Find a variety of information to learn about a topic
Critical questions for first-hand testimony
Is the information authoritative?
Is the source coming from within the community?
What viewpoint or perspective does it represent?
What new or different information does the source provide?
Talk to people!
Use the strategies you already rely on to connect with people in your everyday life. Talk to someone you know or ask someone in your networks for a referral.
"New Phone is Old" by Neozoon is marked with CC BY 2.0
TED talk: The Danger of a Single Story
Define: PATHOS
Pathos is an appeal to someone's emotional response to information. Gaining empathy or sympathy can help to establish the need for a topic to be understood or addressed.
First-hand testimony -- What are people experiencing?
First-hand testimony -- what are people experiencing?
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Useful first-hand experience can provide:
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Talking to people who have direct experience with a topic or issue can provide unique information not available elsewhere. This includes first-hand experiences and expert testimony. It’s important to consider what makes a person an expert when giving testimony and sharing individual experiences. Are they speaking from within the community experiencing the issue? Do they have first-hand experience with the topic? A personal story that’s shared from lived experience can be very compelling and provide unique insights.
Including anecdotes or personal narratives can appeal to the emotions and values of the reader/audience and make the topic more vivid and connecting to their own experiences. This can appeal to PATHOS.
Seeking out people's experiences
Seeking out people's experiences
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Why do this kind of research? People’s stories can be overlooked Lived experiences bring different information Making your writing available to a wide audience Direct experience is credible and from within a community |
What are the considerations when using people's stories? Need a mixture of stories One person’s experience isn’t conclusive for everyone’s experience Can become a generalization and stereotype |
Stories from marginalized communities
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Can be challenging to find because no one has asked them before. Stories are important and need to have light shined on them Who’s voice am I missing? |
Sometimes the studies get it wrong. Generalizations are made to ALL populations based on more specific sampling (e.g. studies focused on boys and making generalizations to girls of same age) |
Finding personal experiences and expert testimony
People you know -- reaching out to those in your personal, college or work life circles is a great start (think: Social Media connections, too!)
News or social media -- trending stories or interviews with people that have first-hand experience
TED Talks -- an example of where experts might be sharing viewpoints based on their experience
Interviews -- call an expert
Finding testimony in the news
- Alt-PressWatch This link opens in a new windowA full text collection of newspapers, magazines and journals of the alternative and independent press. View the Alt-Press Watch handout.
- Ethnic Newswatch This link opens in a new windowFull text newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic minority and native press. Provides a rich collection of articles, editorials, and reviews with a broad diversity of perspectives and viewpoints. Also a good source of ethnic recipes. Coverage is from 1980 to the present. View the Ethnic NewsWatch handout
- New York Times Online This link opens in a new windowUnlimited access to the New York Times on NYTimes.com. See Get Started with the New York Times Online to set up your subscription through PCC Library. Once you have set up your subscription, you can go directly to NYTimes.com and sign in using your personal account.
- US Major Dailies This link opens in a new windowFull text newspapers from five U.S. national and regional newspapers: New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, and the Chicago Tribune