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Crediting sources is a crucial aspect of any speech. Plagiarism—the passing off of another person’s information as one’s own—is as unethical in a speech as it is elsewhere. To plagiarize is to use other people’s ideas or words without acknowledging the source. You are obviously plagiarizing when you simply “cut and paste” material from sources into your speech and represent it as your own. But it is also plagiarism to copy material into your speech draft from a source (such as a magazine article or Web site) and then change and rearrange words and sentence structure here and there to make it appear as if it were your own.¹⁰ Whether it’s done intentionally or not, plagiarism is stealing.

Orally Acknowledge Your Sources

The rule for avoiding plagiarism as a public speaker is straightforward: Any source that requires credit in written form should be acknowledged in oral form. These sources include direct quotations, as well as paraphrased and summarized information—any facts and statistics, ideas, opinions, or theories gathered and reported by others. For each source that requires citation, you need to include the type of source (magazine, book, personal interview, Web site, etc.), the author or origin of the source, the title or a description of the source, and the date of the source.

Oral presentations need not include the full bibliographic reference (that is, full names, dates, titles, volume, and page numbers). However, you should include a complete reference in a bibliography or at the end of the speech outline. (For more on creating a written bibliography for your speeches, see Appendix A.) Rules for avoiding plagiarism apply equally to print and online sources. It may be tempting to copy information from a Web site without attribution, but you must always accurately credit direct quotations, paraphrased information, facts, statistics, or other information posted online that was gathered and reported by someone other than yourself. For specific guidelines on how to record and cite sources found on Web sites, see “From Source to Speech” on pp. 80–81

One exception to sources needing citation is the use of common knowledge—information that is likely to be known by many people (though such information must truly be widely disseminated). For example, it is common knowledge that in March 2011 a massive earthquake in Japan triggered a tsunami. It is not common knowledge that it has been 1,200 years since an earthquake of this magnitude has hit the plate boundary of Japan. This fact requires acknowledgment of a source—in this case, a compilation of facts published by Francie Diep in Scientific American.¹¹

Citing Quotations, Paraphrases, and Summaries

When citing other people’s ideas, you can present them in one of three ways:

Note how a speaker could paraphrase and summarize, with credit, the following excerpt from an article published in the New Yorker titled “Strange Fruit: The Rise and Fall of Açai,” by John Calapinto.

ORIGINAL VERSION:

Açai was virtually unknown outside Brazil until 10 years ago, when Ryan and Jeremy Black, two brothers from Southern California, and their friend Edmund Nichols began exporting it to the United States. Since then, the fruit has followed a cycle of popularity befitting a teenage pop singer: a Miley Cyrus-like trajectory from obscurity to hype, critical backlash, and eventual ubiquity. Embraced as a “superfruit”—a potent combination of cholesterol-reducing fats and anti-aging antioxidants—açai became one of the fastest-growing foods in history...”

Compare the original version of the excerpt to how it could be properly quoted, paraphrased, or summarized in a speech. Oral citation language is bolded for easy identification.

DIRECT QUOTATION:

As John Calapinto states in an article titled “Strange Fruit: The Rise and Fall of Açai,” published in the May 30, 2011, issue of the New Yorker, “The fruit has followed a cycle of popularity befitting a teenage pop singer: a Miley Cyrus-like trajectory from obscurity to hype, critical backlash, and eventual ubiquity.”

ORAL PARAPHRASE:

In an article titled “Strange Fruit: The Rise and Fall of Açai,” published in the May 30, 2011, issue of the New Yorker, John Calapinto explains that until two brothers from Southern California named Ryan and Jeremy Black, along with their friend Edmund Nichols, began exporting açai to the United States ten years ago, it was unknown here. Now, says Calapinto, açai is seen as a “superfruit” that can help with everything from lowering cholesterol to fighting aging through its antioxidant properties.

ORAL SUMMARY:

In an article titled “Strange Fruit: The Rise and Fall of Açai,” published in the May 30, 2011, issue of the New Yorker, John Calapinto says that açai, a fruit grown in Brazil that was unknown in this country until ten years ago, is now marketed as a “superfruit” that has powerful health benefits.

For detailed directions on crediting sources in your speech, see Chapter 11, “Citing Sources in Your Speech.”