Research for Writers, World Builders, and Other Types of Nerds

Search Strategies

Think about what exactly you are trying to find out. If you are doing research on a geographic region, such as Ireland, are you interested in a particular city? More interested in the rural or urban areas? Are you looking for information about the geography, the land, the people, the politics, etc? Try to understand what questions you are trying to answer before you begin your research, and keep that in mind while you search. Once you know what you’re looking for, you can use that to guide your searching and think of keywords or phrases to search for.

Sometimes you will have only a vague idea of what you’re looking for, and that’s okay! Start broad and narrow your search down as you go along by adding additional keywords or using filters that are built into most search engines and databases. For example, if you want to find information on regions that have succeeded from their nation state, but you’re not sure of any specific examples, you can try doing a Google search for general terms and then identifying specific examples that you can search for and learn more about.

When entering broad or general search terms, try to think about how a website might phrase the subject you’re looking for. Often in writing we use more formal language than we do when speaking; if you were speaking aloud you might phrase your search as nations that separate from countries, but you’ll have better luck if you rephrase to more formal language and use only the most important words in your phrase. For example, do a Google search for country AND independence and you will find several resources that identify nations that have fought for independence from a parent nation.

Most research is simply a process of trial and error: try a keywords or phrase and see what kinds of results you get. If you’re not happy with your results, try some different keywords or phrases and see what you get. Some databases will keep track of the keywords and phrases you enter, but in many cases you will need to do this yourself; keep a pad of paper with you and write down the words and phrases you’ve tried searching for and if they’ve yielded any useful results. Don’t forget to try synonyms and antonyms of words you’re interested in!

Often if you can find one good source you can follow links and citations to other sources that may be useful to you. This is especially true if you are looking things up on Wikipedia, which often contains citations, references, and links to external websites.

Evaluating Websites

Always maintain a healthy skepticism in everything you read, not just on the internet but everywhere! Criteria for evaluating websites include Authority, Accuracy, Currency, Bias, and Coverage. None of these considerations are hard-and-fast rules, they are simple things to remember and weigh when you are looking at information on the internet.

Authority relates to who wrote the information you’re reading. Is there a specific person identified as the author? What is the author’s background or basis for expertise? Are they writing on their own behalf or as part of an organization or company? Is their contact information listed?

How accurate is the information you’re reading? Are there links out to other sources that verify the claims on their website? Do some basic fact-checking on the website by reading more than one source and ensuring that the information is consistent.

Is the information you’re reading the most current information available? For some of your research the information you’re reading may be older, is the information still relevant or has the information been disproven? Look for dates on blog posts, articles, or website updates.

Consider the bias of the information. The writing you read will almost definitely contain the bias of the author, some of which you may agree with and some of which you may not. It is important to be aware of the biases in your research so that you may ensure that you’re getting an honest assessment and to be aware of your own biases.

Coverage refers to how narrow or wide the scope of the popular website is. Is this a website that focuses on entertainment news, or is it a current events source that has a small piece on TV shows? What types of information does your source cover, and how thoroughly? In some cases you may find more accurate information on websites that have a narrow scope, on the other hand a broader scope may include some interesting context or lead you to other pieces of information you hadn’t considered.

Getting Your Book into Your Public Library

1. Why? Because the library’s collections drive demand and interest in reading, and discovery through the library drives sales in a similar way to word of mouth.

2. Attend writers’ events and publishing panels at your library, to get tips and to network.

3. Take advantage of the library’s resources and knowledge to help you format your ebook

4. Get your ebook into a mainstream library distribution channel, to make it easy for librarians to discover and buy your book - eg. Smashwords is a self-publishing platform, free for authors, which has ebook creation tools AND a relationship with OverDrive, the main distributor of ebooks to English speaking public libraries.

5. Tell your librarians - OverDrive’s discovery tools for local and regional content still need work, so let us know that your book is available! We do have collection standards, and we can’t buy everything - but 99% of the time, if it’s local, we want it in our collection!

Approaching Your Public Library with a Program Idea

1. Find out how they take proposals (VPL has a form, and it really does get to our librarians!), approach well in advance (1-2 quarters), and be patient.

2. Be specific about the audience for your program and your technology and space needs.

3. Be willing to partner on promotion (poster templates, social media, etc). Most large urban libraries will have marketing departments, but you might be asked to create and/or distribute your own posters.

4. Be willing to work within the library’s mandate - most public libraries will have specific priority areas, such as supporting local authors, fostering a creative community, building digital literacy skills, engaging in current events and cultural issues.

5. Open your program to everyone - the most important part of a library’s mandate is free, publicly accessible collections and programs - this means that any time we give away our space and tech for free, the program being run must be open to everyone.

6. You can sell books, but you can’t sell services. The public library is a neutral and relatively commerce free place - you can sell your book at your reading or program, but you can’t make your program into an infomercial for your editing services or your friend’s print shop. Your main goal should be to educate, entertain, and engage the community members that come to the program.