•        Primary sources (your first-hand investigation into something)

o   Interviews that you conduct

o   Surveys that you conduct

o   Focus groups that you conduct

o   Your original analysis of various things (letters, news articles, TV shows, ads, data sets, etc.)

•        Secondary sources (this is where you review what other people have researched, studied, and written about)

o   Published books

o   News articles

o   Peer-reviewed research

o   Publicly available statistics and data sets

o   Dictionaries and encyclopedias

o   Documentaries

•        Examples

•        Narratives

•        Definitions

•        Descriptions

•        Historic and scientific facts

•        Statistics

The 4Cs Library Team is here to help you research and access resources that will help you thrive in the classroom. Librarians and staff are available via e-mail (refdesk@capecod.edu), chat (check the bottom right of the library webpage), or by phone (774.330.4480). 

   Via web searches on sites like Google.

•        Look for books and peer-reviewed journal articles via the library.  

•        Do a search of trusted news outlets (The Associated Press, Reuters, NPR, PBS, ABC, NBC, CBS, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, BBC, CBC, etc.)

o   Make sure to stop and check if the news article you’ve found is opinion, or news reporting. Here’s a resource to help you distinguish between types of journalism.

o   News sites can have political leanings, so be aware of this as you research.

•        Use public data sets, such as: 

o    US Census data: https://www.census.gov/

o    World Health Organization: https://www.who.int/

o    Pew Research Center: https://www.pewresearch.org/

o    Five Thirty Eight: https://fivethirtyeight.com/

o    Unicef: https://data.unicef.org/

o    Data.gov: https://www.data.gov/

•        Find information from professional organizations related to your topic

•        NOTE: Beware of “think tanks” with political biases (see a list here)

 

IMPORTANTLY: All sources must be shared TWO ways. First, they must be shared verbally in the speech, via signal phrases, meaning we need to hear them spoken (as in: “According to the Pew Research Center …”). Secondly, they must be included in a works cited list, formatted in either MLA or APA style. (See the Purdue OWL site for citation style details.)

·         Practice your speech with the speaking notes you’ll actually use, and time yourself

·         Practice your speech by recording yourself (and when reviewing the tape, look for issues such as a distracting background, odd camera angle, poor audio levels, how well you did with eye contact, how the lighting works, etc.) 

·         They must be recorded in one take (no editing allowed.)

·         Maintain eye contact by looking at the camera of your recording device (do not read from the side of your screen, from a document on your desk, or from a phone or paper in your hand.) 

·         Avoid reading from a script (practice reduces your reliance on notes!)

·         Record in front of a neutral, non-distracting background

·         Dress nicely for the speech (you don’t have to wear a suit, but you shouldn’t be wearing your pajamas)

·         Record in a place that’s free from other noises or distractions

·         Record straight-on (not from down below, with the camera shooting up your nose.) Also, center yourself in the frame, and capture your head and shoulders (so that the video is neither too zoomed-in or too far zoomed-out.) Seated speeches are fine for remote delivery.­

·         Have good lighting (ideally natural lighting versus harsh overhead florescent lights; whenever possible, avoid recording at night.)

·         Have good audio levels (always do a few test runs before recording the full, final speech, in order to identify any potential tech troubles.)