7.4 Using Support and Creating Arguments

Supporting one’s ideas with a range of facts and statistics, definitions, examples, narratives, testimony, and analogies can make the difference between a boring speech your audience will soon forget and one that has a lasting effect on their lives.

Although the research process is designed to help you find effective support, you still need to think through how you will use the support you have accumulated. In this section, we will examine how to use support effectively in one’s speech, first by examining the types of support one needs in a speech and then by seeing how support can be used to enhance one’s argument.

Understanding Arguments

You may associate the word “argument” with a situation where two people are having a loud conflict. But in the context of speech, an argument consists of a thesis based on supporting premises and conclusions. An arguable thesis is not a statement of fact, although it should be supported by facts as well as reliable interpretations of facts.

A fact is a statement that can have either a yes or no answer, while an arguable proposition can have a range of responses that include yes and no.

Arguments are based on claims, evidence, and warrants. A claim is a statement that is supported with evidence, while a warrant is the inference that can be drawn from the claim and evidence. Unlike the claim and evidence, the warrant is usually inferred rather than stated: the speaker depends on the audience to use the claim and evidence to draw a conclusion (the warrant).

Claim: Life without a car in Baton Rouge is difficult and dangerous.

Evidence: Baton Rouge lacks pedestrian-friendly infrastructure such as sidewalks in all neighborhoods and crosswalks for crossing busy streets.

Warrant: It’s difficult and even dangerous to walk in Baton Rouge.

Claim: Life without a car in Baton Rouge is difficult and dangerous.

Evidence: The bus system is unreliable, and many bus stops aren’t even covered.

Warrant: Because public transportation is unreliable and inconvenient, most people need to have a car to live in Baton Rouge (Purdy and Buzbee.)

In this example, the claim and evidence support the warrants “walking in Baton Rouge is difficult and even dangerous” and “people need a car to live in the city because public transportation is unreliable and inconvenient.”

However, some claims lack enough evidence for the audience to reach the implied warrant. Examine the following to determine whether or not the writer has provided enough evidence to support the warrant below each:

1. LSU should receive free tickets to all LSU home football games because we would have no football team without the university.

Warrant: Being enrolled at LSU is enough reason for students to receive this expensive commodity.

2. Baton Rouge is a dangerous place to live. According to FBI statistics, Baton Rouge had the 6th highest murder rate in the United States in 2019.

Warrant: The FBI statistics on murder rates are sufficient for determining whether or not a place is dangerous. Or FBI statistics from 2019 about the murder rate in Baton Rouge are accurate predictors of how safe someone is in this city in the present day.

3. This year the United States will likely be hit by several powerful hurricanes. A team of scientists led by Dr. Phil Klotzbach at Colorado State University says that there is about a 65% chance of above-average tropical storm activity.

Warrant: A team of scientists led by Dr. Phil Klotzbach at Colorado State University can make accurate predictions about tropical storm activity in a given year.

#1:  Given the value of LSU football tickets, is the Athletic Department’s dependence on the university to exist enough reason that all LSU students should receive tickets to home games? True, without the university, the Tigers would have to become an NFL franchise, and you can’t have a university without students, but is this sufficient justification to give every student what amounts to over $1,000 in free tickets every semester, or do we need more reasons for support?

#2: What is meant by “dangerous place to live”? Is one set of FBI statistics sufficient to make such a sweeping judgment about how safe Baton Rouge is? Do we need other types of statistics and facts?

#3: What are Dr. Phil Klotzbach’s credentials? What does someone in Colorado know about hurricanes? How do we know that Dr. Klotzbach and his team of scientists have the expertise to make such predictions?

Creating strong arguments is a fundamental part of public speaking. Remember that your argument is only as strong as your weakest claim.

Examining your claims in this way will help determine what level of support you need for each.

Sifting Through Your Support

When researching a topic, you’re going to find a range of different types of supporting evidence. You may find examples of all six types of support: facts and statistics, definitions, examples, narratives, testimony, and analogies. Sooner or later, you are going to have to make some decisions as to which pieces of support you will use and which you won’t. While there is no one way to select your support, here are some helpful suggestions.

Use a Variety of Support Types

One of the most important parts of using support is variety. Nothing will kill a speech faster than if you use the same type of support repeatedly. Also, you will need to find the “Goldilocks zone” for how much support you will need. Use as much as you need to make your point without going overboard, or the amount that’s “just right.” You might decide to begin with a couple of definitions and rely on a gripping piece of eyewitness testimony as your other major support. Or you might use a combination of facts, examples, and narratives. In another case, statistics and examples might be most effective. Audience members are likely to have different preferences for support; some may like statistics while others really find narratives compelling. By using a variety of forms of support, you are likely to appeal to a broader range of audience members and thus effectively adapt to your audience. Even if your audience members prefer a specific form of support, providing multiple types of support is important to keep them interested. To use an analogy, even people who love ice cream would get tired of it if they ate only ice cream every day for a week, so variety is important.

Choose Appropriate Forms of Support

Depending on the type of speech you are giving, your speech’s context, and your audience, different types of evidence may or may not be appropriate. While speeches using precise lexical definitions may be useful for the courtroom, they may not be useful in an after-dinner speech to entertain. At the same time, entertaining narratives may be great for a speech whose general purpose is to entertain but may decrease a speaker’s credibility when attempting to persuade an audience about a serious topic.

Check for Relevance

Another consideration about potential support is whether it is relevant. Each piece of evidence you select needs to support the specific purpose of your speech. You may find the coolest quotation, but if that quotation doesn’t really help your core argument in your speech, you need to leave it out. If you use irrelevant support sources, your audience will quickly catch on and you will lose credibility.

Also, consider your audience when selecting supporting materials. If you are giving a speech to an audience of fifty-year-olds, you may be able to begin with “Think back to where you were on 9/11,” but this would be meaningless with an audience of twenty-year-olds. Similarly, references to music download sites or the latest popular band may not be effective with audiences who are not interested in music.

Don’t Go Overboard

In addition to being relevant, supporting materials need to help you support your speech’s specific purpose without interfering with your speech. You may find three different sources that support your speech’s purpose in the same way. If that happens, you shouldn’t include all three forms of support. Instead, pick the form of support that would be most relatable to your audience and your topic. Remember, the goal is to support your speech, not to have the support become your speech.

Don’t Manipulate Your Support

Don’t manipulate your support to make it say what you want it to say in spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. This practice is unethical as well as disrespectful to your audience. Below are some guidelines to make sure that you are not manipulating your sources:

Don’t overlook significant factors or individuals related to your topic.

Don’t jump to conclusions that are not justified based on the supporting evidence you have.

Do not use evidence to support faulty logic.

Do not use out-of-date evidence that is no longer valid.

Do not use evidence out of its original context.

Do not knowingly use evidence from a source that is clearly biased.

Also, remember to clearly cite all your supporting evidence within your speech.

Using Support within Your Speech

In the previous sections of this chapter, we’ve talked about the various types of support you can use (facts and statistics, definitions, examples, narratives, testimonies, and analogies). In this section, we’ll go over how to incorporate evidence into your speech, as well as how to think through the support you need for a speech and also how to actually use support while speaking.

Forms of Speech Support

Let’s begin by examining the forms that support can take in a speech: direct quotations, paraphrases, summaries, numerical data, and visual aids.

Direct Quotations

A speaker directly quotes material by using the exact wording of another speaker or writer within the speech. While direct quotations are a useful form of support, use them sparingly within your speech, and incorporate them so that they flow seamlessly to and from your own authorial voice. Overuse of direct quotations in a speech can be confusing to the audience because the speaker so frequently transitions from her words to the exact words of someone else.

Use a direct quotation if

the original author’s words are witty, engaging, distinct, or particularly vivid,

you want to highlight a specific expert and his or her expertise within your speech,

you are going to specifically analyze the exact wording of something.

Directly quote as little as possible of your source. Lengthy quotations can try the patience of audience members, and the connection between your support and your argument can get lost.

Paraphrases

Paraphrases reword a passage from the source in the speaker’s words. However, your rewording must be thorough. A paraphrase is more than just dropping a few words from the direct quotation or rearranging them. To write an effective paraphrase, you must understand the source’s ideas so well that you can explain them in your own words without looking back at the original.

Paraphrase when

you can say it more concisely than the original speaker or author,

the exact wording is overly complex for your audience to understand,

you want to adapt an example, analogy, or narrative by another author to make its relevance to your own argument more evident.

Also, paraphrase information that is not likely to be questioned by your audience. If you think your audience may question your support, then relying on a direct quotation may be more effective.

Summaries

Whereas a paraphrase rephrases an original passage in your own words, a summary condenses a longer text in your own words. Effective summaries are usually just a few sentences, much shorter than the original. Summaries are helpful when you want to provide your audience with the overall idea of the original author’s entire work.

Summarize when

you need another author’s entire idea to understand the argument within your speech,

when explaining possible counterarguments to the one posed within your speech,

or when you need to cite a number of different sources effectively and efficiently to support a specific argument.

Numerical Data

Use numerical data to cite statistics, but make sure that your audience can accurately interpret the numbers in the same way you are doing.  When incorporating numerical data into your speech, clearly state the numbers used and where they came from and explain what the numbers mean and how you think they should be interpreted. If the numbers are overly complicated or if you use a variety of numbers within a speech, consider making a graph or pie chart or other visual aid to enhance your audience’s understanding of the numerical support.

Visual Aids

Visual aids are any drawn or visual representation of an object or process. For example, if you’re giving a speech on how to swing a golf club, you could bring in a golf club and demonstrate exactly how to use it. Alternately, you could show a diagram illustrating the steps for an effective golf swing or play a short YouTube video that demonstrates how to swing a golf club.

Use visual aids when

a visual reference is shorter and easier for your audience to understand than explaining an object or process, or

you really want to emphasize the importance of the support.

Audiences recall information more readily when they both see and hear it.

Your visual aids should be easy to understand, and using them should take less time than using words alone. Make sure everyone in your audience can easily see your visual aids, not just those in front. If listeners cannot see the visual aid, then it will not help them understand how it is supposed to help your speech’s specific purpose.

Is Your Support Adequate?

Now that we’ve examined the ways to use support in your speech, how do you know if you have enough support?

Make a Reverse Outline

A reverse outline is a tool you can use to determine the adequacy of your speech’s support by starting with your conclusion and logically working backward through your speech to determine if the support you provided is appropriate and comprehensive. Make an outline of your speech, beginning with the conclusion, then working your way backward to show how you get to the conclusion. By forcing yourself to think about logic in reverse, you’re more likely to find missteps along the way. This technique is not only helpful for analyzing the overall flow of your speech, but it can also let you see if different sections of your speech lack individual support.

Support Your Claims

Make sure that every claim in your speech can be supported. For example, if you state, “The majority of Americans want immigration reform,” you need to make sure that you have a source that actually demonstrates this claim, such as the results of a recent national poll on this topic conducted by a reputable and unbiased polling organization. As noted at the beginning of this chapter, too often people make claims within a speech that they have no support for whatsoever. When you go through your speech, you need to make sure that every claim has adequate and appropriate supporting evidence.

Incorporating Support into Your Oral Presentation

After you have selected and evaluated your forms of support, incorporate it using this three-step process: setup, execution, and analysis.

Setup

The first step in using support within a speech is the setup, a sentence or phrase that explains to your audience the origin of your information. Depending on the source of your support, all the following information presented in the order listed below could be useful: the author’s name and credentials, the name of the source, its publication date, and the container where the source can be found. Note that if you found the information on a website, it is not sufficient to merely give your audience the URL.

1. The author’s name and expertise on the subject matter (if appropriate). Some sources are written by authors who are not experts, so you really don’t need to explain their expertise. In other cases, your audience will already know why the source is an expert, so you will not need to explain the author’s credentials. For example, if you are giving a speech on current politics in the United States, you probably do not need to explain the expertise of Joe Biden or Kamala Harris. However, if your audience is not immediately familiar with the author and you don’t provide information on his or her expertise, they will question the validity of your support.
2. The source’s title.
3. The date of the source. Provide as much information on the date as is provided on the copyright information page of the source.
4. If your source comes from a larger work, indicate the name of the container. For example, a single article (name of source) may come from a magazine, newspaper, book, or website (containers). Containers are larger works that hold smaller things.

Examples:

According to Melanie Smithfield in an article titled “Do It Right, or Do It Now,” published in the June 18, 2009, issue of Time Magazine . . .

According to Roland Smith, a legendary civil rights activist and former chair of the Civil Rights Defense League, in his 2001 book The Path of Peace . . .

Both examples provided the information that was necessary to understand where the source comes from and why it is credible. The more information you can provide the audiences about your support, the more information they have to evaluate the strength of your arguments.

Execution

The execution of support involves reading a quotation, paraphrasing a speaker or author’s words, summarizing a speaker or author’s ideas, providing data, or using other visual aids. Effective execution should seamlessly flow into the context of your speech. While you want your evidence to make an impact, you also don’t want it to seem overly disjointed. One mistake that some novice public speakers make is that when they start providing evidence, their whole performance changes and the use of evidence looks and sounds awkward. Make sure you practice the execution of your evidence when you rehearse your speech.

Analysis

The final stage of using support effectively is the one that many speakers forget: analysis of the support. Too often speakers use support without ever explaining to an audience how it should be interpreted. While you don’t want to tell your audience what to think, you do want to show them how you are interpreting the evidence to support your claim.

Below are three ways to ensure the audience will make the connection between your support and your argument:

Summarize the support in your own words (unless you started with a summary).

Specifically tell your audience how the support relates to the argument.

Draw a sensible conclusion based on your support. We cannot leave an audience hanging, so drawing a conclusion helps complete the support package.

References

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