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Public Speaking

Selected Books

Textbook Adopted for SPC 1017 

Open Textbook: free eTextbook
Please note that this is not the textbook adopted for SPC 1017 or SPC 2608. Use this source for your own learning.

Popular Books 

How to Find Speeches

To find speeches about civil rights that have been made into books, do the following in OneSearch:

1. Click on the "Advanced Search" mode.
2. In the search bar, type "Speeches, Address, etc" and add any other keywords you want to include.
3. Under "Material Type," select "Books."

Screenshot of a Subject Search Example
   

  • Academic Search Complete database or Business Source Complete database  
    1. Enter a search term such as a person's name or a topic
    2. At the Search Options box -> Limit your results -> Document Type, then select Speech
    3. Search 
    This database indexes the following journals/magazines. 
    • Vital Speeches of the Day (01/85 – present)
    • Executive Speeches (06/95 – 10/2005)
    • Vital Speeches International (05/2009 to present)
    • Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents (1995 – 2009)
    • Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents (2009 – present)
                 Tip: Sort the results by "Date Newest" to access the latest speeches by the current president of the U.S.   

      Screenshot of a Speech Search at Academic Search Complete database
  • ABI/Inform Collection Database - a Business database
    1. Enter a search term such as a person's name or a topic
    2. Check the Speech/Lecture box at the Document Type box   
    This database indexes the following journals/magazines. 
    • Executive Speeches  10/ 1987 – Oct/Nov 2005 
    • Vital Speeches of the Day (06/01/95 to present)   
       
  • Great Speeches Video Series (in Alexander Street Theatre) 
    Includes history's most influential speeches. Each is accompanied by a biography and analysis of the event and the speech.
    1. To access the video series, go to the Search feature on the upper right corner of the main page,
    2. Enter "Great Speeches Video Series" in the search box 
    Transcripts are available. Use the "Search Transcripts" feature to find where your term appears on the transcript.  
     
  • Congressional Publications (ProQuest) 
    At the Advanced Search, select Hearings (1824 - present) on the left pane for published, temporary, and unpublished hearings, including written and oral statements of witnesses, transcripts, reports, exhibits, correspondence, and other materials. 
  • The "Vital Speeches of the Day" magazine has published transcripts of important speeches since 1935. Search the Business Source Complete database to access the transcripts of the speeches.  
    1. Click on [Publications] link on the top banner.
    2. Enter the journal title "Vital Speeches of the Day" in the search bar and click on the [Browse] button.
    3. Click on the "Vital Speeches Of The Day" link

    4. Browse the issues by clicking the years on the right side. Or, click on the "Search within this publication" link to add a search term to the query. 

To cite speech transcripts in APA 7 Style, check out:

How To Find Lyrics

  • Lyrics.com - Searchable database for lyrics, music, artists and more
  • MLDb - The Music Lyrics Database
  • Search engines
    Add lyrics to your search terms

Suggested Keywords for Finding Books

Conduct a title or keyword search at the Advanced Search mode of the FSU's OneSearch. If you want to explore books about the topic, use the Subjects search, using the following subject headings:

Screenshot of a Subject Search Example

Journals & Trade Publications

To locate scholarly articles about public speaking and its associated subject matter, conduct a keyword search within academic databases such as: 

Or, if you're interested in a certain journal or want to check out what's there, you can search for the title of the journal.
1. The following journals are available through the Libraries:

2. Run a title search at Journal Search through OneSearch 



3. Select one of the databases to access the full text of the journal on the search results page

Associations & Organizations

FSU Debate Groups

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