Practice Questions: Unit 4

Speaking Ethically

Jonathan sat staring at his computer screen. The previous two days had been the most disastrous weekend of his entire life. First, his girlfriend broke up with him on Friday and informed him that she was dating his best friend behind his back. Then he got a phone call from his mother informing him that his childhood dog had been hit by a car. And if that wasn't enough, his car died on the way to work, and since it was his third unexcused absence from work, he was fired.

In the midst of all these crises, Jonathan was supposed to be preparing his persuasive speech for his public speaking class. Admittedly, Jonathan had had the two weeks prior to work on the speech, but he had not gotten around to it and thought he could pull it together over the weekend. Now at 1:00 a.m. on Monday morning, he finally got a chance to sit down at his computer to prepare the speech he was giving in nine and a half hours.

His topic was prison reform. He searched through a number of websites and finally found one that seemed really relevant. As he read through the first paragraph, he thought to himself, this is exactly what I want to say. After two paragraphs the information just stopped, and the website asked him to pay $29.95 for the rest of the speech. Without even realizing it, Jonathan had found a speech mill website. Jonathan found himself reaching for his wallet thinking, well it says what I want it to say, so why not?

1. If you were a student in Jonathan's class and he confided in you that he had used a speech mill for his speech, how would you react?
2. If you were Jonathan, what ethical choices could you have made?
3. Is it ever ethical to use a speech written by a speech mill?

End-of-Chapter Assessment

1. Which of the following is not a recommendation for using research librarians provided by the members of the American Library Association?
   1. Be willing to do your own work.
   2. Academic librarians are willing to schedule in-depth research consultations with students.
   3. You don't need to bring a copy of the assignment when meeting with a librarian.
   4. Good research takes time.
   5. Students need to learn that many questions do not have ready-made or one-stop answers.
2. Samantha has handed out a survey to her peers on their perceptions of birth control. During her speech, Samantha explains the results from her survey. What type of research has Samantha utilized in her speech?
   1. primary
   2. secondary
   3. recency
   4. qualitative
   5. critical
3. Michael is giving a speech on dogs and picks up a copy of Pet Fancy magazine at his local bookstore. What type of source has Michael selected?
   1. general-interest periodical
   2. special-interest periodical
   3. Academic journal
   4. nonacademic literature supplement
   5. gender-based interest periodical
4. Jose is having problems finding sources related to his topic. He found one academic journal article that was really useful. He decides to read the references listed on the reference page of the article. He finds a couple that sound really promising so he goes to the library and finds those articles. What process has Jose engaged in?
   1. primary literature search
   2. secondary literature search
   3. backtracking
   4. source evaluation
   5. reference extending
5. What are the components or features of a literary composition or oral presentation that have to do with the form of expression rather than the content expressed (e.g., language, punctuation, parenthetical citations, and endnotes)?
   1. citation functions
   2. referencing functions
   3. grammatical parameters
   4. communicative techniques
   5. style

Answer Key

1. c
2. a
3. b
4. c
5. e

Speaking Ethically

While preparing a speech on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Aban runs across a website that has a lot of useful information. The website has numerous articles and links that all discuss the importance of the different functions of the DHS. Being a good speaker, Aban delves into the website to determine the credibility of the information being provided.

Aban quickly realizes that the group sponsoring the website is a fringe-militia group that believes no immigrants should be allowed into the United States. While the information Aban is interested has nothing to do with immigration, he wonders if all the information provided on the website has been distorted to support the organization's basic cause.

1. Should Aban use the useful information about DHS even though the other information on the website is from an extremist group?
2. Are all sources on the extremist group's website automatically suspect because of the group's stated anti-immigration stance?
3. Is it ethical for Aban to use any of the information from this website?
4. If Aban was a friend of yours and he showed you the website, how would you tell him to proceed?

End-of-Chapter Assessment

1. Which of the following is not a potential source of bias that a speaker or author may have?
   1. organizations to which the speaker or author belongs
   2. political affiliations of the speaker or author
   3. financial interests of the speaker or author
   4. information that is widely cited and supported by other sources
   5. information that is only found on the speaker's or author's website
2. During a speech, Juanita says the following: "In his book The Dilbert Principle, Scott Adams defines the Dilbert principle as the idea ‘that companies tend to systematically promote their least-competent employees to management (generally middle management), in order to limit the amount of damage they are capable of doing.'" What type of definition is Juanita using?
   1. lexical
   2. persuasive
   3. précising
   4. stipulative
   5. theoretical
3. Edward was delivering a speech on using the Internet for job hunting. In his speech he uses the example of his friend Barry, who was able to network using LinkedIn and other social networking sites to find his dream job. What type of example has Edward used?
   1. positive
   2. negative
   3. non
   4. circular
   5. best
4. Which of the following is not a potential form of support manipulation?
   1. overlooking significant factors or individuals related to your topic
   2. ignoring evidence that does not support your speech's specific purpose
   3. using evidence in its original context
   4. using evidence to support faulty logic
   5. using evidence from clearly biased sources
5. During her speech about rodents, Anna shows a series of slides explaining the lifecycle of chipmunks. What form of support has Anna used within her speech?
   1. pictographic
   2. quotation
   3. paraphrase
   4. numerical
   5. summary

Answer Key

1. d
2. d
3. e
4. c
5. a

Source: University of Minnesota
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.