HOW TO FIND AUTHORITATIVE
BACKGROUND ON ANY SUBJECT
When you're doing research or looking for information on a
particular subject, it's a lot like a detective checking all his
possible clues. The important thing is knowing who or where your
sources are. In almost all instances, your first move should be to your
encyclopedia. If you don't have an up-to-date set, there's always
your public library. Most of the time, an encyclopedia will give you at least the
general facts about your subject. You may have to check other
sources for more detailed information. Thus, your next move should be to books that have been written
on the subject. The subject and title sections of the card
catalog or the bound volumes of computer print outs in most public
libraries will give you plenty of listings. After you've selected a number of books for background
information, check the magazines either directly related to your
subject, or those carrying articles on the subject. Most of the
time, you'll find that magazines will provide you with more up-to-
date and timely information than books. To check out information on your subject in magazines, look in
the Reader's Guide To Periodical Literature. Under subject and
author headings, the complete collection of this guide will list
articles printed in magazines since the turn of the century. The
Suggestions For Use section will instruct you on how to read the
codes under each heading. If you can't find your subject listed,
think of similar subjects that might be related. If your subject is part of a particular field of study, there
may be a special index that will help you. Among these special
indexes, you'll find: Art Index, Business Periodicals Index,
Consumers Index, Education Index, Humanities Index, Social
Sciences Index, Biological and Agricultural Index, and Applied
Sciences and Technology Index. You'll even find a Popular
Periodicals Index which lists articles that have appeared in
currently popular magazines. You'll also find that most newspapers are veritable goldmines
of reference material. Most of the big city newspapers have
computerized indexes. Several of the special national newspapers
such as the Wall Street Journal also have reference indexes. Without a doubt, the New York Times Index is the most
complete. In these newspaper indexes, subjects and people are
listed alphabetically with the date, page number, and usually with
the number of columns devoted to that particular story. About all
you have to do to avail yourself of this information is to stop by
the newspaper office, tell them the kind of information you're
looking for, and ask their help in locating it within their index. Facts on File is a world news digest that's found at most
public libraries. This is a weekly publication that's broken down
into four categories: World Affairs, U.S. Affairs, Other Nations,
and Miscellaneous. Editorials on File is a similar service that comes out twice
each month. It is a survey of newspaper editorials that span a
wide range of subjects. If you want to know about business trends, you should ask for
and look at the Moody's Reports. These cover banking and finance,
industry and public utilities. Most large public libraries also keep pamphlet files for
brochures from various information services and government
agencies. Be sure to ask about these. Whenever you have a question or want more information on a
subject, always check first in the material that has been written
about it. Public libraries and news papers are free, and will
definitely point you in the right direction even if you don't know
much about sources. One of the best sources of information is people. Ask around
and more often than not, you'll find someone right in your own
area who is well versed on your subject. An introductory phone
call and an explanation as to why you're researching the subject
will almost always lead you to many people who will be glad to
talk with you. Interviewing and talking with people will give you the chance
to ask questions and hear specific explanations about the details
that may not be fully covered in a book, newspaper or other
publication. When interviewing, your questions should be open-ended. In
other words, questions which do not allow for a simple yes or no.
You should get the people you're talking with to discuss their
experiences relative to the subject. Pose hypothetical situations,
asking what they would do or what would happen under a given
set of circumstances. Researching and gathering information on a particular subject
can be fun, exciting and very informative. It will never be dull
or boring. The important thing is to search out all the available
sources, and then to take advantage of them. From there, you'll
find it's very much like putting a jigsaw puzzle together; the
closer you get to completing the picture, the more excited you
become. Many people find that when they begin a research project on a
specific subject, they quickly uncover so many interesting related
subjects that it's hard to confine their enthusiasm to just the
one subject. This is what learning is all about, regardless of
the use you eventually make of the information you gather. The
more you learn, the more you want to learn. Curiosity about all things, and good, basic research are the
prime requisites for any successful writer. To have read about or
experienced only a few aspects of a given subject won't interest
very many people. What the people want is a thorough discussion
of the subject from as many different points of view as possible.
This, of course, requires research, and to do research, you have
to know where to find the material you want. Hopefully, we've "turned you on" with the idea that the
information you're interested in is available and virtually at
your fingertips. All it takes is just a bit of effort on your
part to avail yourself of it. Just remember, whatever has been
thought of or dreamed of by man since the beginning of time has
been written about, and you can learn about it with a reasonable
amount of searching.