The Writer's Guide to Research
by Michelle McLean
As a writer who focuses mainly on historical settings, research is an important part of my writing process. As a stay at home mom with two small children, I don’t have the time (or energy) to attempt to do research in a library as I once did. Before having children, I would spend hours wandering among the shelves, pulling book after book, relaxingly browsing for the information I needed. With a three year old and a five year old and a husband who is very often out of town….this just isn’t an option for me anymore. Therefore, I do most of my research on the internet.
1. First of all, you need to know what exactly it is that you need to research.
Do you need to know if toilets were widely used in 1856? Maybe you need to know what a bottle of poison would have looked like in 1662, or what a pistol from 1734 looked like and how it was used.
Make a list, keep a binder, create a spreadsheet.
You need to have some way of recording your information. For me, I create a document in my word processor and a file folder for research within the file for whatever Work In Progess I happen to be working on. I also print a copy of whatever information I record and keep it in a WIP binder. When I am writing, it is actually easier for me to refer to the binder than to flip back and forth between Word documents.
Once I know what I want to look for, I hit the internet. Google is my best friend. It really is amazing what you can find online.2. Book Search.
When you google a topic, it almost always pulls up Amazon.com with a few titles. Many times, you can search the index or table of contents of these books on the Amazon site. This is very helpful. You can also specifically google for books on a particular subject. If you need info on toilets, google for “books on toilets,” or “books on the history of plumbing,” etc.
Utilize Your Local Library.
Once I get several titles that look promising, I get on my local library’s website and see if they carry the books in question. As I live in a tiny town, my library very rarely has the book in which I am interested. However, I can request the book through interlibrary loans without ever having to leave my home. When they come in, all I have to do is run down to the library and pick them up from the desk…relatively simple, even with two children in tow.
3. Scholarly and Scientific Journals.
These are great places to find information. Again, this is something you can plug into Google.
Search For Your Topic.
Do a google search for “scholarly journal articles on pirates in the 16th century” and see what pops up.
Utilize Your Local Library.
Many scholarly journals will require you to have a subscription or membership, but again, here is where online library tools come in handy. Even if you can’t get the full article online, you can usually get enough of an excerpt to see if it will help you. If it is something that you need, but you can’t get it online for free, check your local library. Libraries carry many, many scholarly journals and magazines. If they don’t have what you are looking for, they should be able to get it. And with journal articles, many times they are able to just email or fax you a copy of the article in question.
4. Online Sites and Sources.
There are also many, many online sites and sources of which you can take advantage.
Personal Websites and Forums.
When I was doing a search for 17th century pistols, I did a little google searching and it pulled up a website of people who were pirate aficionados. They wore the outfits, collected the guns (either replicas or sometimes the real article). There were pictures and forums and these wonderful people are usually more than happy to answer questions for someone who is truly interested. Don’t be afraid to jump in with both feet and ASK SOMEONE.
Ask an Expert.
When researching what kind of flowers would bloom in England in January, I emailed a horticulture society and they sent me several pages of information on all types of British winter flora. I once emailed a website of physicians on whether or not a 100-year-old skeleton would still have hair, and got a very detailed answer from an expert on the subject. It took me five minutes and all my questions were answered. All you have to do is find the right place or person and just ask.
5. Online Encyclopedias and Information Sites.
Proceed with Caution.
Sites like Wikipedia and Ask.com are handy, and you can get information quickly, but you need to remember that this information is written by whoever wants to answer the question, so be sure to double (if not triple) check your information. I generally use these type of sites for a quick memory refresher…if there is something that I am pretty sure I know, but want to double check, I’ll look it up on Wikipedia.
Use as a Starting Point.
These sites aren’t bad to use as a starting point. Wikipedia especially often has sources listed at the end of their articles. These sites can be a useful place to get titles of books and articles to further your own research. Beware the articles that do NOT have sources listed. These are the ones that are more likely to contain inaccurate information. And again, I would urge any good researcher to double check the information they find.
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About the Author
Born in San Jose, CA, Michelle is the oldest of five children. She has always been an avid reader and began to write at a very early age. She has a passionate love of learning, which led to earning a Bachelor's degree in History and a Master's degree in English. She currently lives in Utah with her husband, two young children, and one very hyper dog. Visit her website at http://authormichellemclean.com/index.html and her blog at http://www.michellemclean.blogspot.com/.