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Communications: Oral Citations: Citing References in Your Speeches

Communications guide to help you create effective oral citations for speeches.

What to Include in Your Oral Citation

Try to include these components with your oral citations in speeches:

  • Who: Author and credentials if available (e.g., Alan Turing, the founder of modern computer science)
  • What: Type of publication (e.g., Ventura County Star newspaper)
  • When: Date it was created or updated (e.g., in an article from January 19, 2024)

Common Ways to Reference Sources

Some common ways to reference a source in your speech include: 

  • According to...
  • As stated/reported by...
  • Data from (source) shows...
  • Based on research published in...
  • The (source) details/argues/mentions/claims...

Examples

If you are citing information from a book, state the following:

  • Book title
  • Year of publication
  • Brief mention of the author's credentials

Example:

  • In her 2021 book, Burn Bright, Charlene Rymsha, a psychotherapist, notes that the purpose of mindful meditation…

Example for more than one author:

  • Several writers, such as Nicole Sugai, Stephen Werre, and Julie Cecere and associates have pointed out that...

  • William Barnard and his colleagues/associates noted...

If you are quoting from a magazine, newspaper, or a journal article, give a short statement of the author (if relevant) or organization with the source's date and title:

  • “According to Jarrett Lobell, the Editor in Chief for Archaeology magazine, in an article from May/Jun 2024…”
  • “Atlantic magazine of May 2024 describes how the Masai land has…”
  • “In a Pew survey, cited in Time magazine's April 8th, 2024 issue…”

If you are citing a website, mention the source's credibility with:

  • Title of the website
  • Site’s credentials by checking links like: “About us” or “Our Mission” or “Who we are”
  • Last date it was updated

Examples:

  • “One of the world's fastest-growing photography website, digitalcameraworld.com, claims on their website, last updated on April 15, 2024, that…”
  • “From the website maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigations entitled “Cyber Crime”, as of January 18th, 2024, cyber activity…” (or “of an unknown date which I accessed on April 19th of this year”), cyber activity proves to be…”

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