the statement that the particular combination and adaptation of concluding factors must be determined by the nature of the subject, the audience addressed, and the particular aim of the speaker.

CHAPTER VII

PREPARATION FOR A SPEECH

A. GENERAL PREPARATION

With a fair understanding of aims and methods in speech-making, we are in a position to consider the actual preparation for an address. As may have been inferred from the preceding chapters, the foundation of good speaking rests upon a person's sum total of knowledge and experience. His acquaintance with art, politics, history, geography, sociology, commerce, music, literature, industry, as well as his experience with men and affairs are a part of the speaker's stock in trade. At any time they may afford an apt illustration, or even constitute the fundamental structure of his entire address. The greater his fund of knowledge, however acquired, the more material he has to bring to bear upon any given subject. It is supposed by some that only those with an academic education are capable of making good speeches. True it is that at least a practical knowledge of grammar and rhetoric is usually requisite. Moreover, the academically trained

person is likely to be more familiar with the literary graces of composition. But in general, intelligence, broad information and experience are the things which form the basis of speech-making; and of these the schools and colleges certainly have no monopoly. A well-stored mind, then, should be the primary aim of every serious student of speaking. And with the ample facilities offered to-day in schools, lectures, newspapers, magazines, and public libraries no one should find difficulty in obtaining such a foundation.

B. SPECIFIC PREPARATION

Whatever the amount of general information a person may possess, there are certain steps which he must take in preparation for a public address. If he is to talk on a subject about which he is already well-informed, the preliminary work is reduced, essentially, to selecting and arranging his material. But in comparatively few cases is the average man sufficiently versed in his subject to forego the first step in preparation for a speechinvestigation.

I. Investigation

Investigation may be divided into two classes: direct and indirect. The first consists of a personal examination of the matter to be discussed.

An engineer who inspects a building upon which he is to report, or an artist who visits a picture gallery about which he is to lecture uses the direct method. Whenever the conditions warrant, such an investigation is clearly most advantageous. But in order to make profitable observations the investigator must be fairly familiar with the general subject under examination. A man must know considerable about bridges, for example, if he is to report upon a personal investigation of a particular structure. Moreover, in the great majority of cases, the speaker is obliged, on account of the physical impossibility of direct investigation, to gather his material from secondary sources; that is, to use the indirect method.

a. Making a Bibliography

The first thing to do is to locate the sources of information on the subject under consideration. No time should be lost in desultory wandering through library stacks, or in random leafing over of magazine pages. For books on any subject the card-indexes of libraries should be consulted. The speaker should also acquaint himself with such general bibliographical works as Sonnenschein's "The Best Books," and Kroeger's "Guide to the Use of Reference Books." Frequently the matter under investigation appears under titles

somewhat different from the key-word of the specific topic. If, for instance, the topic is, “The Development of Aeronautics," the investigator will do well to look through the card-indexes and general bibliographies for works on aërial navigation, flying-machines, balloons, dirigibles, aëroplanes, hydro-aëroplanes, monoplanes, biplanes, Zeppelin, Wright brothers, etc. Whatever the subject may be, the bibliography should include, for purposes of rapid scanning at least, all titles found which relate closely to the subject of discourse. Later, the investigator may enlarge his list of books by taking advantage of cross-references, i. e., the foot-note citation of sources by the various authors consulted. The reader should also take note of any bibliographical lists which may appear in the books he is examining. If the number of references becomes formidably large, it is well to remember that an ample collection of sources is more likely to afford just the material needed by the speaker than is a meager one. And it is a simple matter to select only the most promising items for careful examination should time be limited.

For references to periodical literature, the investigator should consult "The Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature," and "The Supplement to the Readers' Guide." These indexes, which are to be found in most of the up-to-date libraries,