Other Tips

• Dr. Zulick has wonderful bibliographies on Rhetorical Theory and Criticism.
• Presidential Speeches are always found with the Presidential Papers in Government Documents but also often are reprinted full-text in the New York Times. Search a database such as Proquest with "Bill Clinton" AND Speech AND Text and you will find many of his speeches. We now have the NY Times full-text back to 1857 in Proquest Historical Newspapers.
• Other speeches may be found in conference proceedings, on organizational web sites or now on personal web pages for the presenter. The more you know about the context of the speech the easier it is to locate.

The interdisciplinary nature of Communication requires researchers to use a variety of databases. Below are the databases we find that students studying Rhetoric use most frequently, but there are many other possibilities depending on your topic. If you are unsure about what database to use, PLEASE....Ask a Librarian.

Books

To find books in our library, use the Online Catalog. Call numbers for Rhetoric and Public Speaking resources are in various places including P301s, PN170 - 190 and elsewhere. These are on the 5th floor of the Reynolds wing. Public Speaking books are in the PN4100s. Some books on rhetoric may be shelved with other disciplines. Books on womens' rhetoric, for example, may be with the Womens' Studies books, etc.

Encyclopedia of Rhetoric is a reference book available online.

Rhetoric and Public Speaking materials have P call numbers and are concentrated on Reynolds 5. This section is divided:

• P95-95.6 - Oral communication. Speech
• P302-302.87 - Discourse analysis
• PE1400 - Rhetoric and Persuasion

Audio/Video/Web Resources

• Dr. Louden's Political Speeches Page has links to many, many web sites and resources for speeches.
• Dr. Zulick's Page on primary sources in Rhetorical theory
• American Rhetoric
• Great Speeches Video/DVD Series in the ZSR Media Collection (Mostly Political but not all) Do a catalog search for "Great Speeches" -- each record lists the speakers included under the Author field.

Finding Texts of Speeches

Books containing speeches can best be found doing a catalog search for a subject or name and adding 'Speech?' into the search phrase. We have the following Reference Books on Speeches:

• Ripples of hope : great American civil rights speeches Ref E184.A1 R53 2003
• Speeches of the American presidents Ref J81 .C88 2001
• In our own words : extraordinary speeches of the American century Ref PS661 .I53 1999
• The Penguin book of twentieth-century speeches Ref D411 .P46 1999
• African American voices Ref E185 .A2524 1996
• Contemporary American voices : significant speeches in American history, 1945-present Ref E173 A786 1992
• Lend me your ears : great speeches in history Ref PN6122 .L4 1992