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Step 3: Research Your Topic 219

nontraditional student at your college. You’ve been told that your audience will Communication
consist mainly of working women in their 30s and 40s who are just beginning Choice Point
college. As you prepare your speech with this audience in mind, ask yourself audience Knowledge
“what if” questions. Keeping such questions in mind will force you to consider From the expressions on the
possible answers as you prepare your speech: What if the audience has a large faces of your audience, you immediately rec-
number of men? What if the audience consists of women much older than 40? ognize that they’re totally lost; they just don’t
What if the audience members also come with their spouses or their children? have the knowledge needed to understand
what you’re saying. What are some things you
might do when faced with an audience lacking
address audience Responses Directly Another way of dealing with audi- knowledge? Would you mention that you
ence responses is to confront them directly. To those who are giving disagreement know they’re lost? What might you say?
feedback, for example, you might say this:

You may disagree with this position, but all I ask is that you hear me out and see if this new
way of doing things will not simplify your accounting procedures.

Or, to those who seem impatient, you might offer this response:
I know this has been a long day, but give me just a few more minutes and you’ll be able to
save hours recording your accounts.
By responding to your listeners’ reactions and feedback, you acknowledge their needs.
You let them know that you hear them, that you’re with them, and that you’re responding to
their very real needs.

Video Choice Point
Preparing for a speech
Margo is excited about talking about her passion, baseball, and is planning to give a speech on it
for her communication course. She feels confident about her knowledge of the topic, but she’s concerned about
her ability to apply that in the speaking arena. She is especially concerned that her audience may not find her a
credible speaker, and she has asked her friend Vicki for help as she contemplates her communication options. See
how her choices play out in the video “Preparing for a Speech” , which looks at the initial steps involved in public
speaking, the preparation of the speech itself, the form of its presentation, and the attitudinal approach important
for public speaking effectiveness. All of these individual steps involve choices between doing one thing or another.
Watch the Video “Homecoming Party” at MyCommunicationLab

Objectives self-check
● Can you explain the sociological characteristics (for example, gender, culture, age) and
psychological characteristics (willingness, knowledge, and favorableness) of an audience?
● Can you use these characteristics in analyzing your own audiences?

Step 3: Research Your Topic

Throughout the process of preparing your public speeches, you’ll conduct research to find
examples, illustrations, and definitions to help you inform your listeners; testimony, statistics,
and arguments to support your major ideas; and personal anecdotes, quotations, and stories
to help you bring your topics to life. Here we consider some general research principles, some
major sources of information, ways to evaluate the research you find, and suggestions for
integrating research into your speech.

ReseaRch PRinciPles
Here are a few principles to help you research your speeches more effectively and more efficiently.
● Begin your search by examining what you already know. Write down, for example, what
relevant books, articles, or websites you’re familiar with or people who might know some-
thing about the topic.