COMM B1: Informative Speeches: Citing Sources Orally

Oral citations: When you are delivering your speeches, you should plan on telling the audience the source(s) of your information while you are speaking. (from James Madison University Communication Center)

A good speech should be well-researched, and many times you will be using facts, statistics, quotes, or opinions from others throughout. If you do not cite your sources orally, this can be considered plagiarism and is unethical. This applies to direct quotations, paraphrasing, and summarizing. You must orally cite, even if you will be providing a bibliography, works cited, or reference list to your instructor.  (adapted from Sante Fe College Oral Citation LibGuide)

(adapted from College of Southern Nevada's Oral Citation LibGuide)

CREDIBILITY

An oral citation conveys the reliability, validity and currency of your information. Citing your sources orally lets your audience know that you have researched your topic.  The stronger your sources are, the stronger your credibility will be.

PLAGIARISM

Bakersfield College’s Student Academic Integrity Policy defines plagiarism as “ the act of using the ideas or work of another person or persons as if they were one's own, without giving credit to the source.” This policy, along with Bakersfield College’s Student Code of Conduct, Code #15, prohibit plagiarism.

Failure to provide an oral citation is considered a form of plagiarism, even if you cite your sources in a written outline, bibliography, works cited page or list of references.

When you are delivering a speech, you must provide an oral citation for any words, information or ideas that are not your own.  

(adapted from Gateway Community and Technical College COM 181 LibGuide)

• Oral citations will always be in a narrative style; you mention citation details about the work as part of your presentation.
• Place the citation before the information to give weight and authority to what you're about to say.
• You must cite words or ideas that come from another person or you will be plagiarizing their work!
• When you are providing information that is not commonly known, such as statistics, expert opinions, or study results.
• Whenever you use a direct quotation. 
• If you are unsure if a citation is required, be safe and cite the source.

The best practice is to provide a full oral citation that would include the author(s) (assuming that is available), the name of the publication, the specific publication date and year, and any other pertinent information.  How you cite your information should highlight the most important aspects of that citation (e.g., we may not know who “Dr. Smith” is, but if Dr. Smith is identified as a lead researcher of race relations at New York University, the citation will take on more credibility).    (adapted from Tips for Oral Citations from Eastern Illinois University)

(adapted from Gateway Community and Technical College COM 181 LibGuide)

The first mention of a work should include all citation elements; subsequent mentions of that work only require the author as long as source attribution remains clear (i.e. you have not used a different source in intervening narrative).

What are the elements of an oral citation?

• Source or Publication
  • If the source might not be recognized by your listeners, add a comment to help establish its credibility. 
  • Include enough detail to help your listener locate the work later.

• Date

  • Do give the full date in citations that refer to newspaper or magazine articles.
  • Particularly important if there are statistics or data that change over time.
  • Mention the publication year for books and journals.
  • If there is there is no date, as with some websites, state the date that you accessed the material.
• Author
  • Also indicate the Author's credentials (why they are an authority on the subject).
  • If there are two authors, use both names in your citation.
  • If there are more than two authors, name the first author and use "and associates" or "and colleagues".
• Title (if author has multiple works in the cited source) 
  • If the full title is long, use a shortened version that makes sense and still communicates enough information for your listener to locate the work.

How do I orally cite a quotation?

• You should make in clear that you are directly quoting another person rather than paraphrasing or summarizing their work. You can use a signal phrase like "... and I quote" or "As Jonas said..." to introduce the cited material.

(adapted from Tips for Oral Citations from Eastern Illinois University)

For a magazine article

• “According to an article by Ben Elgin in the February 20th, 2006 issue of Business Week, we can expect Google and Yahoo’s supremacy as the search engine giants to be challenged by new U.S. startups.  Elgin reports that  …”

•  “As reported in the February 20th, 2006 issue of Business Week, many new companies are getting into the search engine business. This article explains that …”

•  “A February 20th, 2006 Business Week article reported that Google and Yahoo will face stiff competition in the search engine business …” 

For a newspaper article

• “On February 22nd, 2006, USA Today reported that …”

•  “An article about the effects of global warming appeared in the February 22nd edition of USA Today. Todd Smith’s report focused on the alarming rate of …”

• “An article on global warming that appeared in the February 22nd issue of USA Today sounded the alarm …”

For a website 

• “On January 12. 2019, I visited the “Earthquakes” page of www.ready.gov, the website of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. businesses and citizens …”

• “According to the Earthquakes page on U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s website, …”

• “Helpful information about business continuity planning can be found on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s website, located at www.ready.gov …”

• “On January 12, 2019, I consulted the website maintained by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to learn more about what businesses should do to plan for an emergency.  In the section entitled ‘Plan to stay in business,’ several recommendations for maintaining continuity of business operations were offered.  These suggestions included …”

For a journal article

• “A study published on December 12, 2004, in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology reported that incidents of workplace aggression have increased …”

• “Research conducted by Dr. Bailey and Dr. Cross at Stanford University found that incidents of workplace aggression have increased over the past five years.  Their 2004 study published in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology in December of that year reported that …”

• “According to a December, 2004 study published in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology, …”

• “A December 2004 study by Bailey and Cross in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology, …”

• “In a December, 2004 study published in Journal of Applied Social Psychology, Bailey and Cross reported that …”

• “A December 2004 study by Stanford University researchers found that incidents of workplace aggression …”

• “Bailey and Cross, experts in workplace aggression, authored a study that shows that incidents of aggression in the workplace are increasing.  Their December 2004 Journal of Applied Social Psychology article reports that …”

For a book

• “In her 2005 book, Good Health at Any Age, Dr. Gabriella Campos describes how we can maintain our health through healthy eating.  She recommends …”

• “Gabriella Campos, an expert in nutrition, describes what is needed to maintain a healthy diet in her 2005 book Good Health at Any Age.  She contends that …”

• “In her recent book, Good Health at Any Age, Dr. Gabriella Campos recommends …”

• “In Good Health at Any Age, Dr. Gabriella Campos, an expert in nutrition, offers suggestions for …”

For a television program

• “On February 21, 2021, our local PBS station aired a program called “The Insurgency.”  In this program …”

• “According to “The Insurgency,” a Frontline program aired by PBS on February 21st,2021 ….”

• “Frontline, a PBS program, focused on the Iraq War in the television program entitled “The Insurgency.”  This show aired on February 21, 2021, and focused on the problems confronting …”

For a YouTube video

• “The Children and Young People’s Well-being Service, a branch of the UK National Health Service, uploaded Getting a Good Night’s Sleep–Top Tips for Teens to Youtube on January 7, 2021. In the video, they explain that caffeine is a stimulant and we will get better sleep if we avoid it for at least 6 hours before bedtime.”

• “Nemours Foundation is non-profit organization established in 1936,dedicated to improving children’s health. In their How to help your teens get enough sleep video, uploaded to Youtube on July 6, 2022 they explain that teens’ body clocks change during puberty and teens naturally fall asleep later at night, which often leads to sleep depravation.”

For a personal interview

• “On February 20th I conducted a personal interview with Dr. Desiree Ortez, a psychology professor here at Eastern, to learn more about student responses to peer pressure. Dr. Ortez told me that …”

• “I conducted an interview with Dr. Desiree Ortez, a psychology professor at Eastern Illinois University, and learned that peer pressure is a big problem for university students.”

• “In an interview, I conducted with Dr. Desiree Ortez, a psychology professor, I learned that …”

• “I met with Dr. Desiree Ortez, a psychology professor here at Eastern, to learn more about …   She told me that peer pressure is a major factor contributing to academic failure in college.”

• “In a telephone interview I conducted with Dr. Forest Wiley, a gerontology professor at University of Illinois, I learned that the elderly are likely to feel ...”

• “I emailed Dr. Forest Wiley, a gerontology professor at the University of Illinois, to get additional information on his research on the aging’s use of the Internet.  He told me  …”