Embedded LibGuides by Jenny

Looking for sources? 

Through the library you have access to databases with articles newspapers, magazines, and encyclopedia. 

Click on the links below (in blue) to begin your search in the database that's right for your information needs!

Credo Reference

• Over 500 reference books online including biographies, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and quotations in many subject areas

The New York Times

• Provides national and international news, opinion and commentary; published in a national and a New York metropolitan edition. Includes local, and state news, science, sports, arts and entertainment, and business and finance news.
• Click on the link above, click on the date in which you are interested.
• You can then search by article title or topic.

Academic Search Complete

• full-text articles from over 8,600 journal titles covering topics in such areas as Animal & Veterinary Science, Area Studies (country info.), Arts, Biology, Chemistry, Education, Engineering, Ethnic & Multicultural Studies, Food Science & Technology, Humanities, Law, Literature, Psychology, Religion, Science, and more. 
• Once you open the link above, enter in your basic search terms, such as "Texting while Driving"
• Limit your results to "Peer Reviewed/Scholarly" articles. This will ensure that all of the articles in your results list are from peer reviewed journals. In this database these are categorized as "Academic Journals." 
• Limit to Full Text, so you can read articles online

Opposing Viewpoints

Support your point of view on a controversial issue with facts and statistics from primary and government documents, photos, and magazine & newspaper articles which have already argued your case.

Note: Some of the articles are from scholarly and academic journals but some are not. You must read the description of the source carefully. 

How to Read a Scholarly/Academic Article 

Often, the contents of an academic article cannot be grasped by a single reading.

You have to engage with it several times, but in different ways.

MLA Style Guide

If you need more in depth guidance on formatting than what the JWU library style guide has to offer, go to the Purdue OWL. 

Need to talk to someone and seek guidance in real time?

• If you are an online student, you can go to the online writing center for information about how to contact a writing coach. 
• If you are a PVD campus student you can schedule an online appointment with the writing coach through uSucceed in JWULink, under the Academics tab.

Citing Sources in a Speech, explained

Citing sources within a speech is a three-step process: 

1. Set up the citation

2. Give the citation

3. Explain the citation

First, you want to set up your audience for the citation. The setup is one or two sentences that are general statements that lead to the specific information you are going to discuss from your source.

Here’s an example: “Workplace bullying is becoming an increasing problem for US organizations.” Notice that this statement doesn’t provide a specific citation yet, but the statement introduces the basic topic.

Second, you want to deliver the source; whether it is a direct quotation or a paraphrase of information from a source doesn’t matter at this point. A direct quotation is when you cite the actual words from a source with no changes. To paraphrase is to take a source’s basic idea and condense it using your own words. The following is an example of both:

Direct quote:

"In a 2009 report titled Bullying: Getting Away With It, the Workplace Bullying Institute wrote, “Doing nothing to the bully (ensuring impunity) was the most common employer tactic (54%).”

Paraphrase:

"According to a 2009 study by the Workplace Bullying Institute titled Bullying: Getting Away With It, when employees reported bullying, 54 percent of employers did nothing at all."

You’ll notice that in both of these cases, we started by citing the author of the study—in this case, the Workplace Bullying Institute. We then provided the title of the study. You could also provide the name of the article, book, podcast, movie, or other source. In the direct quotation example, we took information right from the report. In the second example, we summarized the same information.^[3]

The third and final step in correct source citation within a speech is the explanation. One of the biggest mistakes of beginning public speakers (and research writers) is that they include a source citation and then do nothing with the citation at all. Instead, take the time to explain the quotation or paraphrase to put into the context of your speech. Do not let your audience draw their own conclusions about the quotation or paraphrase. Instead, help them make the connections you want them to make. Here are two examples using the examples above:

Bullying Example

"Clearly, organizations need to be held accountable for investigating bullying allegations. If organizations will not voluntarily improve their handling of this problem, the legal system may be required to step in and enforce sanctions for bullying, much as it has done with sexual harassment."

Aha! Example

"As many of us know, reaching that “aha!” moment does not always come quickly, but there are definitely some strategies one can take to help speed up this process."

Notice how in both of our explanations we took the source’s information and then added to the information to direct it for our specific purpose. In the case of the bullying citation, we then propose that businesses should either adopt workplace bullying guidelines or face legal intervention. In the case of the “aha!” example, we turn the quotation into a section on helping people find their thesis or topic. In both cases, we were able to use the information to further our speech.