Chapter 4: Audience-Centered Speaking

• Audience-Centered Speaking: Tailoring your message to meet the audience's needs, beliefs, and backgrounds.

• Analyze and Adapt: Adjust your presentation style based on audience analysis.

• Audience Diversities:

  • Demographics: Involves age, gender, income, ethnicity, nationality.

  • Psychographics: Focus on attitudes, beliefs, values, and interests.

• Avoid: Social taboos, jargon, slang, being overly casual, ethnocentrism, and stereotyping.

Chapter 6: Finding Information

• Resources: Library, Internet, field research, and reference librarians as guides.

• Starting Steps: Draft a purpose statement before research.

• Utilize citations (APA style) and abstracts effectively.

• Use search engines carefully.

• Ethics and Source Credibility: Ensure accuracy in information sourcing and maintain credibility.

Chapter 7: Evaluating Information

• Distinguishing Opinion vs. Fact: Understand that credibility equates to trustworthiness in information.

• Criteria for Information: Should be factual, reliable, verifiable, fair, current, and well-supported.

• Critical Thinking is essential: Evaluate when to trust sources and citations.

• Cautions:

  • Reject stories and opinions as stand-alone evidence; always aim to verify claims through multiple sources.

  • Consider potential biases or misleading entities, especially in polls or expert claims.

• Online Resources: Reliable sites include Snopes.com and About.com; Wikipedia is less credible.

Chapter 8: Supporting Your Ideas

• Show Instead of Tell: Use concrete examples like Marshawn Lynch's touchdown run to illustrate points.

• Reasons for Supporting Ideas: Illustrate, clarify, add interest, help with memory, and prove a point.

• Types of Support: Definition, careful use of imagery, examples, narratives, comparisons, metaphors, analogies, and testimonies.

Chapter 9: Presentation Aids

• Essential Tips: Focus on one idea per slide; adhere to the 'Bumper Sticker Rule' for clarity in visuals.

• Slides should be easily readable and not overly cluttered.

• Engagement Strategies: Maintain eye contact, concise messages, and clear visuals.

Exam Preparation Tips

• Review & Prepare: Read the textbook thoroughly. Prepare notes based on readings to enhance retention and understanding.

• Exam Format: Expect a mix of short answers and fill-in-the-blank questions; make sure to cover Chapters 1-5 and understand concepts thoroughly.

Listening Skills Importance

• Listening as a Skill: Considered the most important skill; distinguishes from hearing through active engagement.

• Active Listening: Prepare to listen, expend energy, resist distractions, and analyze effectively.

• Follow the Golden Rule: Listen to others as you wish to be listened to.

• Critical Thinking: Engage with diverse perspectives to identify areas of growth and understanding.