Books for Research

Research of some kind is usually essential for all writers. I know that is a sweeping statement but, in my experience, it’s true.

No matter how well I know a subject, there are almost always facts that I need to check to ensure I’ve remembered them accurately. If a reader notices just one wrong fact then the rest of what you’ve written loses credibility.

Sometimes you might be commissioned to write an article about something you have no knowledge of at all. This happened to me some years ago. I’d contacted the editor of a monthly antiques magazine in the hope of being commissioned to write for it. She arranged to meet me and we had a very amicable chat. Then she dropped her bombshell. She said, “I’d like to commission you to write about the Aesthetic Movement. You are familiar with it, aren’t you?” I tried not to look blank and replied that I did know about it, lying through my teeth. I’d vaguely heard of it but couldn’t have said any more than that. The editor then told me the deadline was three weeks away.

I went home and panicked for an hour before I calmed down and started some heavy, intensive research. I looked online, of course, and bookmarked a number of relevant pages. I also went to the library and borrowed books on the subject. I spent about a week reading the references and making notes before starting to write. This story has a happy outcome. I had my article finished before the deadline, written almost exactly to the required number of words and it was used with almost no sub-editing. I also went on to be commissioned to write monthly articles for that magazine for several years.

If I hadn’t been prepared to put in the work researching the subject, I would have lost out on becoming a regular writer for that publication.

Usually, though, I know something, even quite a lot on occasions, about the subject of an article, Squidoo lens or web page I intend to write. Even so I find that preliminary research will throw up facts that I don’t know. Sometimes they are quirky or unusual things that add colour and depth to the article. Caution is needed, though. When I find a fact that I didn’t know, I always check it out from different sources. I don’t want to repeat somebody else’s mistake.

This is something I am very cautious about when doing any research. I never take my notes from just one source even when it’s the leading authority on the subject. There is always a danger of misunderstanding something and getting it wrong in my own writing. There is also the chance that I could subconsciously plagiarise text from my research source. By reading several different sources of information, I get different points of view, different opinions and sometimes a more complete overview. This can allow me to come to my own point of view so that I can write my own article on the subject from the standpoint of what I’ve learned about it. I don’t want to just regurgitate what I’ve read. I want to have an opinion or at least my own slant on the topic.

If you want to see one of my Squidoo pages that I had to do from research with little prior knowledge, take a look at Local Time and Railway Time.

Picture above: Copyright © Twice25 – Creative Commons License

One person’s research might be another person’s plagiarism but really it should be more than a matter of opinion. The differences between the two should be obvious. It should also be obvious that someone hasn’t just done a straight rewrite of another’s material.

When I research for an article, online or off, I consult many  different sources. Usually I’ll look online first because that is quicker and easier but then I will consult reference books, either my own or in the library.

I want to ensure that all facts are accurate. Often I have seen online where people have just repeated another person’s mistakes, usually word for word.  I look at who writes the information and their background. Is that person an expert? Many Wikipedia articles are good for this because they usually put a reference to the sources of facts and statistics so it’s possible to see how authoritative those sources are.

I believe that the major difference between research and plagiarism is to take the information collected and to approach it from a different angle to most other people. Don’t just regurgitate a whole load of facts, making your lens or web page interchangeable with all the others on the same subject. Filter it through your own personal experience or opinions. You don’t have to use every fact you collected, either. You can pick and choose those that fit in with your piece and just put a link to a good source for the basic information. Alternatively, you could have a separate section called something like Quick Facts in which you list important points.

Perhaps the most personal angle I’ve ever written from on what appears an unrelated subject is when I wrote about the band Queen, their hit Radio Gaga and their 1984 London concert. The Squidoo lens is called Maybe Queen Saved my Life.

Your angle doesn’t need to be so offbeat, unusual and personal as that but it should differentiate your work from all the other webpages on the subject.