CMST 220 Public Speaking

This guide is to help you find good topics and evidence for your Informative or Persuasive/Position speeches in CMST& 220: Public Speaking.

Find Books, Articles and More

Find Books, Articles, Videos and More with Holman Library One Search

  1. Click the link above to access the Holman Library One Search which searches for books, videos, journals and more.
  2. Construct a search.
  • FIRST, start with a broad search.
    • Example: reproductive rights OR abortion
  • THEN, add words with to your initial search with "and"  to focus your search.
    • Example: (reproductive rights OR abortion) AND "state laws"
  • You will likely need perform at least a couple different searches with different search words

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search fields, showing the search outlined in the text above, using the boolean tools

  1. Filter in the left column by source type = BOOKS

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search filter showing the "books" filter, under "Source TYpes" selected

  1. If a result shows a location of a book, that means it is available on library shelves.

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search results showing the location of the book inside the library, the call number and main collection

Make sure you know the following:

  1. If a result shows "view online" you can read the book online:

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search results showing the "view online" option to click and read the book online

  1. Manipulate the online book
  • look at the author, publisher and list of references to help you determine if it is a scholarly book
  • find chapters that are most relevant to you
  • use the "search within" feature to find specific words in the book. 
    • example: If a book is about abortion, but you are specifically interested in legal aspects, you could do two searches:
      • search = legislation
      • search = "court cases"
  • Is there a list of references at the end of each chapter or at the end of the book?  That may be one indication that the book is scholarly.
  • Note that these features may look slightly different in different database platforms, but the strategy is the same:

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search results are shown with various tools or elements, as outlined in the text above the image

Find Scholarly "Peer-Reviewed" Articles 

  1. Click the link above to access the Holman Library One Search which searches for books, videos, journals and more.

  2. Construct a search.  You will likely need perform at least a couple different searches with different search words

  • Add search words to the top search box.  
  • If there are synonyms or related words to the concept, you have the option to add them with an "OR" on the same line.
  • Use AND to narrow and focus your search
  • Use quotation marks to search by phrases

(click on image to enlarge)1. Add search words to the top search box. If there are synonyms or related words to the concept, you have the option to add them with an "OR" on the same line. 2 Option:Use AND to narrow and focus your search 3. Option: Use quotation marks to search by phrases

  1. Filter in the left column by show only = PEER-REVIEWED JOURNALS

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filter by "show only" = peer-reviewed

  1. Click "view online" to read the article:

the record is shown with the "view online" link to access the item featured

  1. The library has articles in different vendor "platforms," so the interfaces may look slightly different, but the strategies to manipulate the articles are similar:

  • Manipulate the article - EBSCO platform

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image shows various tools and parts of the record outlined in the bulleted text below the image

  • Read the abstract (summary) to determine if the article is relevant to your needs
  • Click "full text" to read the entire article. Double check to make sure it meets the criteria for a scholarly "peer-reviewed" article
  • "Subject terms" may be helpful for future searches that you perform
  • Save a link to this article so you can access it later
  • There is a database-generated citation, but they are occasionally incorrect.
  • There are the pieces of info that you can use to create  a citation on your own

  • Manipulate the article - PROQUEST platform

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images shows the various elements on the page outlined in the bulleted text below the image

  • Read the abstract (summary) to determine if the article is relevant to your needs
  • Click "full text" to read the entire article. Double check to make sure it meets the criteria for a scholarly "peer-reviewed" article
  • "Subject terms" may be helpful for future searches that you perform
  • Save a link to this article so you can access it later
  • There is a database-generated citation, but they are occasionally incorrect.
  • There are the pieces of info that you can use to create a citation on your own

Google Books

Find previews and chapters of books

  1. Search Google Books to find full text or partial text of books online
  2. Choose books that indicate "Preview" You may not see the entire text of the book, but many of the chapters may be included. You can often find great information in these chapters.  You can also limit by publication date.

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image showing search strategies for Google Books

  1. Are there pages missing from your preview that you would like to read?  Make an Interlibrary Loan Request using the following link so that the book can be sent to Green River's Holman Library for you to borrow. Note: This process may take one week

4. To see an example of how to make a request, click below

Google Scholar

Using Google Scholar can be a great way to quickly see what kinds of scholarly articles have been written on a topic - and, if you're lucky, even link you to a free PDF version or at least give you enough information about a source so that you can request it (for free) from GRC! 

Interlibrary Loans

Get books and articles from other libraries

Options:
  1. If you find a book or article online (from Google or another search engine) and cannot access the full text, you can request it from Interlibrary Loan. Note: This process may take one week, so plan ahead!
  1. If you would like to search other libraries to see what books they have on your topic, use...
  1. Click on the WorldCat link above. Enter search words to find books that are owned by libraries across the United States
  2. Note down the author, title, publisher, publication date and ISBN number of the book
  3. Click the link below to make an Interlibrary Loan Request using the following link so that the book can be sent to Green River's Holman Library for you to borrow:

Note: This process may take one week, so plan ahead!

Click to see an example of how to make a request:

Find Articles in Library Databases

Sometimes it is helpful to search directly in Holman Library article databases because they give you helpful search limiters and sometimes suggest search words for you.