Supporting Your Ideas

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7

• Supporting Your Ideas

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Supporting Materials

• Examples
• Statistics
• Testimony

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Example

• A specific case used to illustrate or to
  represent a group of people, ideas, conditions,
  experiences, or the like.

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Types of Examples

• Brief examples
• Extended examples
• Hypothetical examples

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Brief Example

• A specific case referred to in passing

• Used to quickly illustrate a point.
• Used when introducing a topic.
• Effective when stacked up to reinforce a point.

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Extended Example

• A story developed at some length to illustrate a
  point.

• Often called illustrations, narratives, or
  anecdotes.
• Because of the drama, are excellent way to pull
  listeners into a speech

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Hypothetical Example

• An example that describes an imaginary or
  fictitious situation.

• Effective in relating general principles directly
  to the audience.
• Should be followed with statistics or testimony
  to show that the example could really occur.

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Tips for Using Examples

• Use examples to clarify your ideas
• Use examples to reinforce your ideas
• Use examples to personalize your ideas

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Tips for Using Examples

• Make your examples vivid and richly textured
• Practice delivery to enhance your extended
  examples

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Statistical Support

• Cited in passing to clarify or strengthen main
  points.
• Combined to show magnitude or seriousness of an
  issue.

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Statistical Measures

• Mean
• Median
• Mode

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Mean

• The average value of a group of numbers.

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Median

• The middle figure in a group once the figures
  are put in order from the highest to the lowest.

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Mode

• The number that occurs most frequently in a
  group of numbers.

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Tips for Using Statistics

• Make sure the statistics are from a reliable
  source
• Use statistics to quantify your ideas
• Use statistics sparingly
• Identify the sources of your statistics

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Tips for Using Statistics

• Explain your statistics
• Round off complicated statistics
• Use visual aids to clarify statistical trends

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Sources for Statistics

• Newspapers, magazines, scholarly journals.
• Statistical Abstract Statistical Yearbook
• World Wide Web

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Testimony

• Quotations or paraphrases used to support a point.

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Expert Testimony

• Testimony from people who are recognized experts
  in their fields.

• Helps provide credibility when speaker is not an
  expert.
• Especially important in controversial topics.
• Important when the audience is skeptical about
  the speakers point of view.

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Peer Testimony

• Testimony from ordinary people with firsthand
  experience or insight on a topic.

• More personal viewpoint than expert testimony.
• Greater authenticity and emotional impact.

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Direct Quotation

• Testimony that is presented word for word.

• Most effective when brief.
• Most effective when eloquent, witty, or
  compelling.
• Most effective when conveys the speakers meaning
  better than the speakers own words.

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Quoting Out of Context

• Distorting a statements meaning by removing the
  statement from the words and phrases surrounding
  it.

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Paraphrase

• To restate or summarize a sources ideas in ones
  own words.

• Preferable when wording is obscure or awkward.
• Preferable when the quotation is longer than two
  or three sentences.

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Tips for Using Testimony

• Quote or paraphrase accurately
• Use testimony from qualified sources
• Use testimony from unbiased sources
• Identify the people you quote or paraphrase

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Review Chapter 7
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