Do Your Own Research
Tip Of The Day — Day 9 — Background reading
This is part of a series of daily tips for writers which is published to share ideas and suggestions on our craft. Everyone will have different advice on how to write, so the tip below is just a personal selection which I hope you will find useful, and do share any of your own in the comments. I hope you find it useful.
It has never stopped me, but it does help to have some vague knowledge and expertise about your subject before launching in. Joking aside, a reader is going to want to know that an author has some gems of wisdom to impart before wading through something they could have written themselves, looks like a piece of homework rushed off last minute at the back of the school bus. .
After all, t is worth remembering the WIIFM principle that readers will often follow: “What’s In It For Me?”. So an article needs to entertain, educate, amuse, or perhaps ideally all three if you are skilled enough.
Sources
Where you do your research is a matter of personal preference. I am a bit old school and still like referring to dead trees (books), but there is a panoply of online material available now, much of it free, including the extraordinary resource that is Wikipedia. I absolutely love the site. It was founded by the entrepreneur Jimmy Wales, who could have made a mint from it, but instead has gifted its contents to humanity in one of the greatest acts of philanthropy in history.
If only other wealthy and powerful people showed such public spirit the world would be a much better place. So do make use of Wikipedia, and if you can afford to, chip in a few of your hard-earned Medium cents to support it. For more about the history of the website, this is a link with more information on its origins, which makes an interesting read:
Libraries are also a good source of amazing free information, and it is probably as case of “use them or lose them”, so also worthy of our support, as one of the cornerstones of a civilised society.
A good article may include links to the sources of your research, other relevant material, references for the sources of any statistics or facts you include, and a bibliography at the end listing any of those dead trees referred to, or for further reading.
I hope you found this article useful, and do share any tips of your own in the comments.
Previous tips:
Day 1- The Notebook
Day 2 — Mind your language — learning new words —
Day 3 –Quotations
Day 4 — Dictionary and thesaurus —
Day 5 — Location —
Day 6 — Planning —
Day 7 — Reverse engineering success —
Day 8 — Choosing your subject —
