LibGuides: English Subject Guide: English 9: Freshman English

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ENG. 9: Persuasive Speech Assignment 2023

Ted-Talk Style Persuasive Speech Assignment

CLASS GOALS

learn to efficiently locate useful sources for your assignment within our databases
use Gale: Opposing Viewpoints and The New York Times to find good results
evaluate the credibility and bias of a source
use lateral reading to evaluate web sources, and understand why this is an important skill

Useful strategies for searching within Gale Opposing Viewpoints:

Start with a question or a topic.

Ex: Should TikTok be banned nationwide?

Brainstorm a list of keywords and phrases relevant to your topic. Be sure to think up some synonyms!

Use quotation marks for exact phrases:

"social media"
"national security"
"data privacy"

Use truncation by adding an asterisk (*) to catch all endings of a word:

secur* finds secure, securely, security, etc.

Now think of additional keywords or synonyms to stack that could be useful:

privacy
China
censorship
cyberattack
ByteDance (this is the company that owns TikTok)

Q: Do these skills work in Google, or other databases?
A: YES!
Be persistent! Good searches take skill and practice. You'll use these skills all the time in the Upper School and far beyond.

What are Databases?

Many of our databases require a login and password - check the link to the left to get started!

New York Times
Start here to create your yearlong pass to the full text of the New York Times. Once you enter your email address, the NY Times will send an email verification to your Catlin.edu email account. Confirm, and you are all set!
Gale in Context: Opposing Viewpoints
Good source of full-text magazine articles, book entries, and videos on controversial topics. Can be useful in establishing your position in a debate, or developing an opposing point of view.

Here are some examples of some solid searches from these two resources:

Gale Opposing Viewpoints

New York Times

Web Searching
When you're searching with Google, used the Advanced Search feature.

Google Advanced Search
Use Advanced Search to dramatically narrow down your Google results to something much more useful.

Lateral Reading
Find out what it is, and why you should use this really fast, smart technique when searching for web sources.

Practice Lateral Reading!

Media Bias Chart
Every source you read will have a bias. Some are up front about their bias, and others try to hide it.

Things to know:

Investigate the author of an article. What is their background? Are they an expert, or quite knowledgeable? Is their education / degrees relevant to the subject they are writing about?
Check the journal/website organization/ magazine's credibility using the Media Bias chart below. You can also use lateral reading to learn about the reputation and bias of an organization.