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SPCH Library Guide | Professor Duren

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In addition to finding the texts of speeches through library resources like books and the databases, you can also find the texts to many speeches for free online.

The list of websites below are good resources for finding speeches. Remember to evaluate any web sources you use for authority, objectivity, currency, and relevancy.

This list of books contains the text of speeches you might find interesting or helpful as you start your research.You can search the catalog for more, or ask a librarian for recommendations.

When searching the catalog, combine keywords like the speaker's name or occupation with speech, oration, or address. So you could search the phrases:

  • president and speech
  • Lincoln and address

In the list below, click on the book cover to go to the catalog record for that book. Many times you'll find a table of contents so you can find out which speeches or speakers are represented in the book.

Use the call number listed to find the book on the shelf. Unless noted after the call number, all books are at the South Library.

The Academic Search Complete database contains every article from Vital Speeches of the Day from 1934 to the present. To access the database, go to the library's list of online resources and open the General Research tab. Academic Search Complete is the first one in the list. It's a great place to start your research since it's our biggest, most comprehensive database.

From the main search screen, click on Advanced Search:

 

In the first search box, enter Vital Speeches of the Day and change the drop-down menu to 'SO Journal Name.' This is telling the database that we want all of our search results to come from one publication, Vital Speeches of the Day.

In the second search box, you can enter a second search term - perhaps a person, a topic, or an event. In this example, I'm interested in speeches given by President Obama, so I've entered Obama and changed the drop-down box to 'AU Author.' If I was interested in any speech that mentions President Obama, I could have just left the drop-down box on Select a Field (optional).

 

 

The search above returned 34 results, and all of them are speeches given by President Obama that appear in Vital Speeches of the Day.

 

Special Occasion Speeches

This page in the guide will help you with research for your speech on your self interests.

Use the tabs across the top for tips on researching the day you were born, your interests and hobbies, your culture, and your career goals.

A good way to research the day you were born is to find newspaper articles that were published on your birthday. 

Try doing an archival newspaper search on Google to search for articles. Click here for a list of newspapers in Google's archives.

To search, go to Google and type in site:google.com/newspapers and a search term:

 

I typed in "Cape Cod" because I was born and raised there, but you can type in anything you like.

Once you get search results, click on Search Tools. A new menu of options will open below. 

Click on Any Time and select the Custom Range option:

 

 

Then enter the date of your birthday. You might have better luck entering the entire month of your birth, rather than the exact date:

 

 

Google will bring back scanned copies of newspapers in your search results. You may want to browse the rest of the paper to see what else was going on in the news that day.

To do that, click on the Browse this newspaper link or use the scanned image to the right of the article:

 

 

Having trouble finding an article published on your birthday? Contact a librarian!

There are many ways you can research your hobbies and interests. You might try to find a book on the subject using our library catalog, or you could search for newspaper, magazine, or journal articles about your hobby in the library databases.

For tips on searching the library catalog for books, check out the LibGuide titled Books: Using the Library Catalog.

If you decide to search the databases for articles, a good database to start your search in is Academic Search Complete - it's the largest, most comprehensive database we have. Remember to limit your search to Full Text articles. For more tips on searching that database, check out the Academic Search Complete page under the Articles tab in this guide. 

You can also do research on the Web. Does your hobby or interest have an official association or members' group? You could find out by searching Google with keywords that describe your interest and association, organization, club, chapter, or official. For example, I love playing Scrabble, so I searched Google using the phrase "scrabble association," and got these results:

When I followed the first results to the National Scrabble Association's webpage, I found a great article about the history of Scrabble.

If you decide to research your culture for your speech about yourself, a good place to start is the library's Reference section. We have many multi-volume encyclopedias with information specifically about cultures, both abroad and as they have developed in the United States. The list of encyclopedias below may be helpful as you start your research.


After you look at an encyclopedia article, you may wany to search for more materials by looking for books in the library catalog or articles in the library databases.

Another good resource is the CIA World Factbook, available online. Select the country or location you're interested in from the drop-down box on the main page, and you'll find information about that country's government, people, geography, and much more.

The books below provide information about hundreds of careers, including the education and certifications you need to join the profession, salary ranges, what you can expect to do on an average day on the job, professional associations, and other helpful information. Both books are available at the Reference desk on the first floor of the South Library.

You can also do research about your career online. The Occupational Outlook Handbook is available online. 

You can also try the library's Job & Career Accelerator database. For help searching this database, take a look at this slideshow.

Another good way is to search for the websites of professional associations in your field. Usually those websites will have a Careers section with resources describing the profession, what training and education is needed, and open positions. You can get a sense of what the career is all about by reading job descriptions for open positions in your field.

Perform a Google search using a keyword about your career combined with profession, association, organization, or union. In this example, I searched "library association." A good place to start out might be the Education & Careers section.

 

For an excellent start to your career research, check out the LibGuide on Career Research created by one of our librarians.

Choosing a Viable Charity

You are required to use 3 sources for the charity speech. One source must be the Charity Navigator website: 

 

For your other 2 sources, you can use  websites that rate charities and the websites of the charities themselves: 

 

You should also search for magazine and newspaper articles about different charities in the library databasesA good general database to try first is Academic Search Complete:

Product Research Using Google

For your speech using the motivated sequence on a product you want to endorse, you may want to use two Google tools for your research: Google Products and Google Patents.

You can find these Google tools by heading to Google and clicking on "more" and selecting "even more" from the menu:

 

Scroll down and select Patent Search or Product Search:

 

The interface looks very similar to the Google Web search:

 

You could use Google Product in order to do research on where your product is available, what the price range is for the product, and who the main manufacturers are. In this example, I've searched for 'cotton organic shirt' to see the range of products available like that:

You can also search for a specific brand and product to research the range of prices and availability.

You might find Google Patents helpful when doing your research on a product. You can search over 7 million patents to download the PDF file of the patent, research what the product claims to do, or look at diagrams of the patented product.

Google Patent looks very similar to other Google tools:

 

Enter your search terms. In this example, I'm searching for the Perfect Push-Up exercise equipment:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When you click on the search results you want, you can read the text of the patent online, or download the PDF version:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you scroll down, you will also find the stated claims of the product and the schematic drawings included in the patent:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Researching your Career Field

 

The Occupational Outlook Handbook is published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Use the link below and type your career into the "Search Handbook" box to search for information about your career, including job description, education needed, salary, and more:

 

A great source for career information are professional associations: they provide resources and advocate on behalf of people in your profession. Their websites usually have a Careers section that provides information for people entering a profession.

Try a Google search with your career and "professional association" as search terms or head to any of these popular professional association sites: 

 

The Encyclopedia of Careers & Vocational Guidance is an excellent reference book to help with careers. It has information about salary, job description, advancement, and more. It is located at the Librarian desk on the South campus. You will not be able to take the book out of the library, but you will be able to make photocopies and scans. 

 

The Job & Career Accelerator database available through the SanJac library provides information about thousands of different careers. Use the link below to access the database (you will have to log in with name and G number if you are off-campus - contact the library if you can't!) and use the slideshow for step-by-step directions on searching.  

https://www.sanjac.edu/library| Central Library: 281-476-1850 | Generation Park Campus: 281-998-6150 x8133 | North Library: 281-459-7116 | South Library: 281-998-6150 ext. 3306