By now, if you’ve been following along, you should be well on your way to being a productive writer with the ideas flowing — written in your Bible, of course, and a serene and inspirational workspace. If you had a well-oiled system before then read no further, go make a cup of tea, play some badminton, or cribbage…
BUT sometimes a fresh set of eyes will make you aware of a problem that you didn’t even know you had. So from this point, it is your choice to continue reading or not.
This time we are going to have a more in-depth look at research: do’s/ don’ts, etcetera, along with what it is and isn’t.
To define research exactly, it is, according to the Oxford Dictionary:
The systematic investigation into and study of materials and sources in order to establish facts and reach new conclusions.
Which is a wordy and kinda pompous way of saying that you want to find out about stuff. How do you keep track of the stuff that you find though? Digital, or physical? We’ll take a look at both of these options in the following paragraphs and discuss some pro’s and cons, before I explain the hybrid system that works for me — it may not work for you, and that is perfectly fine, to each their own.
For myself, I prefer paper all the way. The act of turning pages helps you remember the details of what you have read, plus books, especially old books simply smell nicer. For more information, here is an article on that topic: https://theconversation.com/why-we-rember-more-by-reading-especially-print-than-from-audio-or-video-159522wwwroughttype.com/?p=8755
Physical pages in the shape of an article can also be highlighted, underlined, annotated, or otherwise scribbled on and, if you are one of those people — the sort who does not use a bookmark, if you know what I mean — you can also do this with a physical book. #donotdefacelibrarybooks.
If you choose to use an online version be very aware of your source...
Did you know that the actor Jeremy Renner is a velociraptor? No, I didn't either. I did know that Stephen Moffat is a professional Rory killer though. Both of these examples come from Wikipedia, this is an extremely comprehensive source for just about everything, but since anyone can go in and edit… well, you can see the results.
Always verify everything, use a secondary source, and a tertiary if possible. ALWAYS write down where you found that interesting snippet — you may wish to venture there again in search of more gems.
If you use a lot of quotes, then a pile of file cards grouped by type are going to be your new best friends. Some of your categories may be things like: inspiration, or questions, for example, you get to decide how and where you will be using them. Write the quote, the page number and the source on your file card and you’re good to go. If you’re writing for more academic, or professional reasons, I’ve already covered how to cite your sources in a previous article.
For what are you searching, exactly? It always helps to have clearly defined search parameters in mind, or the search engine is akin to predictive text; hideous, messy and never exactly what you want. For example, a writing friend who is just starting out sent me a frantic message asking me if I knew what the word for whirlpool was — in the fourteenth century…[i] I suggested a few variants, and then asked if she had tried Google.
“It didn’t give me anything,” she wailed, with sad face emojis.
So my next question was, “Did you put the word etymology in the search parameters?”
I took my own advice and tried it — and there it was[ii].
Have clear search terms, know what you are looking for, but prepare to be delightfully distracted. This is another way that books can be far superior to the internet: you have to wait until The End to read the Bibliography, and start tingling[iii] all over at the thought of the possibilities it provides.
On the internet, all of the links are live, and placed throughout the document — click on one and suddenly you are seventeen pages away from your original article, and learning how to make doughnuts from an Ancient Armenian recipe[iv]. Thank God for the back button!
For those who need to research newspaper articles, one of the best sources is Trove. If you wish to find newspaper articles from all around Australia, covering decades of time, you can’t go past it. The articles are downloadable, and printable. A small caveat though, read your article thoroughly, as scanned documents are often riddled with spelling errors. Trove also has a feature which allows the user to correct these, and will even give you kudo’s for doing so. You do need an account to get the credit though.
The hybrid system that I use combines both physical and non-physical methods of accessibility. I prefer physical books and paper to actively work with, but if I stuck with only that, I would need to add a few wings to Buckingham Palace to accommodate it all. My compromise? I keep the articles that I am using RIGHT THEN, on paper, whilst the articles that my magpie mind has flagged for the future are scanned and stored in file folders on my desktop. Some of them relate to varying historical periods (Sumeria, Egypt et al), others relate to varying sciences (chemistry and physics mostly), another is reserved for people (Alexander the Great, Cleopatra for example). How you would choose to file these same topics may be unique to you, but I find that this is what works for me.
Never forget that you are your own best resource; every experience you have ever lived through, every thought you’ve ever had, every time you’ve ever asked ‘why?’ Or ‘what if…?’ you’ve fuelled the part of you that is a writer. Use that in your writing, use your experiences to evoke emotions and questions in your reader.
Now go out and write.
[i] I know I’m getting on, but seriously? [ii] whirlpool (n.) 1520s, from whirl (v.) + pool (n.1). Old English had hwyrfepol and wirfelmere. [iii] Or is that just me? [iv] Possibly just me again.
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