Frequently Asked Questions and Answers

What works in writing (e.g. Smith 15) doesn't work as well when spoken out loud.

As you're planning your speech, think of how you mention information sources in a regular conversation. You don't want to be too casual, of course, but the basic principles are the same:

• "Woodchucks can chuck as much wood as a woodchuck could chuck, according to an article in Woods & Trails magazine by Marmota Monax, published in 2018."
   
• "However, according to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, woodchucks are herbivores who prefer tender plants and do not usually chew on wood."
   
• "Chuck Whistler, the author of Groundhogs, Woodchucks, and Other Sciuridae, writes that this is a persistent misconception going back to the 1950s."
   
• "Researchers at Johns Hopkins published a study in May 2015 in the Journal of the American Medical Association comparing the density of tooth enamel and diet among various North American rodents."

These practices are useful even if you have visual aids, like a PowerPoint presentation, that can provide a written citation, if the source is significant and needs to be explained as part of your oral presentation.

Part of your assignment will probably require you to include a handout with your citations, a slide for your Works Cited, or both, but if not, these are a good idea to include anyway.