Functions of Supporting Material

1-create interest and engage attention

2-illustrate, clarify, and elaborate on the meaning of your ideas

3-prove that a statement is correct

Way speech is developed and main points supported

Accuracy and Relevance important

Variety important

Examples, narratives, testimony, facts, and statistics=supporting material

1. Personal knowledge and Experience

2. Internet-search engines, WebPages accountability, accuracy, objectivity, date, etc

3. Library Resources

4. Interviews

5. Resources from Special Interest Groups and Organizations

Primary Research

Vs.

Secondary Research

Primary Research-original, first hand

interview, survey, experiment, field study

more complex and time consuming

some of you may have done interviewing for cultural speeches

Interview-face to face communication for purpose of gathering information

Prepare questions in advance Wording counts-avoid the following

-Vague questions

-Leading questions-Loaded question

Survey-source of support for topics related to attitudes, values, beliefs of people

Informal surveys not enough to prove claims alone

-likert-scale-multiple choice-open ended

Field Study-

Secondary Research-information gathered by others

-books, newspapers, periodicals, encyclopedias, almanacs, government pubs, biographical reference books, online databases

Types of Supporting Material

Hard Evidence Includes factual examples and statistics

Soft Evidence Rests on opinion or inference.

Hypothetical illustrations, descriptions, explanations, analogies

Conveying info through giving meaning. Focuses on addressing the meaning of a new or

complex concept Defining can take at least 5 forms

• 1-operational definition 

• 2-definition by negation

• 3-definition by example

• 4-definition by synonym

• 5-definition by etymology

Examples-illustrate, describe, or represent ideas+ aid understanding

-Brief example-Extended example-Hypothetical example

-Brief example-1 illustration of point

Ex. Every culture has different traditions they follow in a wedding ceremony. For example, in the American culture, it is customary for the bride’s father to walk her down the isle, for the bride to have a maid of honor, and the groom to have a best man.

-Extended example-multifaceted illustration which gets point across effectively

Ex. According to MayoClinic.com, there are several different ways that parents can help prevent childhood obesity. A healthy diet, exercise, and less time spent in front of the television are some examples.

Healthy dietExerciseLess TV time

-Hypothetical example-made up or something that could happen in future

Ex. Human cloning should be banned because it will create moral dilemmas that humanity is not prepared to handle. What if in the cloning process you produce someone with two heads and three arms? Are you simply going to euthanize and dispose of that person?

Explanation-involves providing reasons or causes and demonstrating relationships, & offering interpretation and analysis

• Testimony-first hand findings, eye-witness accounts and opinions

-Expert testimony-provided by professionals trained to evaluate or report on a given topic

Ex. According to Dr. Lee Jones from Harvard Medical School, people with diabetes who exceed the consumption of 2 eggs per week increase their chances of heart disease. NOT REAL

-Lay testimony-evidence provided by non-experts (eye-witness)-credibility is still important

According to one student who witnessed the shootings at Virginia Tech University, the shooter was …………(description)

quantified evidence-summarizes numerical data

percentage, average, frequency, mean, median, mode- ex. Smoking increases one’s chances of

getting lung cancer. 75% of people who get lung cancer are smokers.

-present ethically

-avoid cherry-picking

Facts-documented occurrences that include events, dates, times, etc

-people usually require evidence or facts in order to accept something as true

Documenting Source Material-cite sources-keep track of where you get everything (working

bibliography) -cite within and at the end of

work (reference page) Pg. 140

MLA and ABA samples in back of book

can use online sources for research make sure info is credible or reputable

-author -date -does cite credits sources

start with search engine use databases - ebscohost properly cite online sources-often tricky