Alert Listeners to Key Source Information

An oral citation credits the source of speech material that is derived from other people’s ideas. During your speech, always cite your sources at the same time as you present the information derived from them, rather than waiting until the end of the speech to disclose them to the audience. For each source, plan on briefly alerting the audience to the following:

  1. The author or origin of the source (“documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock . . . ” or “On the National Science Foundation website . . . ”)
  2. The type of source (journal article, book, personal interview, website, blog, online video, etc.)
  3. The title or a description of the source (“In the book Endangered Minds . . . ” or “In an article on sharks . . . ”)
  4. The date of the source (“The article, published in the October 10th, 2014, issue . . . ” or “According to a report on financing student loans, posted online on September 28, 2014, on the Daily Beast . . . ”)

Of course, spoken citations need not include a complete bibliographic reference (exact titles, full names of all authors, volume and page numbers); doing so will interrupt the flow of your presentation and distract listeners’ attention. However, do keep a running list of source details for a bibliography to appear at the end of your speech draft or outline. (For guidelines on creating a written bibliography for your speeches, see Appendices B–C and G, H and I). In place of bibliographic details, focus on presenting your sources in a rhetorically effective manner—that is, in a way that will encourage audience members to process and believe in the source material.