1. Chapter 2.8: Developing Supporting Material

2. 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

3. 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)

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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.

7. Chapter 2.9: Locating Supporting Material

8. Types of Research
Primary research is original or firsthand research, such as an interview conducted by you
Secondary research includes information produced by others

9. 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

10. 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

11. Chapter 2.10: Doing Effective Internet Research

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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