Oral Communication, Media, and Research
What to know
Oral communication includes listening, speaking, discussion, presentation, and small-group collaboration. Candidates should know how audience, purpose, and occasion shape register, organization, and delivery. Rhetorical analysis involves ethos (credibility), pathos (emotion), and logos (logic). Media literacy requires evaluating sources for credibility, bias, currency, purpose, and evidence; it also includes recognizing propaganda techniques and algorithmic influence. Research is an inquiry process: framing questions, locating primary and secondary sources, evaluating reliability and validity, synthesizing findings, avoiding plagiarism, and citing accurately. Know the difference between primary and secondary sources and between correlation and causation.
Traps
A common trap is labeling a source credible simply because it is popular or visually polished. Domain suffixes are clues, not guarantees. Do not confuse ethos with emotion or logos with mere statistics; evidence must be relevant and sound. Another trap is treating a paraphrase as acceptable without citation. Also watch for confusing reliability with validity: reliability concerns consistency; validity concerns whether an instrument measures what it claims.
Worked example
A student finds a polished website claiming a diet cures a disease. Rather than trusting design, the student checks the author's credentials, evidence, publication date, sponsors, and independent corroboration. Rule of thumb: evaluate the claim, not the appearance; use lateral reading to see what other credible sources say.