Attributed to: http:// www.flickr.com/photos/maryhodder/ 3068391976/

Browsing for Context - Google

Library Databases - Reference & Academic Overviews

You can access the following resources from this guide or Holman Library's database page -- anywhere you have Internet access. 

When you start researching a topic, you want to identify important words and phrases to search, as well as related ideas that can help you build up your speech.

A special note about background research: Start with your general BROAD topic, and don't be afraid to look at related items! In my example below, I couldn't find a good article on milkshakes, but I did find one on ice cream that also covered how milkshakes became popular in the US.

Below is an example of a sample topic and how I might pull out related ideas, some from reading an overview in a reference article

(click on image to enlarge)

Some of the keywords above came from my background reading of a reference article -- for example, from an encyclopedia, I learned that drug stores, in particular Walgreens, were where people went to buy milkshakes when the drink first because popular in the United States. 

That may not tell me how to make a milkshake, but it is an interesting piece of history - I might use it to open my speech and grab the audience's interest.