Beyond Google: Speech and Debate Teaches Important Research Skills

“A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting its shoes on.” The quote is significant because it points out the danger that fake news can travel faster than real news. It also makes a case for accurate attribution. Was it said by Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson or maybe Winston Churchill? All have been credited with the statement, which dates to the early 1800s. It was published in several sources, all without attribution.

A more contemporary warning about fake news came in 1992 when a CNN reporter received “exclusive” information that President George H.W. Bush had died at a dinner in Japan. The station was in a quandary: report the story and be the first news outlet to report; wait and check the story, be right and risk being scooped by others; or don’t report the story.

CNN chose to fact-check the information, found it false and never published the fake news. CNN sister network, Headline News, gave it straight to the news anchor to read. Fortunately, a savvy producer stopped the anchor as the newscast began, preventing the airing of false information.

The ability to distinguish fake news from real news is a much-needed skill for adults and students. The explosion of available sources on the internet makes evaluating information more difficult. Within high school speech and debate programs, students are taught the difference between fake and real news, as well as how to identify and use credible information.

The speech/debate classroom, along with competitive activities, provide the perfect place to teach research skills that go beyond Google, which has made research too easy. Googling has become a verb, “just google it.” Speech and debate students must go beyond Googling, because credibility is a critical aspect of their performances.

Presenting information with quality sources shows the audience that the speaker has done appropriate background work, and it improves the credibility of the content. In competitive debate, a student’s presentation will be judged and challenged by others. Their arguments often hinge on the quality of sources. Speech adjudicators value expert opinions and facts that show the depth in student research, so the use of tools beyond Google is essential for competitors’ success.

Debaters and competitive speakers are taught to use a diversity of information and databases, including their own school library, public libraries, and even college libraries and government archives. Credible databases screen their sources, adding to the quality of information. Some of the sources most common to speech and debate students include ProQuest, EBSCOhost, JSTOR, SCOPUS, Web of Science (Knowledge), Academic Universe and PubMed. These only scratch the surface of what is available, but they are a solid start for student research.

Students should learn to check stories in a multitude of ways. Is the information consistent with information they already know? And are other sources reporting the same information? Does an article quote experts? Does it have a copyright? These are some of the simple questions to help students determine if news is real or fake.

There are many educational publications used by speech teachers and coaches to help students evaluate sources. The New York Times published a very useful guide by Katherine Schulten (Learning Network editor and former high school English teacher) “Evaluating Sources in a ‘Post-Truth’ World: Ideas for Teaching and Learning About Fake News”. Another guide from Harvard Summer School (a division of the Harvard School of Education) provides “4 Tips for Spotting a Fake News Story”. Using resources such as these can be a starting place to combat fake news.

Some websites to help determine the veracity of information include: www.snopes.com, the oldest, most widely regarded, and largest fact-checking site online; www.factcheck.org, a Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center; and www.politifact.com, a Pulitzer Prize-winning independent fact-checking website.

Speech and debate activities teach students to identify fake news, seek out credible sources, and go beyond Google to do research that aids in quality presentations. We want our students to be those savvy producers who double-check sources before reporting things like the tragic death of a president. We should be teaching all students to evaluate information, and do a deeper dive into more credible and quality research sources.