
Verbal citations are similar to what you would do in writing a paper when you cite your source. You will want to tell your audience the source of the research you are citing in your speech by verbally citing your sources.

These types of sources can be okay to use for certain speech topics, but generally for informative speeches they should be avoided. In most cases, you want to draw supporting materials from sources that don’t have a particular agenda or bias behind them. Exceptions exist for some types of historical research, but in general for most speech topics try to draw from current research. In most cases, more recent research is better than older research.

The materials should come from sources that are reliable, knowledgeable, and credible about the subject. Especially if the claims seem outside of the norm, too good to be true, or controversial in some way, it’s important to cross-check the data with other sources. The materials should be free from factual errors or inaccurate statements. The supporting material you cite should be: When creating your speech, you should carefully vet-or examine-the facts and data in your supporting materials. Therefore, your speech is going to be effective only if the audience trusts what you say. How you show this trustworthiness is by using supporting materials. They want to trust that the person speaking knows what they are talking about. The audience will not want to listen to a speaker who uses either poor or no sources. The type of supporting material you use and how you present it will impact the effectiveness of your speech and it will reflect upon your credibility as a speaker (or your ethos) as stated in the list above.


This research is essential for creating a credible, informative speech that your audience will want to give their attention to. You can obtain supporting materials by doing research. The speaker in this webinar is using an information slide to describe the work her organization is doing.įacts and data are what is called supporting material.
