Fast Checking Speech
Public figures speak often and what they say carries a lot of influence on the society; however, is everything they say factual, logical, and ethically presented? For this speech, you need to locate a specific claim (in an interview, a speech, or an ad) made by a public figure (a politician, a government official, a company, a celebrity, etc.), research the validity of the claim, and present the result to the class. Research is required (can NOT use a fact checking website) and you need to have at least THREE sources (one of which can be the source of the original statement).
Public figures speak often and what they say carries a lot of influence on the society; however, is everything they say factual, logical, and ethically presented? Does the noise from windmills cause cancer, as claimed by President Trump? Should we believe Khloe Kardashian’s Instagram post that the Flat Tummy Tea really works? Should a patient suffering a seizure be restrained, as the doctors do in the TV show House? Do we need to walk 10,000 steps a day to be healthy as commonly believed by many people?
For your Fact-checking Speech, you need to locate a specific factual claim made in a speech, a document, a commercial, or on social media by a public entity (a politician, a government official, a news organization, a company, a celebrity, etc.), research the validity of the claim, and present the result to the class (you can find the claim to be truthful or a lie). You are in essence working on a mini persuasive speech that revolves around the proposition of fact. Please read chapters 13 and 14 to prepare for this speech. You must have at least three sources for this speech, one of which should be the source of where you’ve found the claim you are going to check (if your claim is a common myth such as “if you swallow gum, it will stay in your intestines for 7 years”, you can have two research-based sources instead) .
There are a few things you are expected to cover in your speech:
Identifying who made what claim on which day and at what occasion (Please verbally present the claim, even if you show a screen shot of the tweet.)
Finding credible evidence either support or refute the claim from objective and unbiased sources (use primary sources if possible) –you can use a fact checking website such as FactCheck.org, Snopes, or PolitiFact to initiate your research but you CAN NOT cite them as sources. Go to their original sources.
Exploring and explaining context surrounding the issue
Stating the conclusion you can draw from examining facts related to the claim (either confirming or refuting it)
Your Learning Objectives
Be able to identify credible sources and orally cite your sources. You need to follow APA style for your reference list.
Present information accurately and appropriately, within the time limit
Deliver your speech through the use of voice and body language
Provide constructive feedback to your peers
Steps to Complete Fact-checking Speech
Identify and locate the claim you want to fact-check for the speech. Make sure it is a factual statement (can be proved or disproved by objective evidence) , not an opinion statement. For example, you cannot fact-check whether it is wrong for parents not to vaccinate their children, but you can fact-check whether MMR vaccine causes Autism.
Research the validity of the claim, go through this lesson
(Links to an external site.)
to evaluate the accuracy, authority, bias, currency, and coverage of your sources.
Use this outline template
to organize your speech. Make sure you write down citation information and attach a reference list at the end of the outline (APA style). For more information, check out SF library’s APA Citations page
(Links to an external site.)
. Also, if you are citing internet and media sources, here is the page about how to cite them correctly.
