Research is formalised curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose.
Zora Neale Hurston
Now that we know there are important questions we need to find answers to, where do we find the information and what tools are helpful for this part of the process?
We’ve already covered why research is important and some of the major questions to ask yourself when conducting research for your book. We have also talked about using books by competing authors for your research, and the benefits you could gain from that.
Today, we’ll discuss where to do research and the best information sources available.
Online
The Internet has played a role in making information readily available. It can, therefore, serve as an excellent source of information. However, the Internet is probably also the biggest source of disinformation, so you need to be smart.
Whenever you’re conducting research on the World Wide Web, it is important to make sure any information you rely on is from a reputable source or author. Be very careful about trusting a source too quickly, because in this age of ‘fake news’, there are probably more websites and authors giving inaccurate information than the reliable sources.
I recommend taking your time to establish the reliability of a website or author through some background research. If you don’t know an author you want to quote, check their LinkedIn profile, for instance. Their educational and professional background is a good place to start.
Online Research Tools
- Zotero is a free, easy-to-use tool to help you collect, organise, cite, and share research.
- Answerthepublic.com —use this website to discover what people are asking about
- Google.com
Books
Another great source for information is books. These are usually much more reliable than Internet sources. Hardly would anyone put in the work and effort to write a book if all they have to offer is false information. We already discussed how looking ignorant is a major concern for most authors. Investing in a book that is likely to be debunked is not a risk rational authors are willing to take.
In fact, looking or sounding ignorant is a much bigger concern for book authors than, say, online bloggers. For one, a blogger, or website owner, can easily take down an article that’s been discovered to have false information. On the other hand, once a book is out there, it will serve as evidence of the author’s reliability (or lack thereof) even for future generations.
Testimonials
Personal experiences from actual people are sometimes exactly what you need to make a compelling argument. If your book is about a different approach to doing business, include a real life example or a case study of how this has worked. You could also request an expert or specialist in your field to contribute a quotation or brief passage that you might include in your book.
It’s time to reflect!
- Identify some of the best sources of information you might use for your book idea. Why would you go with them?
- What else might you consider when doing background research on an online information source or author?
- How would you know that you’ve done enough research for your book?
- What are some ways you can think of to keep your research material organised?
It’s time to act!
Share your reflections with a partner or a writer’s group.
Once you start writing, you might discover you need to conduct some more research on a particular topic. Should this happen, just make a note of this, but go on writing. Again, you don’t want to stop the creative process once you begin.
Writing Checklist
Did I…
- Read Day 15 Insights
- Write my reflection from today’s reading
- Write my action plan
- Share my action plan for accountability with a partner or a writer’s group