ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the challenge of finding and assembling the materials relevant to the speech, the audience, and the speech occasion. It examines the sources of supporting materials. Most of the time, the university or college library will house the print sources that are needed to consult during the research. Print resources are often highly authoritative. Editors and publishers provide control over the material published, offering some assurance that the facts presented in print form are accurate. Books, newspapers, and magazines are checked for factual accuracy before publication. Special collections of materials, such as diaries, photographs, artwork, and memorabilia, are sometimes only accessible through local library archives and the collections of county and state historical societies. A search engine is a computer program that allows you to search multiple databases using specific words or phrases.
