This guide will help you gather the information you need for your
informational speech.

 

	Topic & Background Information
	Case Study/Personal Story
	Statistics
	Scholarly Articles/Expert Testimony
	Citing Your Sources
	Library Teaching Evaluation

Topic & Background Information

CQ Researcher is a great place to choose a topic and gather background information. CQ Researcher explores a single "hot" issue in the news in-depth each week. Topics range from social and teen issues to environment, health, education and science and technology.

• CQ Researcher

Books are great sources for more in-depth background information. Depending on how much time you have, you have a couple of options for where you can search:

• CSUSM Library Catalog 250,000 books available today.
• Circuit 3,000,000 books from other San Diego colleges, 1-3 day delivery .
• WorldCat 52,000,000 books from libraries world-wide, 5-10 day delivery. Use Get-It and Interlibrary Loan

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Case Study/Personal Story

Case studies or personal stories can be found in magazine or newspaper articles. Use Academic Search Premier or Lexis Nexis.

Search for your topic and "case study" to get the best results. For example obesity AND "case study". Below is a list of other phrases that might be useful:

• Narrative
• "Personal story"
• "First person narrative"

• Academic Search Premier - Includes magazines, newspaper articles and scholarly articles
• Lexis Nexis Academic - News, business, legal, and reference information.

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Statistics

Statistics can be found in several sources. Start with the Statistical Abstracts of the United States or LexisNexis Statistical. Also look at FedStats.

• LexisNexis Statistical - A collection of statistical tables and links to publications that the tables come from.
• Statistical Abstract - Compiled from Census data, online versions of the yearly publication are available from 1995-on.
• FedStats - Provides access to statistical data from over 70 federal agencies and the latest White House press briefings.
• Polling the Nation - A survey tool designed to let users see raw data from various polls.

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Journal Articles

To find articles, you need to use a research databases. While the list below offers suggestions the best one will depend on your topic.

• Sociological Abstracts
  Provides access to the latest international findings in theoretical and applied sociology, social science, and policy science.
• PsycINFO
  Available via EbscoHost: A comprehensive international database of psychology, covering the academic, research, and practice literature in psychology from over 45 countries in more than 30 languages.
• ERIC
  A national database of education literature, used to search for information on children and young adults, teaching and learning.
• JSTOR
  Full-text. Contains complete full-text back files (EXCEPT for the latest five years) of core scholarly journals in such areas as sociology, history, economics, political science, mathematics, African-American studies, Asian studies and others.

If you're not finding what you need using the databases here, try another research database. Choose the broad subject that your topic fits in, and browse the databases available.

• Research Databases at CSUSM

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Citing Your Sources

As you write your speech, you'll need to cite passages and ideas from the sources you've found.

You can also use a citation generator like KnightCite.

APA: Publication manual of the American Psychological Association. 5th ed. Washington, DC : American Psychological Association, 2001 Quick Summary of Bibliography (, 172k) Citing in your paper (, 127k) Diana Hacker's APA Style Library Copies (BF76.7 .P83 2001)

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