Communication Studies: Print & Web Resources

Speech Communication

IC Library Print & Multimedia

Selected Subject Searches

Not in the IC Library?

WorldCat (via FirstSearch) is a "union catalog" that allows you to search the holdings of over 10,000 libraries from accross the country and around the world: over 41 million items. Check WorldCat to discover what the entire universe of possible resources looks like for your topic.

Note that upon opening any record there will be an "ILL Order" link that gives you direct entry into IC's interlibrary loan form (when you sign in--IC e-mail user name/password--the form will already be populated with both item identification data and your personal contact info).

User Advisory:

At the search interface begain by scrolling down and changing the default "Rank by" setting to "Date"--this will display your retrievals in reverse chronological order with the newest first.
This is such a large database that you should set a "Limit Type" to "Books" or "Visual Materials" or whatever you are specifically interested in finding.
When using a Subject search--advisable in such a large database--choose the looser "Subject" search rather than "Subject Phrase"--which requires an often frustrating exactitude.

Contact Us

Brian Saunders

Humanities Librarian

(607) 274-1198

More of Brian's guides

Web Resources

Selected Speech Sites

Communication Studies: Index of Online Resources: Good set of links from the Department of Communication Studies at the U of Iowa.

National Communication Association: Use the "Explore Our Member Communities" categories at the top.

American Rhetoric: Database of and index to 5000+ full text, audio and video versions of public speeches, sermons, legal proceedings, lectures, debates, interviews, other recorded media events, and a declaration or two.

ResearchChannel Video Library: Over 3500 videos of public speakers, arranged by category.

Forum Network: Audio/Video files collected by PBS/NPR. This link takes you to the advanced search screen where you can browse general categories and subcategories, in addition to a keyword search.

Speeches: Audiovideo files from History.com--almost 1500 videos and over 500 audios.

Internet Audio Archive: Over two hundred thousand free digital recordings.

Great Speeches Collection: The History Place: transcripts and audiofiles.

Online Media Resources: From UC Berkeley, a comprehensive gateway to video and audio resources on the Web.

Earliest Voices: A library of audio files and transcripts of voices from the first fifty years of sound recording: 1877-1927.

World's Famous Orations: Links to the full text of almost 300 speeches chosen by William Jennings Bryant in 1906.

Famous Speeches and Speech Topics: If you can dodge the annoying pop-up advertisements there is some useful content here--especially in the Giving & Writing a Speech section.

Gifts of Speech: Women's Speeches from around the World: Transcripts. Use "Browse" to locate speeches by speaker.

Say It Plain: A Century of Great African American Speeches: Transcripts and audiofiles--use the "listen to the speech" link after the introductory information for each speech.

American Presidency Project: Transcripts of presidential debates 1960 & 1976-2008. And while you're there check out the archive of presidential audiovisual files.

I Do Solemnly Swear: Presidential Inaugurations: Transcripts from Washington to Obama.

Advanced Public Speaking Institute: A range of brief articles on public speaking.

Open Directory Project: Public Speaking: Gateway.

Yahoo Directory: Public Speaking.

Silva Rhetoricae: Dr. Gideon Burton's guide to classical rhetoric and its contemporary relevance. Choose a topic from the left column or a term from the right.

Need Help Giving a Speech?: Toastmasters provides a handful of free resources.

Issues Resources

For some of the Web's best sites to research a wide range of social and public policy issues, see my Social Issues: Web Resources guide.

Citation Help

Noodlebib

Noodlebib guides you through the required data entry for citation in the MLA, APA, and Chicago/Turabian styles. It takes care of punctuation, alphabetization and formatting, producing a polished source list for import into Word.

Trouble getting started? Try my Noodlebib Users' Guide.

MLA "Cite LIke the Devil" Guides

MLA citation for books: in print, from databases, on the Web
MLA citation for articles: in print, from databases, on the Web.
MLA citation for Web and Multimedia resources, including Web sites, movies, DVDs, CDs, and videos.
MLA in-text (parenthetical) citation (far less satanic than the first three).