Assignment | Rhetorical Criticism Project (Whalen): Presentations

Whatever the format, citations provide evidence that your statements are reasonable and believable. When giving a presentation or speech, though, you can't just read out parenthetical citations like you'd write in a paper.

Oral citations sound like...

• "According to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, ..."

Other Examples of Phrases Signalling a Verbal Citation

• "Psychologist Jane Doe suggests that..."
• "Researchers out of State University's College of Economics published a study in which they..."
• "The New York Times ran an article in March 2021 reporting that..."

While in your slides, you'd have...

It would sound weird to say out loud, "According to 'Tallest Buildings,' the Burj Khalifa..."

It gets better if we say "According to the article 'Tallest Buildings,'..." but the organization in this case is the more interesting entity to name out loud. Your audience can read the less interesting citation on your slide.

Best Practices

Introduce the Source

• Not great: Jane Doe says...
• Good: Psychologist Jane Doe says...
• Best: Psychologist Jane Doe, a researcher in pop culture fandom, says...

Namedrop the Best

• Expert or leading organization? Name them!
• Random news article journalist? Probably skip naming the author out loud. Use the publishing organization instead.
  • Not "John Smith writes that..."
  • Instead, "The Washington Post published an article this year that says..."