Doing research

Anyone know any good resources for doing research, preferably for science fiction? For a while I just did what everyman Joe Schmoe did and relied on Wikipedia, but I've come to find its inability to speak to me in any language but jargon has become... inconvenient. So I was wondering if anyone could share resources that are simultaneously easy to understand and comprehensive of the subject material.

edited 1st May '14 10:08:00 PM by KSPAM

I've got new mythological machinery, and very handsome supernatural scenery. Goodfae: a mafia web serial

Wikipedia is often a decent resource to start with, but the part you want is at the very end of the article: the citation sources.

Other than that, practice your Google-fu; poke around and learn how to choose the right search terms to get the information you want, and how to make the most of the Advanced search(and this applies even if you prefer a search engine other than Google — Bing or Duckduckgo, or whatever.)

...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.

I so envy the writers, who get to talk to actual experts on certain matters. But you can often find a good answer just with Google, or you can borrow/buy a book about the subject.

edited 2nd May '14 5:50:05 AM by Furienna

You can always call an expert. Be polite, explain that you realize you're asking for a big favor in asking that they give you some of their time, and have a decent idea of some specific information you'd like. Offering to buy them a cup of coffee (or lunch if your budget will stand it) helps, too.

Someone who's retired from the field may welcome the chance to talk about it; lots of times, they enjoy reminiscing about jobs they had or projects they worked on, and have few or no-one who wants to listen to them.

Basically, remember that most people like to talk about the things that interest them, especially to someone else who's interested or curious. "It's for a Book" is a trope because it's also Truth in Television, and can be astonishingly effective. You don't have to know them personally, either. 'A friend of a friend' works here, too.

edited 2nd May '14 7:19:41 AM by Madrugada

...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.

Concur wholeheartedly with Maddy regarding Wikipedia's citation sections. Don't be afraid to linkhop using citations; you might happen across some really interesting places for doing research.

Charlie Stross's cheerful, optimistic predictions for 2017, part one of three.

@KSPAM: Unfortunately, I feel layman terminology and comprehensiveness tend to be mutually exclusive. After all, there is a reason the jargon exists. It's true that virtually every field has its own language and understanding that language is key to research. Your best bet is to reference Wikipedia whenever you encounter unfamiliar terminology and to do your best to resist the urge to Wiki Walk.

Also, another skill to hone is figuring out what you need to know and what you can ignore. For instance, one often doesn't need to know how a laser works but rather what it can and can't do. The former helps work out the latter but often isn't worth getting bogged down too much unless it's referenced in the story itself.

edited 3rd May '14 4:00:44 AM by peasant

I agree. While knowing how it works can be rather beneficial to understanding, the exact specifics aren't really needed unless it becomes a plot point - like it's broken down and you need to know what part could have failed and the correct terminology for that part and, possibly, an idea of how difficult and time-consuming it would be to repair.

The Nanowrimo forums are HUGELY helpful for research. I've only had to ask one awkward question*

, and about five of my other awkward questions were already answered after I did a quick forums search.

Science (fiction) is a big subject, so it depends on exactly what discipline you want to research.

I did it in the analog way: I went to a libary and got some books on mythology, mostly on greek as I use symbolism in my work and I don't want to fail at it.

For science there's wikipedia, it's very informative about it. I also have an Old Shame with far-right politics, which also made me an expert in this topic.

I recommend to have friends who're experts in different topics. For example I have a social-worker friend, who's expert in topics regarding minorities, so I can ask him everytime.

Yeah, I've noticed that too when trying to look up science topics. Wikipedia is awesome, but often it's better at telling you things than teaching you about them. It's probably easiest to figure out what the wider topic is and then try and find a rally good introductory text for it, on the internet or IRL.

As for how to find a good one… well that's where things get iffy. If I was in this situation I'd go on the local Community College's website and download the closest fitting class' course description, which has a good selection of possible textbooks at the bottom, but from my understanding colleges don't normally do that. Too bad, really.

If you're looking for free stuff though, it might be best to start from here (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenCourseWare) and see if any of the links have a specific class that covers what you need. It will take ages to get through if you find one, but they're a lot easier to take in than a Wikipedia page.

EDIT: Does link formatting not work in the forums anymore? It's been way to long since I've last been here...

edited 6th May '14 10:24:56 AM by Dec

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