![\"research,](\"http:\/\/farm9.staticflickr.com\/8296\/7851060368_ae087db06f_m_d.jpg\" "\\"books")
To a certain extent, Dear Reader, today\u2019s pontification will apply to novelists and short fiction writers as well as to those of us who specialize in non-fiction. But mostly, I\u2019m talking to non-fic writers.<\/p>\nTo a certain extent, Dear Reader, today\u2019s pontification will apply to novelists and short fiction writers as well as to those of us who specialize in non-fiction. But mostly, I\u2019m talking to non-fic writers.<\/p>\n
It has been said, \u201cYou do not need to know everything about a subject to be considered an expert on that subject, you just need to know where to go to get the answers.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 This saying was posted above my desk when I worked for a publishing company that put out three daily newspapers, a dozen or so monthly magazines and a few books each year.\u00a0 I was Production Manager, but I also did a fair amount of writing for some of our publications.<\/p>\n I found a good deal of truth in the saying\u2026 and a fair bit of danger.<\/p>\n The dangerous side of this thought has increased considerably with the advent of the Internet.\u00a0 It used to be that research materials were comprised mostly of printed books, periodicals and papers by scholarly types.\u00a0 Most of it could be trusted as accurate and professional.\u00a0 Unless the books were printed by a vanity press, someone had done some fact checking during the vetting process of publication.<\/p>\n But today most people don\u2019t turn to encyclopedias (many young people don\u2019t seem to know what an encyclopedia is) or a periodical index, they key a search term into a Google bar and look through the top results listings for the information they seek.\u00a0 In itself, this is not a bad thing.\u00a0 I do it too.\u00a0 For the most part it is, in fact, a wonderful thing to have so much information at your fingertips at a moment\u2019s notice without even having to change out of your pajamas. But it can be risky as well.<\/p>\n The Internet does not have fact-checkers.\u00a0 Even known resources like Wikipedia are comprised of user-submitted articles that probably have not been checked for accuracy. Someone who writes authoritatively can feed the public a complete line of bull, and few will know it.\u00a0 It is important, therefore, to do your own fact checking.\u00a0 I recommend a minimum of three independent sources to count a fact as verified.\u00a0 The key word here is *independent*.\u00a0 If the three articles are worded very similarly it is probable that they all came from the same author, in which case they are not actually validating one another, only corroborating what he or she is presenting as truth.<\/p>\n Naturally, if you are writing on a subject about which you have a great deal of innate knowledge, your fact checking can be minimized.\u00a0 You can write from your own experience, needing to check only critical details.\u00a0 If, for example, I write an article on the correct way to cut a bridle joint for a piece of furniture, I can describe the way I routinely cut a bridle joint \u2013 other furniture makers may prefer a different way.\u00a0 I favor hand cutting with chisel and back-saw, another may prefer the table saw method, yet another may prefer a router table.\u00a0 All work, which is best depends on your tools and skill-set.\u00a0 To be complete, I could describe them all, but would want to do a little research on the methods I don’t use myself to be sure I got the tool set-up right. Where you are submitting your article will also have an effect on how much fact-checking you should do.<\/p>\n If submitting to a trade magazine, they will have a fact checker who will go over your article before publishing.\u00a0 A glaring error will insure rejection.\u00a0 If everything else is good, they may ask you to correct the error and resubmit.\u00a0 If they do, you can bet you\u2019ve been flagged as someone who is less than reliable and will be watched if you submit other articles.<\/p>\n Much the same for professional eZines.\u00a0 Many print magazines have an on-line version, and these often have expanded content that is much easier to get into than the print version.\u00a0 Prove yourself here and your move into the lucrative print edition will be easier.<\/p>\n Content mills rarely check facts; just your quality of writing.\u00a0 If the client is not an expert in the topic on which you are writing, you may get away with being sloppy because your name will not appear on the article.\u00a0 If the client is an expert, just doesn\u2019t have time (or ability) to write his own content, or if his readers point out errors in his articles you can be sure it will hurt your standing with the editors.\u00a0 The only way to make money with a mill is to write a lot of really good articles and work your way up the list to where you get the better paying work as a favored writer. Factually sloppy work will not get you there.<\/p>\n If the work is to be published on your own blog or in a book under your name errors in your work, if spotted, will come back directly to you.\u00a0 You will also be fielding the questions.\u00a0 So, if you decide that a niche blog on refurbishing fire hydrants would be lucrative, you read a few books or do research on-line to get the basics, then start writing, make sure you\u2019ve bookmarked your sources.\u00a0 If you get a question like, \u201cOn page 147 of your book you state that the knee-knocker bolt threads into the whatzidigger for \u00be of an inch.\u00a0 Can you tell me what the thread depth and pitch are on that bolt?\u201d and you don\u2019t actually know anything about fire hydrants, you\u2019d better know where to go to get the answer.<\/p>\n Non-fiction writers can write good articles about subjects on which they are not acknowledged experts, but they must be careful in validating the facts they use in the articles or books to be sure the information they are passing along is accurate.\u00a0 Use only trusted resources or cross-check facts through multiple independent sources.<\/p>\n Welcome to the Golden Age of Fact Checking<\/a> by Greg Beato<\/a> | September 20, 2012<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" To a certain extent, Dear Reader, today’s pontification will apply to novelists and short fiction writers as well as to those of us who specialize in non-fiction. But mostly, I’m talking to non-fic writers. It has been said, “You do not need to know everything about a subject to be considered an expert on that … Continue reading “Non-Fiction: Research vs Knowledge”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[75,76],"class_list":["post-4125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tools","tag-freelance","tag-non-fiction"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4125"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21587,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4125\/revisions\/21587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Where We Research<\/h2>\n
Using Our Knowledge<\/h2>\n
Why We Research<\/h2>\n
Summary<\/h2>\n
More on this topic<\/h3>\n