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Researching materials for your speech offers you several important benefits. For one thing, research helps you learn more about your topic before you select and develop your main points. Not only will you gain deeper knowledge, but you may also discover new insights or determine that some of your beliefs on the topic are incorrect.

Equally important, research enables you to gather evidence—information from credible sources that you can use to support your claims. If audience members are uncertain about a point you are making (or if they outright disagree with you), evidence may convince them to accept that point.¹ If they accept that the source of your evidence is trustworthy and better informed than they are, they will be more likely to agree with your claim, even if they would not accept your opinion alone.

The use of evidence is especially important in the workplace. In business, decisions are increasingly made based on “data-based analytics” rather than on “gut instinct.”² Research shows that data-driven decisions increase productivity.³ Thus, they are increasingly being used to resolve questions in such diverse fields as education, medicine, agriculture, and the military. In your career, if you are able to support the claims you make with evidence, you will be more convincing and contribute to your organization’s success.

When you are informed about your topic and provide compelling evidence, you also gain credibility as a speaker—meaning your audience will consider you qualified to speak on the topic in question.⁴ Being well prepared shows audience members that you are more likely to understand what you are talking about.

In this chapter, we propose valuable guidelines for speech research, including how to approach the research process, and how best to find, evaluate, and use evidence in your speeches.