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Chapter 2.8: Developing Supporting Material. Functions of Supporting Material. Supporting material can be in the form of examples, narratives, testimony, facts and statistics. Supporting material performs three functions Creates interest and engages attention
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Functions of Supporting Material • Supporting material can be in the form of examples, narratives, testimony, facts and statistics. • Supporting material performs three functions • Creates interest and engages attention • Illustrates, clarifies, and elaborates on the meaning of your ideas • Substantiates or proves that a statement is correct
OFFER EXAMPLES • Examples illustrate, describe or represent things; aid understanding by making ideas, items, or events more concrete. • Brief examples offer a single illustration of a point (pg. 58) • Extended examples offer multifaceted illustrations of the idea, item, or event being described (pg. 58) • Hypothetical examples are examples of what you believe the outcome might be (pg. 58)
SHARE STORIES • One of the most powerful means of conveying a message is through a story or narrative. • Narratives tell tales, both real and imaginary, about anything under the sun • Anecdotes- brief stories of interesting and often humorous incidents based on real life
Draw on Testimony • Testimony is firsthand findings, eyewitness accounts, and people’s opinions. • Expert testimony includes findings, accounts, or opinions from professionals trained to evaluate a given topic • Lay testimony is by non-experts, such as eyewitnesses
Provide facts and statistics • Facts represent documented occurrences, including actual events, dates, times, people, and places. • Statistics are quantified evidence that summarizes, compares, and predicts things. • Use statistics accurately • Present your statistics ethically • Use visual aids whenever possible • Avoid cherry-picking • Selectively presenting only those statistics that buttress your point of view while ignoring competing data.
Types of Research • Primary research is original or firsthand research, such as an interview conducted by you • Secondary research includes information produced by others
Locate Secondary Resources • Books • Newspapers and periodicals—regularly published magazine or journal • Government publications • Reference Works • Encyclopedias • Almanacs and fact books • Biographical resources • Books of quotations • Poetry collections • Atlases • Weblogs and Social News Sites
Documenting your Resources • Critically evaluate your sources (page 72) • Record references as you go • Maintain a working bibliography as you review potential sources (photocopying, copying by hand) • Choose helpful tools • System for organizing your research
Library Portal • It’s a good idea to begin your search at your school’s library portal or electronic entry point to its holdings • Library’s home page • Virtual libraries • Access the invisible web- largest portion of the Web that general search engines fail to find • Be a critical consumer of information
Distinguish among Information, Propaganda, Misinformation, and Disinformation • Information- data that are understandable and have the potential to become knowledge when viewed critically • Propaganda- information represented in such a way as to provoke a desired response • Military posters • Misinformation- something that is not true • Urban legend • Disinformation- deliberate falsification of information • Doctored photographs
Make the most of Internet search tools • Distinguish among types of search engines • Search engines index the contents of the web. • Individual search engines compile their own databases of Web pages • Three largest: Google, Yahoo!, MSN Search • Meta search engines scan a variety of individual search engines simultaneously • Dogpile, Metacrawler • Specialized search engines let you conduct narrower by deeper searches in a particular field • Answers.com, findarticles.com
Consult Subject Directories • A subject (Web) directory is a searchable database of Web sites organized by categories. • Yahoo! Directory, Academic Inf • Subject directories are most useful in both finding and narrowing a topic
Commercial Factors • Advertising on the Internet is a billion-dollar industry and much of the revenue search engines garner from it come from: • Paid placement- fees that companies pay search engines for a guaranteed higher ranking within search results • Sponsored links, sponsored reults • Paid inclusion- fees that companies pay to be included in a search engine of subject directory’s full index of possible results, without a guarantee of ranking
Conduct Smart Searches • Use basic search commands • Quotation marks to find exact phrases (i.e. “white wine”) • Boolean operators- words placed between the keywords in a search that specify how the keywords are related (and, or, not) • Plus (+) and minus (-) signs placed directly in front of keywords indicate whether you want the term excluded from the search • Advanced searching • Record and cite Internet sources