Writing Stack Exchange
Writing Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [research]

Questions about how to conduct research, and how to incorporate your research into your writing.

Research is necessary for any type of writing - for accuracy; for color; in order to fully investigate the topic at hand; in order to understand the professional field and context one is operating in.

This tag is for all questions about how to conduct research for writing, and how to use that research in the writing itself.

Please note that specific research questions ("I'm writing about [X], does anybody know [detail about X]?") may be considered off topic (see: Is it appropriate to ask questions on specialist knowledge areas? ). Such questions are best answered by people knowledgeable in that particular topic, or communities devoted to such questions, such as Detail Oriented. At best, questions about identifying appropriate resources may be on-topic.

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Is Wikipedia Trustworthy?

So in elementary school, I was told not to use Wikipedia too much because you can't trust what they write. So then for all the projects, I used the Canadian Encyclopedia, but then now, I really would like to know why not to use Wikipedia. The only…
iiRosie1
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How to write a character that knows a lot about explosives?

I'm writing a story where the main character makes and detonates bombs. The character could be considered a terrorist. I want to portray the character as an expert, but I don't know a way to obtain more information in the art of explosives without…
Jen
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How does a writer go about consulting experts?

I'm writing a story that has a medical condition as a central plot point, and now I have questions to ask a doctor. The problem is, I don't know one. I could make up the details, but I feel like the narrative will suffer for it. It occurs to me…
IchabodE
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How to tell readers that I know my story is factually incorrect?

Sometimes, it so happens that I do some research for a story and find that a major plot point could never work in real life. At this stage, I can either continue with my impossible (for a non-fantasy, non-scifi setting) idea, or scrap it…
tryin
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Character is an expert on something I'm not

My OC Edward, who I thought of quite a while ago but haven't done anything with, is a professional cyber spy and hacker. He's employed by an organization (in the future, of course) that is basically trying to curate all the data in the world,…
user34214
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What can I do to make my writing fit the 1950s?

I'm working on a project (for a game) that needs to have a strongly 1950s feel. I, however, was born in the 1980s, so my writing has plenty of things that would sound out of place in the 1950s. For example, I used the work "backpack" in a piece set…
Joe
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How to research sex for writing?

I'm not writing erotica - I'm writing fantasy and sci-fi. But sometimes my characters make love, sometimes in ways I cannot be familiar with. In one story, it's two guys (I'm a girl). In another story, there's a character who uses a wheelchair. How…
Galastel supports GoFundMonica
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Is it okay to majorly distort historical facts while writing a fiction story?

Suppose A is a famous historical character with a known history of emotional attachment with a particular set of people. If I would want to write a fictional story about character A that might involve distortion of the actual incidents of her/his…
Karan Desai
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Writing a character who is an expert in something that I can't know

I'm writing a story where the main character comes back from the dead. The character is fully lucid, knowledgeable and articulate about what has happened. I want to depict the character as an expert, but I don't have any knowledge/experience of what…
robertcday
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Citing parts of a thesis or dissertation using IEEE referencing

I've found myself extensively referencing parts of theses and dissertations for my own research paper. The IEEE editorial style manual suggests that they should be referenced in the following form: [1] J. K. Author, “Title of thesis,” M.S. thesis,…
Filip Dupanović
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How do you verify information?

This is a problem I usually come across with my stories. I often worry about whether the plotlines I introduce are realistic or not, and it's usually something that can't be solved with a simple Google search. Example: One of the characters in my…
user23083
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What is a good methodology for researching a historical novel?

I'm having difficulty with the research aspect of my historical novel. This question was originally going to be "how much research should one do to write a historical novel?" to which, answering my own question is, "as much as you need to". …
Panda
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Distorting historical facts for a historical fiction story

So, I'm writing fiction but in it, historical events, such as wars between the French and British, are taking place. But, after doing research, it's looking to be difficult to squeeze my little fiction story into real events and still make sense.…
Becca M
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Should you read your own genre?

In terms of novel writing, I tend to avoid my own genre, at least for the most part. Some of the reasons why: Genre Blindness / Genre Trap: Too much reading of your own genre blinds you to the tropes and clichés used by the genre which then pervade…
Panda
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Difference b/w Abstract and Introduction writing for a research paper

I was slightly confused with differentiating Abstract and Introduction writing for a research paper. What is the difference between these sections? They seem to be similar.
Ravva Gaurav
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