Pathfinder to Speech Research

In addition to books, the resource center provides many other materials to assist students doing research on speech, oratory, elocution, debate, addresses, readings, and lectures. A large number of electronic magazines can be located through our Web page and a few print titles are available in the library. Internet resources are numerous, although the quality of many sites is questionable.


Books - To find books, use the ecard online catalog.

Our ecard catalog is available over the Internet 24 hours a day.
  • Type in a topic word and start with a key word search.
  • Phrases should be entered one word on each line.
  • If the search had no results, use synonyms or a more general term.

Use WorldCat to find additional books.
  • Most books in this catalog can be obtained through interlibrary loan.
  • Print out a bibliography of the books you want and turn it in to the library.
  • The books should arrive in about a week.

Useful books for speech research or presentations include:
  • E178.6 .B65 Bosmajian, Haig A. comp. The rhetoric of the speaker: speeches and criticism
  • E183 .G68 1993 Limit Suriano, Gregory R., 1951. Great American speeches.
  • E98.O7 F76 1995 Miller, Lee. From the heart : voices of the American Indian.
  • HF5718.22 .W47 2002 Westerfield, Jude. I have to give a presentation, now what?!
  • HQ1391.U5 A44 1995 Raymond, Marķa Elena. American women speak : voices of American women in public life.
  • PN4121 .C55 2002 Clinton, Keith. Facing a crowd : how to foil your fear of public speaking.
  • PN6121 .C Copeland, Lewis, ed. The world's great speeches. 2d rev. ed.
  • PN6121 .P4 Peterson, Houston, 1897- ed. A treasury of the world's great speeches.
  • PN6122 .F723 2001 Limit Frothingham, Andrew. Last minute speeches and toasts.
  • PN6122 .L4 1997 Safire, William. Lend me your ears : great speeches in history. Rev. and expanded ed.
  • PS661 .I53 1999 Carroll, Andrew. In our own words : extraordinary speeches of the American century.
  • PS661 .R46 1997 Oversize Logue, Cal M. Representative American speeches, 1937-1997.
  • PS662 .R4 Rein, Irving J. comp. The relevant rhetoric; principles of public speaking through case studies.
  • PS668 .B3 Peterson, Owen, 1924- ed. Representative American speeches.
  • Search for Opposing Viewpoints in the ecard catalog for a list of books that contain pro/con arguments on various topics.

Magazines - Paper and online versions

Paper copies of magazines are available for browsing or research.
Research can be done using our online full-text periodical databases.
  • Transcripts and background information on speeches can be found in newspapers in LexisNexis.
  • EbscoHost and Wilson provide access to Vital Speeches and background information on various topics.

Additional materials can be located using ArticleFirst or PapersFirst
  • These databases do not contain full-text articles
  • Use our list of periodical titles to see if articles you find are online
  • If the title is not available, most articles can be obtained through interlibrary loan.

Many journals have an online site.
Periodical databases can be accessed through the Internet 24 hours a day
  • Most databases can be accessed from home computers
  • Obtain a password from the library
  • For help, follow the directions on our home page or ask a library worker

Internet

The challenge for any researcher is to find a manageable number of sites that contain high quality information. Most sites are of questionable quality and the average search finds thousands of sites. Excellent sites are usually maintained by universities or reputable organizations.
  • Tutorials and guides to using the Internet for research are available.
  • General Searching-Links to different types of search engines are on the library's Internet page.
    • Gateways and directories provide information and many have links to other sites:
  • Great American Speeches is an on-line collections of speech texts covering 80 years of political oratory.
  • American Rhetoric is a database of public speeches, sermons, legal proceedings, lectures, debates, and interviews.
  • Silva Rhetoricae provides a guide to the terms of classical and renaissance rhetoric.
  • Douglass Directory contains a general collection of links to speeches and historical documents.
  • The Debatabas is a resource for student debaters with arguments for and against hundreds of debating topics.
  • Web Sites for Political Speeches contains links to political speech collections and debates.
  • feminist.com has speeches and resources with a feminist perspective.
  • InfoUSA: Famous Speeches links to collections of famous speeches.
    • Statistics for debate topics or advocacy papers can be found in several databases.
  • Full-text statistical information on various topics is available in Mater of Fact.
  • Polling the Nations contains over 14,000 opinion surveys taken in the US and 90 other countries.
  • Fedstats is a gateway to statistics from over 100 U.S. Federal agencies.
    • Internet libraries have links to reference books, ebooks, Web sites and other resources to help with your research.
  • Internet Public Library provides general library services to Internet users.
  • Infomine contains scholarly Internet resources.
  • Librarians' Index to the Internet is a searchable, annotated subject directory of Internet resources.
  • Best Information on the Net is a directory of online reference resources.

    • eBooks

    A convenient way to search for information is to use the library's collection of ebooks. All of the titles are cataloged in the subscription databases and they can be accessed through our card catalog the same as print books. A more complete search can be made by searching the databases that contain the ebooks.