We spend a lot of time talking about how to cite things we’ve learned from different sources in our essays and written assignments, but what about oral presentations? When we’re speaking to an audience, how do we effectively and ethically let them know when information or language is borrowed from someone else? 

If we’re using a visual aid like slides, we need to incorporate in-text citations for any information borrowed from external sources, whether we’ve quoted them directly or paraphrased an idea. The options are similar to how you would do this in an essay. In fact, you can check out some examples of how to do this on our student resource site!

But what about the things we actually say to our audience? And what if we don’t have a visual aid? 

This is when we want to make sure we use attribution language. 

Attribution language is phrasing that attributes – or credits – a specific idea to an author or publication. 

Sometimes you’ll see phrases like “According to X,...” or “X asserts that…,” and so on. Using language like this tells our audience that the idea we’re about to share is not our own.

For paraphrased ideas – that is, ideas that we’ve put into our own words – we can go right into the idea. 

But if we are quoting something directly, it’s likely because the language itself is important for the audience to know. Since our listeners won’t always see the quotation marks that designate this, we want to use the words “quote” and “end quote” to signify the beginning and end of someone else’s phrasing.

Lastly, similarly to incorporating a source into your writing, depending on who your audience is, you might need to contextualize your sources by noting who the author is and why their ideas are relevant. 

Let’s look at an example. Let’s say we’re giving a speech about fashion at the 2023 Women’s World Cup. 

Here’s an excerpt of what we might say…

The fashion at the 2023 Women’s World Cup made headlines, prompting the rise of new fashion icons and trends. Irene Kim for Vogue asserts that wearing items like team jerseys, sneakers, and knee-high socks are the new rules for - quote - “channeling your inner Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan, or Sophia Smith” - end quote. Further, clothing brands are jumping on the bandwagon and partnering with the US Women’s National Team and FIFA to create bespoke collections. 

According to Rose Minatuglio for Elle Magazine, Nike x Martine Rose created items specifically for the US Women’s National Team to wear. These items embodied the team’s spirit with unique, tailored, and genderless garments. Other labels like Mejuri and Stoney Clover Lane are collaborating with the US Women’s National Team, and Nike, Adidas, and soccer.com are selling official World Cup products, as described in POPSUGAR by Kyley Warren. 

These are just a few of the many ways you can incorporate source materials into your speaking. As long as you are making the origins of your research clear to your audience, you’re doing great.

Happy citing!

In-Text Citations

The following demonstrates different examples for citing textual information about the fashion of the 2023 Women’s World Cup.

FOOTNOTE CITATIONS

Direct Quote: "The U.S. Women’s National team players are walking into this summer’s highly anticipated Women’s World Cup wearing one-of-a-kind, gender-free tailored pieces from Nike x Martine Rose."¹

Paraphrase: Nike x Martine Rose

Bespoke, tailored clothes made for any gender & designed specifically for the US Women’s National soccer team¹

¹Minutaglio, R. (2023, July). Here's your first look at the U.S. Women's World Cup pregame suits. Elle. https://www.elle.com/fashion/a44600950/us-womens-soccer-nike-suits-martine-rose/

For a direct quote, the sentence is surrounded by quotation marks followed by a superscript 1, which refers to the APA citation at the bottom of the slide. For paraphrased information, the paraphrased language is similarly followed by a superscript 1 but without quotation marks.

PARENTHETICAL CITATIONS

Direct Quote: "The rules for channeling your inner Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan, or Sophia Smith are easy: Wear your favorite team’s jersey, rock a great pair of sneakers, and add an extra dose of pizzazz by pulling your socks all the way to your knees" (Kim, 2023).

Paraphrase: Dress like your favorite athletes: team jerseys, sneakers, knee-high socks (Kim, 2023)

After both a direct quote and paraphrased information, you can include parentheses that have the author’s last name and the year of publication.

ATTRIBUTION LANGUAGE

Direct Quote: Kyley Warren for POPSUGAR (2023) writes: "Labels like Mejuri and Stoney Clover Lane have partnered exclusively with the US Women's National Team on unique fashion collections, while activewear brands like Nike, Adidas, and Soccer.com have introduced designated hubs where fans can shop for things like official FIFA gear, soccer cleats, athletic jerseys, and more."

Paraphrase: 

• Brands collaboration with US Women’s National Team include Mejuri and Stoney Clover Lane

• Brands such as Nike and Adidas are focusing on selling official World Cup products for fans including cleats and jerseys

According to Kyley Warren, POPSUGAR (2023)

You can use language before or after a direct quote or bulleted, paraphrased information that refers to the source’s author and place and date of publication.

Image Citations

NUMBERED LIST

Underneath a photo, you might include something with this format: Fig. 1: “Paris, fall 2021, ready-to-wear,” Acielle/Style du Monde, Vogue

PARENTHETICAL CITATION

You could also include a parenthetical citation under a photo such as:  (Paterson, 2023).

ATTRIBUTION LANGUAGE

Similarly, you can include the name of the photographer and publication information under a photo like: Samil Ryan, published in POPSUGAR, 2023

After all of this, you should always include a slide that lists all your references in APA format.