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GCAN Speech Courses: Finding Information

Resources for researching and creating informational and persuasive speeches for students in GCAN 100, 101, and 215.

How-To Guides

Welcome

Please consider taking the experience survey, if you haven't already.

 

Welcome! This guide is for students of GCAN speech courses. This includes:

  • 100 Survey of Human Communication
  • 101 Public Speaking
  • 215 Interpersonal Communication

If you have any questions, feel free to Ask a Librarian!

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Tips for Success!

  • Start your assignments early. Allow yourself time to look for quality sources, revise your topic/thesis, or ask for help.

  • Keep track of your sources.

    • Keep a list of website URLs or citations.

    • Or use a citation generator such as RefWorks or ZoteroBib.

    • When you've collected all your sources, you're ready to make a reference list!

  • Start broadly, then narrow in.

    • Browse the issues on Opposing Viewpoints to spark ideas.

    • Use QuickSearch to search for general topics, then filter the results to narrow things down.

  • Once you have an idea for a topic, write it down and keep it in mind.

    • Think about the relevance of each source to your topic.

    • Try to asses the quality of a source as you're exploring it.

Searching in Databases

Opposing Viewpoints In Context (Gale)

Contains a range of perspectives on many controversial issues, with over 13,000 pro/con viewpoints. A good starting point to explore topics for persuasive speeches.

ProQuest One Academic

Provides access to millions of full text articles from scholarly journals, international newspapers, dissertations, and market reports. Try limiting `Document type` to `Speech/Lecture`.

Creative Commons LicenseThis guide was created by librarians at Touro University and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. If you re-use, remix or link to this guide, it would be appreciated if you could notify our staff.

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