When selecting a title for your speech, you should avoid phrasing it as a question.

Basics

Citing sources properly is essential to avoiding plagiarism in your writing. Not citing sources properly could imply that the ideas, information, and phrasing you are using are your own, when they actually originated with another author. Plagiarism doesn't just mean copy and pasting another author's words. Review Amber's blog post, "Avoiding Unintentional Plagiarism," for more information! Plagiarism can occur when authors:

  • Do not include enough citations for paraphrased information,
  • Paraphrase a source incorrectly,
  • Do not use quotation marks, or
  • Directly copy and paste phrasing from a source without quotation marks or citations.

Read more about how to avoid these types of plagiarism on the following subpages and review the Plagiarism Detection & Revision Skills video playlist on this page. For more information on avoiding plagiarism, see our Plagiarism Prevention Resource Kit.

Also make sure to consult our resources on citations to learn about the correct formatting for citations.

What to Consider

Citation issues can appear when writers use too much information from a source, rather than including their own ideas and commentary on sources' information. Here are some factors to consider when citing sources:

  1. Did I provide adequate commentary on the cited material?
    Remember that the cited material should illustrate rather than substitute for your point. Make sure your paper is more than a collection of ideas from your sources; it should provide an original interpretation of that material. For help with creating this commentary while also avoiding personal opinion, see our Commentary vs. Opinion resource.
  2. Did I begin and end my paragraphs in my own voice?
    The opening sentence of each paragraph should be your topic sentence, and the final sentence in the paragraph should conclude your point and lead into the next. Without these aspects, you leave your reader without a sense of the paragraph's main purpose. Additionally, the reader may not understand your reasons for including that material.
  3. Have I used the cited material to support my specific thesis?
    All material that you cite should contribute to your main argument (also called a thesis or purpose statement). When reading the literature, keep that argument in mind, noting ideas or research that speaks specifically to the issues in your particular study. See our synthesis demonstration for help learning how to use the literature in this way.
  4. Have I relied too heavily on one source?
    Most research papers should include a variety of sources from the last 3-5 years. You may find one particularly useful study, but try to balance your references to that study with research from other authors. Otherwise, your paper becomes a book report on that one source and lacks richness of theoretical perspective.
  5. Have I included too many direct quotations?
    Direct quotations are best avoided whenever possible. While direct quotations can be useful for illustrating a rhetorical choice of your author, in most other cases paraphrasing the material is more appropriate. Using your own words by paraphrasing will better demonstrate your understanding and will allow you to emphasize the ways in which the ideas contribute to your paper's main argument.

Plagiarism Detection & Revising Skills Video Playlist

Plagiarism Detection and Revision Skills Video Playlist (8 videos)
 

Citing Sources Video Playlist

Citing Sources Video Playlist (7 videos)

PREPARING THE MAIN POINTS FOR A PRESENTATION
DEFINITION: Main points are the major divisions of the body of a presentation.
Each main point introduces one idea, or makes one claim, that helps to advance the central idea (thesis) of the presentation.

LIMIT the number of main topics in the body of the presentation. Develop between two to five main points. Audiences often have trouble following a presentation that tries to cover too many major topics.

PHRASE main points in parallel language if possible. The similarity in wording that parallel phrasing introduces will help your audiences identify the major topics of the presentation.

STATE main points as concisely as possible. Use simple, declarative sentences to introduce each point you wish to make in the presentation.

BALANCE the development given to each main point. Each topic should receive roughly the same amount of time. If some points are developed at great length while others are just briefly noted, the presentation gives the impression that some main points are unimportant.

CONNECT each main point to the thesis of your presentation. The best way to avoid wandering off on a tangent is to ask yourself why this particular point is pertinent to the central idea of the presentation you are giving. Avoid the temptation to explore amusing facts and ideas which, while interesting in an of themselves, have very little to do with the central goal of your presentation.

USE clear transitional statements to indicate movement to a new point. Transitions alert the audience that you are finished with one point and are moving on. Without them, you risk leaving your audience behind as you advance to a new topic.

GUIDELINES FOR USING SUPPORTING MATERIALS IN A PRESENTATION

Definition: The term supporting materials refers to the information a person provides to develop and/or justify a idea that is offered for a listener’s consideration. Supporting materials serve a variety of functions in oral presentations: to clarify the speaker’s point, to emphasize the point, to make the point more interesting, and to furnish a basis that enables others to believe the speaker’s point. Without supporting materials, an oral presentation is little more than a string of assertions (claims without backing).

General Guidelines for Supporting Materials

1. Pertinence: Each piece of support should be clearly relevant to the point it is used to support.

2. Variety: The presentation should not rely excessively on one type of support (such as examples) but should instead use a number of different forms of support.

3. Amount: The presentation should include a sufficient amount of support (enough to make the ideas presented both clear and compelling to the audience).

4. Detail: Each piece of support needs to be developed to the point that audience members can both understand the item of support and can see how the item backs up the point it is used to support.

5. Appropriateness: Each piece of supporting material should meet the demands that the audience and the occasion place on the kind of material that is likely to be received favorably. A “scholarly” audience, for example, will probably place higher demands on the speaker’s sources of information than a “general” audience would. A “graphic” description of a particular topic, while entirely fitting in some occasions, might be out of place in another.

Specific Guidelines for Supporting Materials

Supporting materials are usually offered in recurring forms. Depending upon the form of support provided, you should ask yourself some questions to determine if you are making the best possible use of that kind of material:

For Examples/Narratives:
Is the example/narrative representative?
Is the example/narrative sufficiently vivid?
Is the example/narrative personalized?
If necessary, was the source cited in the speech?

For Statistics:
Is the source of the statistic reliable?
Has the source of the statistics been cited in the speech?
Has the statistic been used correctly?
Have you rounded-off complicated statistics?
Have you interpreted the statistic (explained it in another way)?
Have you done something to emphasize the statistic?
Have you used statistics sparingly?

For Testimony:
Is the source qualified to make the statement you’re quoting?
Is the quotation accurate?
Have you attributed the testimony prior to the quote?
Is the quotation brief?
Have you clearly signaled where the testimony begins and ends?
Are the source’s conclusions reasonably free from bias?

For Comparison/Contrast:
Is comparison justified?
Is the comparison meaningful?
Have you avoided overdoing the comparison?

When selecting a title for your speech you should?

When selecting a title for your speech, you should avoid phrasing it as a question. In a preparation outline, main points and subpoints should be written as full sentences.

When choosing a topic you should avoid topics that?

1. Choose a subject area that interests you and that will interest the readers. Try to avoid topics that are overly used such as abortion or gun control. It is important to choose a topic that is academic in nature - something that people will be doing research on.

Which of the following are guidelines for a speech title if you use one multiple select question?

Which of the following are guidelines for a speech title, if you use one? Draw the attention of your audience, encapsulate the gist of your speech, keep the title brief.

When conducting a question and answer session a speaker should?

When conducting a question-and-answer session, you should usually rest or paraphrase each question before you answer it. To keep control of the question-and-answer session, a speaker should usually allow no more than one follow-up question from each questioner.