Speech Communication: Citation

This box provides link to a library guide for citation software called Noodle Tools. Follow the instructions provided in the guide to create a Noodle Tools account and to access the software.

General Citation Guides

This box provides links to the library guides for MLA and APA citation.  Also, included are links to the OWL Purdue citation site which provides manuals on multiple citation styles as well as guides for citing tables and figures. 

Citation Guides for Tables, Charts, and Graphs

What is an oral citation? An oral citation is a verbal acknowledgement of a source during a presentation or public speech. 

Oral citations establish reliability and accuracy of the information you are providing. An oral citation helps to demonstrate that you did your research and helps your audience understand where your facts came from.  The good news about oral citations is that they are usually simpler than written citations. 

In general, during an oral citation speakers may include information about:

• Author(s): use last names only unless the full name is recognizable
• Title: titles are often not vital to a citation but use it if it is catchy or particularly relevant
• Publication: it is vital that the publication, or where the information comes from, is cited
• Date: dates are crucial to data like statistics that change over time

Examples:

During your speech you might say something like...

“According to a 2024 article in the New England Journal of Medicine titled "Transforming Population Health...”

“In the 1979 edition of The Elements of Style, renowned grammar and composition stylists Strunk and White encourage writers to..."

“The Center for Disease Control web site provides data supporting...” 

The following instructional video discusses oral citations further:  

• Oral Citations (14:30 min)  Oral Citations. (2021, August 9). Writing, Reading, Speech Assistance-College of DuPage Learning Commons. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2KSkHdlM8k

What is paraphrasing?

• To paraphrase means to repeat something written or spoken using different words, and in a shorter or simpler form as to make the original meaning more clear. (Cambridge Dictionary Online, 2025)

Paraphrasing vs Quoting

• Paraphrasing means expressing someone else’s ideas in your own voice, while keeping the same essential meaning.
• Quoting means using someone else’s exact words and putting them in quotation marks.