her or his claimed area of expertise?<\/td>\r\n<td><\/td>\r\n<td><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>7. Is the person clearly knowledgeable about the field related to her or his claimed area of expertise?<\/td>\r\n<td><\/td>\r\n<td><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>8. When all is said and done, does the person truly have the qualifications to be considered an expert in her or his claimed area of expertise?<\/td>\r\n<td><\/td>\r\n<td><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n<\/div>\r\nYou don\u2019t have to answer \u201cyes\u201d to all the preceding questions to conclude that a source is credible, but a string of \u201cno\u201d answers should be a warning signal. In a <em class=\"im_emphasis\">Columbia Journalism Review<\/em> article, Allisa Quart raised the question of expert credibility regarding the sensitive subject of autism. Specifically, Quart questioned whether the celebrity spokesperson and autism advocate <a href=\"http:\/\/www.generationrescue.org\/\">Jennifer McCarthy<\/a>\u00a0qualifies as an expert. Quart notes that McCarthy \u201cinsists that vaccines caused her son\u2019s neurological disorder, a claim that has near-zero support in scientific literature.\u201d<span id=\"wrench_1.0-fn08_005\" class=\"im_footnote\">[footnote]Quart, A. (2010, July\/August). The trouble with experts: The web allows us to question authority in new ways. <em class=\"im_emphasis\">Columbia Journalism Review<\/em>. Retrieved from <a class=\"im_link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cjr.org\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.cjr.org<\/a>[\/footnote]<\/span> Providing an opposing view is a widely read blog called <a href=\"http:\/\/scienceblogs.com\/insolence\/\"><em class=\"im_emphasis\">Respectful Insolence<\/em><\/a>, whose author is allegedly a surgeon\/scientist who often speaks out about autism and \u201cantivaccination lunacy.\u201d Respectful Insolence received the 2008 Best Weblog Award from <em class=\"im_emphasis\">MedGagdet: The Internet Journal of Emerging Medical Technologies<\/em>. We used the word \u201callegedly\u201d when referring to the author of <em class=\"im_emphasis\">Respectful Insolence<\/em> because as the website explains that the author\u2019s name, Orac, is the \u201c<em class=\"im_emphasis\">nom de<\/em> blog of a (not so) humble pseudonymous surgeon\/scientist with an ego just big enough to delude himself that someone, somewhere might actually give a rodent\u2019s posterior about his miscellaneous verbal meanderings, but just barely small enough to admit to himself that few will.\u201d<span id=\"wrench_1.0-fn08_006\" class=\"im_footnote\">[footnote]ScienceBlogs LLC (n.d.). Who (or what) is Orac? [Web log post]. Retrieved from <a class=\"im_link\" href=\"http:\/\/scienceblogs.com\/insolence\/\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/scienceblogs.com\/insolence\/<\/a>; see also <a class=\"im_link\" href=\"http:\/\/scienceblogs.com\/insolence\/medicine\/autism\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/scienceblogs.com\/insolence\/medicine\/autism<\/a>[\/footnote]<\/span>\r\n\r\nWhen comparing the celebrity Jenny McCarthy to the blogger Orac, who do you think is the better expert? Were you able to answer \u201cyes\u201d to the questions in Table 1 \"Who Is an Expert?\" for both \u201cexperts\u201d? If not, why not? Overall, determining the authority of support is clearly a complicated task, and one that you should spend time thinking about as you prepare the support for your speech.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div id=\"wrench_1.0-ch08_s01_s01_s02_s03\" class=\"im_section\">\r\n<h2 class=\"im_title im_editable im_block\">Currency<\/h2>\r\nThe third consideration in using support to build your credibility is how current the information is. Some ideas stay fairly consistent over time, like the date of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor or the mathematical formula for finding the area of a circle, but other ideas change wildly in a short period of time, including ideas about technology, health treatments, and laws.\r\n\r\nAlthough we never want to discount classic supporting information that has withstood the test of time, as a general rule for most topics, we recommend that information be less than five years old. Obviously, this is just a general guideline and can change depending on the topic. If you\u2019re giving a speech on the history of mining in West Virginia, then you may use support from sources that are much older. However, if you\u2019re discussing a medical topic, then your support information should probably be from the past five years or less. Some industries change even faster, so the best support may come from the past month. For example, if are speaking about advances in word processing, using information about Microsoft Word from 2003 would be woefully out-of-date because two upgrades have been released since 2003 (2007 and 2010). As a credible speaker, it is your responsibility to give your audience up-to-date information.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div id=\"wrench_1.0-ch08_s01_s01_s02_s04\" class=\"im_section\">\r\n<h2 class=\"im_title im_editable im_block\">Objectivity<\/h2>\r\nThe last question you should ask yourself when examining support is whether the person or organization behind the information is objective or biased. <span class=\"im_margin_term\"><span class=\"im_glossterm\">Bias<\/span><\/span> refers to a predisposition or preconception of a topic that prevents impartiality. Although there is a certain logic to the view that every one of us is innately biased, as a credible speaker, you want to avoid just passing along someone\u2019s unfounded bias in your speech. Ideally you would use support that is unbiased; Table 2 \"Is a Potential Source of Support Biased?\" provides some questions to ask yourself when evaluating a potential piece of support to detect bias.\r\n<div id=\"wrench_1.0-ch08_s01_s01_s02_s04_t01\" class=\"im_table im_block\">\r\n\r\n<span class=\"im_title-prefix\">Table 2.<\/span> Is a Potential Source of Support Biased?\r\n<table cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\r\n<thead>\r\n<tr>\r\n<th>Questions to Ask Yourself<\/th>\r\n<th>Yes<\/th>\r\n<th>No<\/th>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/thead>\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>1. Does the source represent an individual\u2019s, an organization\u2019s, or another group\u2019s viewpoint?<\/td>\r\n<td><\/td>\r\n<td><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>2. Does the source sound unfair in its judgment, either for or against a specific topic?<\/td>\r\n<td><\/td>\r\n<td><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>3. Does the source sound like personal prejudices, opinions, or thoughts?<\/td>\r\n<td><\/td>\r\n<td><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>4. Does the source exist only on a website (i.e., not in print or any other format)?<\/td>\r\n<td><\/td>\r\n<td><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>5. Is the information published or posted anonymously or pseudonymously?<\/td>\r\n<td><\/td>\r\n<td><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>6. Does the source have any political or financial interests related to the information being disseminated?<\/td>\r\n<td><\/td>\r\n<td><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>7. Does the source demonstrate any specific political orientation, religious affiliation, or other ideology?<\/td>\r\n<td><\/td>\r\n<td><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>8. Does the source\u2019s viewpoint differ from all other information you\u2019ve read?<\/td>\r\n<td><\/td>\r\n<td><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n<\/div>\r\nAs with the questions in Table 8.1 \"Who Is an Expert?\" about expertise, you don\u2019t have to have all \u201cno\u201d or \u201cyes\u201d responses to decide on bias. However, being aware of the possibility of bias and where your audience might see bias will help you to select the best possible support to include in your speech.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div id=\"wrench_1.0-ch08_s01_s01_s03\" class=\"im_section\">\r\n<h2 class=\"im_title im_editable im_block\">To Add Vividness<\/h2>\r\nIn addition to clarifying content and enhancing credibility, support helps make a speech more vivid. <span class=\"im_margin_term\"><span class=\"im_glossterm\">Vividness<\/span><\/span> refers to a speaker\u2019s ability to present information in a striking, exciting manner. The goal of vividness is to make your speech more memorable. One of the authors still remembers a vivid example from a student speech given several years ago. The student was speaking about the importance of wearing seat belts and stated that the impact from hitting a windshield at just twenty miles per hour without a seat belt would be equivalent to falling out of the window of their second-floor classroom and landing face-first on the pavement below. Because they were in that classroom several times each week, students were easily able to visualize the speaker\u2019s analogy and it was successful at creating an image that is remembered years later. Support helps make your speech more interesting and memorable to an audience member.\r\n<div class=\"bcc-box bcc-success\">\r\n<h3>Key Takeaways<\/h3>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>The strategies a public speaker can use to provide corroborating evidence for the speech\u2019s central idea and specific purpose are called support.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>There are three primary reasons to use support: to clarify content, to increase speaker credibility, and to make the speech more vivid.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>A good piece of support should be accurate, authoritative, current, and unbiased.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"bcc-box bcc-info\">\r\n<h3>Exercises<\/h3>\r\n<ol>\r\n\t<li>Find an article online about a topic on which you are interested in speaking. Examine it for the four aspects of effective sources (e.g., accuracy, authority, currency, and objectivity). Do you think this source is credible? Why?<\/li>\r\n\t<li>Find a speech on the Vital Speeches of the Day website (<a class=\"im_link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.vsotd.com\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.vsotd.com<\/a>) and try to identify the types of support the speaker utilized. Is the speaker\u2019s use of support effective? Why or why not?<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<\/div>\r\n","rendered":"<div class=\"bcc-box bcc-highlight\">\n<h3>Learning Objectives<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Define the term \u201csupport.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Understand three reasons we use support in speeches.<\/li>\n<li>Explain four criteria used to evaluate support options.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>In public speaking, the word \u201c<span class=\"im_margin_term\"><span class=\"im_glossterm\">support<\/span><\/span>\u201d refers to a range of strategies that are used to develop the central idea and specific purpose by providing corroborating evidence. Whether you are speaking to inform, persuade, or entertain, using support helps you create a more substantive and polished speech. We sometimes use the words \u201csupport\u201d or \u201cevidence\u201d synonymously or interchangeably because both are designed to help ground a speech\u2019s specific purpose. However, \u201cevidence\u201d tends to be associated specifically with persuasive speeches, so we opt to use the more general term \u201csupport\u201d for most of this chapter. In this section, we are going to explore why speakers use support.<\/p>\n<div id=\"wrench_1.0-ch08_s01_s01\" class=\"im_section\">\n<h2 class=\"im_title im_editable im_block\">Why We Use Support<\/h2>\n<p>Speakers use support to help provide a foundation for their message. You can think of support as the legs on a table. Without the legs, the table becomes a slab of wood or glass lying on the ground; as such, it cannot fully serve the purpose of a table. In the same way, without support, a speech is nothing more than fluff. Audience members may ignore the speech\u2019s message, dismissing it as just so much hot air. In addition to being the foundation that a speech stands on, support also helps us clarify content, increase speaker credibility, and make the speech more vivid.<\/p>\n<div id=\"wrench_1.0-ch08_s01_s01_s01\" class=\"im_section\">\n<h2 class=\"im_title im_editable im_block\">To Clarify Content<\/h2>\n<p>The first reason to use support in a speech is to clarify content. Speakers often choose a piece of support because a previous writer or speaker has phrased something in a way that evokes a clear mental picture of the point they want to make. For example, suppose you\u2019re preparing a speech about hazing in college fraternities. You may read your school\u2019s code of student conduct to find out how your campus defines hazing. You could use this definition to make sure your audience understands what hazing is and what types of behaviors your campus identifies as hazing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"wrench_1.0-ch08_s01_s01_s02\" class=\"im_section\">\n<h2 class=\"im_title im_editable im_block\">To Add Credibility<\/h2>\n<p>Another important reason to use support is because it adds to your credibility as a speaker. The less an audience perceives you as an expert on a given topic, the more important it is to use a range of support. By doing so, you let your audience know that you\u2019ve done your homework on the topic.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, you could hurt your credibility if you use inadequate support or support from questionable sources. Your credibility will also suffer if you distort the intent of a source to try to force it to support a point that the previous author did not address. For example, the famous 1798 publication by Thomas Malthus, <em class=\"im_emphasis\">An Essay on the Principle of Population<\/em>, has been used as support for various arguments far beyond what Malthus could have intended. Malthus\u2019s thesis was that as the human population increases at a greater rate than food production, societies will go to war over scarce food resources.<span id=\"wrench_1.0-fn08_001\" class=\"im_footnote\"><a class=\"footnote\" title=\"Malthus, T. R. (1798). An essay on the principle of population as it affects the future improvement of society, with remarks on the speculations of Mr. Godwin, M. Condorcet, and other writers. London, England: J. Johnson, in St. Paul\u2019s Churchyard.\" id=\"return-footnote-74-1\" href=\"#footnote-74-1\" aria-label=\"Footnote 1\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Some modern writers have suggested that, according to the Malthusian line of thinking, almost anything that leads to a food shortage could lead to nuclear war. For example, better health care leads to longer life spans, which leads to an increased need for food, leading to food shortages, which lead to nuclear war. Clearly, this argument makes some giant leaps of logic that would be hard for an audience to accept.<\/p>\n<p>For this reason, it is important to evaluate your support to ensure that it will not detract from your credibility as a speaker. Here are four characteristics to evaluate when looking at support options: accuracy, authority, currency, and objectivity.<\/p>\n<div id=\"wrench_1.0-ch08_s01_s01_s02_s01\" class=\"im_section\">\n<h2 class=\"im_title im_editable im_block\">Accuracy<\/h2>\n<p>One of the quickest ways to lose credibility in the eyes of your audience is to use support that is inaccurate or even questionably accurate. Admittedly, determining the accuracy of support can be difficult if you are not an expert in a given area, but here are some questions to ask yourself to help assess a source\u2019s accuracy:<\/p>\n<ul id=\"wrench_1.0-ch08_s01_s01_s02_s01_l01\" class=\"im_itemizedlist im_editable im_block\">\n<li>Does the information within one piece of supporting evidence completely contradict other supporting evidence you\u2019ve seen?<\/li>\n<li>If the support is using a statistic, does the supporting evidence explain where that statistic came from and how it was determined?<\/li>\n<li>Does the logic behind the support make sense?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>One of this book\u2019s authors recently observed a speech in which a student said, \u201cThe amount of pollution produced by using paper towels instead of hand dryers is equivalent to driving a car from the east coast to St. Louis.\u201d The other students in the class, as well as the instructor, recognized that this information sounded wrong and asked questions about the information source, the amount of time it would take to produce this much pollution, and the number of hand dryers used. The audience demonstrated strong listening skills by questioning the information, but the speaker lost credibility by being unable to answer their questions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"wrench_1.0-ch08_s01_s01_s02_s02\" class=\"im_section\">\n<h2 class=\"im_title im_editable im_block\">Authority<\/h2>\n<p>The second way to use support in building your credibility is to cite authoritative sources\u2014those who are experts on the topic. In today\u2019s world, there are all kinds of people who call themselves \u201cexperts\u201d on a range of topics. There are even books that tell you how to get people to regard you as an expert in a given industry.<span id=\"wrench_1.0-fn08_002\" class=\"im_footnote\"><a class=\"footnote\" title=\"See, for example, Lizotte, K. (2007). The expert\u2019s edge: Become the go-to authority people turn to every time. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.\" id=\"return-footnote-74-2\" href=\"#footnote-74-2\" aria-label=\"Footnote 2\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[2]<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Today there are \u201cexperts\u201d on every street corner or website spouting off information that some listeners will view as legitimate.<\/p>\n<p>So what truly makes someone an expert? Bruce D. Weinstein, a professor at West Virginia University\u2019s Center for Health Ethics and Law, defined <span class=\"im_margin_term\"><span class=\"im_glossterm\">expertise<\/span><\/span> as having two senses. In his definition, the first sense of expertise is \u201cknowledge <em class=\"im_emphasis\">in<\/em> or <em class=\"im_emphasis\">about<\/em> a particular field, and statements about it generally take the form, \u2018S is an expert <em class=\"im_emphasis\">in<\/em> or <em class=\"im_emphasis\">about<\/em> D.\u2019\u2026 The second sense of expertise refers to domains of demonstrable skills, and statements about it generally take the form, \u2018S is an expert <em class=\"im_emphasis\">at skill<\/em> D.\u2019\u201d<span id=\"wrench_1.0-fn08_003\" class=\"im_footnote\"><a class=\"footnote\" title=\"Weinstein, B. D. (1993). What is an expert? Theoretical Medicine, 14, 57\u201393.\" id=\"return-footnote-74-3\" href=\"#footnote-74-3\" aria-label=\"Footnote 3\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[3]<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Thus, to be an expert, someone needs to have considerable knowledge on a topic or considerable skill in accomplishing something.<\/p>\n<p>As a novice researcher, how can you determine whether an individual is truly an expert? Unfortunately, there is no clear-cut way to wade through the masses of \u201cexperts\u201d and determine each one\u2019s legitimacy quickly. However, Table 1 &#8220;Who Is an Expert?&#8221; presents a list of questions based on the research of Marie-Line Germain that you can ask yourself to help determine whether someone is an expert.<span id=\"wrench_1.0-fn08_004\" class=\"im_footnote\"><a class=\"footnote\" title=\"Germain, M. L. (2006). Development and preliminary validation of a psychometric measure of expertise: The generalized expertise measure (GEM). (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Barry University, Florida.\" id=\"return-footnote-74-4\" href=\"#footnote-74-4\" aria-label=\"Footnote 4\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[4]<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"wrench_1.0-ch08_s01_s01_s02_s02_t01\" class=\"im_table im_block\">\n<p><span class=\"im_title-prefix\">Table 1.<\/span> Who Is an Expert?<\/p>\n<table cellpadding=\"0\" style=\"border-spacing: 0px;\">\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Questions to Ask Yourself<\/th>\n<th>Yes<\/th>\n<th>No<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>1. Is the person widely recognizable as an expert?<\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>2. Does the person have an appropriate degree\/training\/certification to make her or him an expert?<\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>3. Is the person a member of a recognized profession in her or his claimed area of expertise?<\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>4. Has the person published articles or books (not self-published) on the claimed area of expertise?<\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>5. Does the person have appropriate experience in her or his claimed area of expertise?<\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>6. Does the person have clear knowledge about her or his claimed area of expertise?<\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>7. Is the person clearly knowledgeable about the field related to her or his claimed area of expertise?<\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>8. When all is said and done, does the person truly have the qualifications to be considered an expert in her or his claimed area of expertise?<\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p>You don\u2019t have to answer \u201cyes\u201d to all the preceding questions to conclude that a source is credible, but a string of \u201cno\u201d answers should be a warning signal. In a <em class=\"im_emphasis\">Columbia Journalism Review<\/em> article, Allisa Quart raised the question of expert credibility regarding the sensitive subject of autism. Specifically, Quart questioned whether the celebrity spokesperson and autism advocate <a href=\"http:\/\/www.generationrescue.org\/\">Jennifer McCarthy<\/a>\u00a0qualifies as an expert. Quart notes that McCarthy \u201cinsists that vaccines caused her son\u2019s neurological disorder, a claim that has near-zero support in scientific literature.\u201d<span id=\"wrench_1.0-fn08_005\" class=\"im_footnote\"><a class=\"footnote\" title=\"Quart, A. (2010, July\/August). The trouble with experts: The web allows us to question authority in new ways. Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved from http:\/\/www.cjr.org\" id=\"return-footnote-74-5\" href=\"#footnote-74-5\" aria-label=\"Footnote 5\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[5]<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Providing an opposing view is a widely read blog called <a href=\"http:\/\/scienceblogs.com\/insolence\/\"><em class=\"im_emphasis\">Respectful Insolence<\/em><\/a>, whose author is allegedly a surgeon\/scientist who often speaks out about autism and \u201cantivaccination lunacy.\u201d Respectful Insolence received the 2008 Best Weblog Award from <em class=\"im_emphasis\">MedGagdet: The Internet Journal of Emerging Medical Technologies<\/em>. We used the word \u201callegedly\u201d when referring to the author of <em class=\"im_emphasis\">Respectful Insolence<\/em> because as the website explains that the author\u2019s name, Orac, is the \u201c<em class=\"im_emphasis\">nom de<\/em> blog of a (not so) humble pseudonymous surgeon\/scientist with an ego just big enough to delude himself that someone, somewhere might actually give a rodent\u2019s posterior about his miscellaneous verbal meanderings, but just barely small enough to admit to himself that few will.\u201d<span id=\"wrench_1.0-fn08_006\" class=\"im_footnote\"><a class=\"footnote\" title=\"ScienceBlogs LLC (n.d.). Who (or what) is Orac? [Web log post]. Retrieved from http:\/\/scienceblogs.com\/insolence\/; see also http:\/\/scienceblogs.com\/insolence\/medicine\/autism\" id=\"return-footnote-74-6\" href=\"#footnote-74-6\" aria-label=\"Footnote 6\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[6]<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p>When comparing the celebrity Jenny McCarthy to the blogger Orac, who do you think is the better expert? Were you able to answer \u201cyes\u201d to the questions in Table 1 &#8220;Who Is an Expert?&#8221; for both \u201cexperts\u201d? If not, why not? Overall, determining the authority of support is clearly a complicated task, and one that you should spend time thinking about as you prepare the support for your speech.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"wrench_1.0-ch08_s01_s01_s02_s03\" class=\"im_section\">\n<h2 class=\"im_title im_editable im_block\">Currency<\/h2>\n<p>The third consideration in using support to build your credibility is how current the information is. Some ideas stay fairly consistent over time, like the date of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor or the mathematical formula for finding the area of a circle, but other ideas change wildly in a short period of time, including ideas about technology, health treatments, and laws.<\/p>\n<p>Although we never want to discount classic supporting information that has withstood the test of time, as a general rule for most topics, we recommend that information be less than five years old. Obviously, this is just a general guideline and can change depending on the topic. If you\u2019re giving a speech on the history of mining in West Virginia, then you may use support from sources that are much older. However, if you\u2019re discussing a medical topic, then your support information should probably be from the past five years or less. Some industries change even faster, so the best support may come from the past month. For example, if are speaking about advances in word processing, using information about Microsoft Word from 2003 would be woefully out-of-date because two upgrades have been released since 2003 (2007 and 2010). As a credible speaker, it is your responsibility to give your audience up-to-date information.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"wrench_1.0-ch08_s01_s01_s02_s04\" class=\"im_section\">\n<h2 class=\"im_title im_editable im_block\">Objectivity<\/h2>\n<p>The last question you should ask yourself when examining support is whether the person or organization behind the information is objective or biased. <span class=\"im_margin_term\"><span class=\"im_glossterm\">Bias<\/span><\/span> refers to a predisposition or preconception of a topic that prevents impartiality. Although there is a certain logic to the view that every one of us is innately biased, as a credible speaker, you want to avoid just passing along someone\u2019s unfounded bias in your speech. Ideally you would use support that is unbiased; Table 2 &#8220;Is a Potential Source of Support Biased?&#8221; provides some questions to ask yourself when evaluating a potential piece of support to detect bias.<\/p>\n<div id=\"wrench_1.0-ch08_s01_s01_s02_s04_t01\" class=\"im_table im_block\">\n<p><span class=\"im_title-prefix\">Table 2.<\/span> Is a Potential Source of Support Biased?<\/p>\n<table cellpadding=\"0\" style=\"border-spacing: 0px;\">\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Questions to Ask Yourself<\/th>\n<th>Yes<\/th>\n<th>No<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>1. Does the source represent an individual\u2019s, an organization\u2019s, or another group\u2019s viewpoint?<\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>2. Does the source sound unfair in its judgment, either for or against a specific topic?<\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>3. Does the source sound like personal prejudices, opinions, or thoughts?<\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>4. Does the source exist only on a website (i.e., not in print or any other format)?<\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>5. Is the information published or posted anonymously or pseudonymously?<\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>6. Does the source have any political or financial interests related to the information being disseminated?<\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>7. Does the source demonstrate any specific political orientation, religious affiliation, or other ideology?<\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>8. Does the source\u2019s viewpoint differ from all other information you\u2019ve read?<\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p>As with the questions in Table 8.1 &#8220;Who Is an Expert?&#8221; about expertise, you don\u2019t have to have all \u201cno\u201d or \u201cyes\u201d responses to decide on bias. However, being aware of the possibility of bias and where your audience might see bias will help you to select the best possible support to include in your speech.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"wrench_1.0-ch08_s01_s01_s03\" class=\"im_section\">\n<h2 class=\"im_title im_editable im_block\">To Add Vividness<\/h2>\n<p>In addition to clarifying content and enhancing credibility, support helps make a speech more vivid. <span class=\"im_margin_term\"><span class=\"im_glossterm\">Vividness<\/span><\/span> refers to a speaker\u2019s ability to present information in a striking, exciting manner. The goal of vividness is to make your speech more memorable. One of the authors still remembers a vivid example from a student speech given several years ago. The student was speaking about the importance of wearing seat belts and stated that the impact from hitting a windshield at just twenty miles per hour without a seat belt would be equivalent to falling out of the window of their second-floor classroom and landing face-first on the pavement below. Because they were in that classroom several times each week, students were easily able to visualize the speaker\u2019s analogy and it was successful at creating an image that is remembered years later. Support helps make your speech more interesting and memorable to an audience member.<\/p>\n<div class=\"bcc-box bcc-success\">\n<h3>Key Takeaways<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>The strategies a public speaker can use to provide corroborating evidence for the speech\u2019s central idea and specific purpose are called support.<\/li>\n<li>There are three primary reasons to use support: to clarify content, to increase speaker credibility, and to make the speech more vivid.<\/li>\n<li>A good piece of support should be accurate, authoritative, current, and unbiased.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"bcc-box bcc-info\">\n<h3>Exercises<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>Find an article online about a topic on which you are interested in speaking. Examine it for the four aspects of effective sources (e.g., accuracy, authority, currency, and objectivity). Do you think this source is credible? Why?<\/li>\n<li>Find a speech on the Vital Speeches of the Day website (<a class=\"im_link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.vsotd.com\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.vsotd.com<\/a>) and try to identify the types of support the speaker utilized. Is the speaker\u2019s use of support effective? Why or why not?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t <section class=\"citations-section\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t <h3>Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t <div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <div id=\"citation-list-74\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div class=\"licensing\"><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Public Speaking: Practice and Ethics. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: Anonymous. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Anonymous. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/2012books.lardbucket.org\/books\/public-speaking-practice-and-ethics\/\">http:\/\/2012books.lardbucket.org\/books\/public-speaking-practice-and-ethics\/<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/section><hr class=\"before-footnotes clear\" \/><div class=\"footnotes\"><ol><li id=\"footnote-74-1\">Malthus, T. R. (1798). <em class=\"im_emphasis\">An essay on the principle of population as it affects the future improvement of society, with remarks on the speculations of Mr. Godwin, M. Condorcet, and other writers<\/em>. London, England: J. Johnson, in St. Paul\u2019s Churchyard. <a href=\"#return-footnote-74-1\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 1\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-74-2\">See, for example, Lizotte, K. (2007). <em class=\"im_emphasis\">The expert\u2019s edge: Become the go-to authority people turn to every time<\/em>. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. <a href=\"#return-footnote-74-2\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 2\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-74-3\">Weinstein, B. D. (1993). What is an expert? <em class=\"im_emphasis\">Theoretical Medicine, 14<\/em>, 57\u201393. <a href=\"#return-footnote-74-3\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 3\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-74-4\">Germain, M. L. (2006). <em class=\"im_emphasis\">Development and preliminary validation of a psychometric measure of expertise: The generalized expertise measure (GEM).<\/em> (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Barry University, Florida. <a href=\"#return-footnote-74-4\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 4\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-74-5\">Quart, A. (2010, July\/August). The trouble with experts: The web allows us to question authority in new ways. <em class=\"im_emphasis\">Columbia Journalism Review<\/em>. Retrieved from <a class=\"im_link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cjr.org\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.cjr.org<\/a> <a href=\"#return-footnote-74-5\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 5\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-74-6\">ScienceBlogs LLC (n.d.). Who (or what) is Orac? [Web log post]. Retrieved from <a class=\"im_link\" href=\"http:\/\/scienceblogs.com\/insolence\/\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/scienceblogs.com\/insolence\/<\/a>; see also <a class=\"im_link\" href=\"http:\/\/scienceblogs.com\/insolence\/medicine\/autism\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/scienceblogs.com\/insolence\/medicine\/autism<\/a> <a href=\"#return-footnote-74-6\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 6\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><\/ol><\/div>","protected":false},"author":9,"menu_order":2,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"Public Speaking: Practice and Ethics\",\"author\":\"Anonymous\",\"organization\":\"Anonymous\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/2012books.lardbucket.org\/books\/public-speaking-practice-and-ethics\/\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by-nc-sa\",\"license_terms\":\"\"}]","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-74","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":72,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-standupspeakout\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/74","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-standupspeakout\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-standupspeakout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-standupspeakout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-standupspeakout\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/74\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":336,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-standupspeakout\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/74\/revisions\/336"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-standupspeakout\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/72"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-standupspeakout\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/74\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-standupspeakout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-standupspeakout\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=74"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-standupspeakout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=74"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-standupspeakout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=74"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}