Workshop: Research
I recently gave workshops on Research for Writers, (at Women Writing the West and Surrey International Writers Conference) and rather than do printed handouts, I am posting all the information here so it is readily available and clickable.
Library Love
Librarians to follow on Twitter: @surlyspice, @superwendy
Bowling Green State University Pop Culture Library @BGSU_PopCultLib
BGUS also has an “Ask Us” feature on their website.
New York Public Library: @nypl and @askNYP
This hashtag on Twitter can be a great way to find answers to really obscure research questions: #AskALibrarian
Finding Research Books:
Library books:
World Cat
Library of Congress (US)
Ebooks:
A caveat and caution here–not all the books you may find via these links are legitimate legal copies. Always use caution when downloading books, and use to due diligence to ensure that it is available in the public domain.
Project Gutenberg
Archive.org
Google Books
Hathi Trust
openlibrary.org
To Purchase:
Abebooks
Alibris.com
Powell’s Books
Better World Books
Amazon.com
Databases:
Check your local library’s online offering of databases–many will be accessible without having to pay. Some popular ones include:
Jstor
OED
Gale Databases
Archives/Museums
American Heritage Center
New York Public Library
UK Parliment Archives
National Museums of Canada
US National Archives
Smithsonian
Lehigh University This digitally accessible collection represents a range of lives — from ordinary citizens to Presidents, literary luminaries, movie stars, soldiers, and politicians.
Europeanaeu Also has a wonderful Twitter account, @europeanaeu.
Chronicling America Historic US newspapers
Google News Archive
Archive.org
Other Sources:
Kanopy
Ancestry.com
FindMyPast.com
Online Newspapers
Wikipedia
The Internet Movie Database
Snopes
British Pathé on YouTube and Streaming
Locations/Settings
Trip Advisor
Yelp
Zillow
Google Earth
Global Road Warrior
Software/Apps:
BookBuddy+
Evernote
One Note (Microsoft)
Notes (Apple)
Scrivener
Miscellaneous:
200 Best Sites for Writers – A wide range of links for writers.
Google cheat sheet:
