Printer Friendly VersionPublic Speaking
Communication Studies Research Guide
Browse for a Topic | Find Articles | Find Books | Find Statistics | Find Quotations | Find Images | Find Speeches
Whether you are researching a topic or looking for images and quotes, use this guide to help you prepare a speech. Be sure to ask for help at the Reference Desk if you’d like it!
Browse for a Topic
Don’t have any idea where to start? Consider some of the sources below.
Reference Books & Research Databases
Many subject encyclopedia offer great ideas for speech topics. In addition, the following works specialize in looking at issues.
CQ Researcher Plus Archive (CQ Press) Full text reports on current and controversial issues in U.S. politics, health care, education, economics...[more info] Coverage: 1923 - present
Editorials On File Actual editorials published in North American newspapers. Many of these are online as well, but these are easy to browse.[more info]
LexisNexis Congressional Research Searchable full text congressional publications and legislative research...[more info] Coverage: 1969 - present
FactSearch (Cancelled) (OCLC) This database has been discontinued by the publisher and will no longer be available after June 30, 2007.[more info] Coverage: 1984 - present
LexisNexis Statistical This resource is not longer available 2/28/08. An index with abstracts for statistical information from over 100,000 U.S. government publications, state...[more info] Coverage: 1973 - present
Roper Center for Public Opinion Research (Lexis Nexis) This resource is no longer available 12/28/07. Opinion poll results on politics and government, public institutions, international relations, business, social affairs and consumer behavior and preferences...[more info] Coverage: Current Periodicals
The following magazines may offer some ideas. Current issues are located in our Current Periodicals room. Check Periodical Locator for older issues.American Demographics
Congressional Digest
Discover
Newsweek
Time
Utne Reader
Find Articles
Instead of finding articles by browsing, you can use an index to find articles more efficiently on specific subject. Take me to the list of Periodical Indexes & Abstracts for Communication Studies
Find Books
Use LEO Library Catalog to find books, encyclopedias, videos, government documents, etc. in the JMU Libraries’ collections. Subject searches are more precise than Word searches. Word searches will return more results.
Find Statistics
Nothing convinces quite so well as an accurate, well-placed statistic. The resources below can help you find the perfect stat.
American Attitudes: Who Thinks What About the Issues that Shape Our Lives (Ref HN 90 .P8 M58 1998)
An American Profile – Opinions and Behavior, 1972-1989 (Ref HN 90 .P8 W6 1990)
Human Values and Beliefs (Ref HM 73 .I544 1998)
Statistical Abstract of the United States (also at the Reference Desk and at Ref HA202 .A35)
Find Quotations
Warm up your audience with a well-selected quote. The library has over 100 books dedicated just to quotations. Find most of them in Reference or the Stacks between PN6080 and PN6095. Find more by searching in LEO for QUOTATIONS as a subject. Here are just a few examples:And I Quote: the definitive collection of quotes, sayings, and jokes for the contemporary speechmaker (Ref PN4193.I5 A6 2003)
Bartlett’s Book of Anecdotes (Ref CT109 .B37 2000)
Includes Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (10th ed.), Columbia World of Quotations, and Simpson's Contemporary Quotations.
Familiar Quotations (a.k.a. “Bartlett’s”) (PN6081 .B27)
The Oxford Dictionary of thematic quotations (Ref PN6081 .O94 2000)
Find Images
Google's Image Search is huge, but the resource below offers online images that are legally offered for class presentations.
AP Images
EBSCO Image Collection
images.MD
Find Speeches
Learn from others by reading, listening, or watching videos in print, audio, or video.
American Rhetoric Speech Bank Index and full text of over 5000 audio and video (streaming) versions of public speeches...[more info] Coverage: 354 AD - present Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches in History (PN6122 .L4 1992)
Great Speeches (Videotape 689—11 parts)
Great American Speeches: 80 Years of Political Oratory
Includes transcripts and selected audio.
Voices of multicultural America: notable speeches delivered by African, Asian, Hispanic, and Native Americans, 1790-1995 (PS663.M55 V64 1996)
