Organizing Research

wee · Sep 28, 2007

What method do you use?

I think mine isn't working. It is starting to come unraveled, and I haven't written anything in a few days because I feel rather scattered. I'm doing research on historical events, on two cultures, and various people. I started a word document with copious notes. With the wristies hurting I've also made notes in a notebook when I can't type anymore. And have a huge stack of books growing more overdue every day. And I think sometimes I have no better idea what I'm doing than day one.

I think it is time to make a hanging file for the book, with various file folders for different cultures, events, people, etc., and divide my notes into these categories so I can pull them out for review when needed. I'm just not sure. I don't want to spend more time organizing than actually writing, but I don't want to make a fool of myself with poorly researched (or researched & facts forgotten) history.

Maybe it is time to stop agonizing over details & get it written, organization be darned ....

How do you keep it all together? What do you do when you've had to borrow books? Do you take heavy notes & then return them? I'm afraid to return some of the books even after taking notes. Some of these have been out of print for upwards of a hundred years ... there's not a good option for acquiring my own copies -- impossible & prohibitively expensive.

Ahhhhhh,

wee

Doogs · Sep 28, 2007

I keep my notes organized by topic.

For example:

Political

Roman political organization, magistracies, their duties, how they are elected, how they interact, etc.
Carthaginian, Spanish tribal, Gallic tribal, and very topline Macedonian political organization
The "fasti" - literally a year-by-year account of Roman office-holders. I have mine in Excel, color-coded with families and alliances
Political alliances and major disruptions during my time period

Geography

Maps
Maps
More maps
Flora and fauna of the 3rd century B.C. Mediterranean
Terrain pictures and descriptions from Spain, Italy, and Provence
Detailed maps of battlefields

I have similar for MILITARY, EVENTS, CULTURAL (religion, cuisine, gender relations, festivals...), ARCHITECTURE, CHARACTERS, etc.

I know there are programs out there that allow you to tag notes as you would with, say, blog posts or images you upload to Flickr, but I get along alright starting a folder for each topic and just dumping documents into it. They all stay on the same (oft-backed up) USB thumb drive as the novel under a general folder titled "Notes" so I can refer to them as needed.

Hope that helps. It has worked pretty well for me.

girlyswot · Sep 28, 2007

I have a software programme designed for academic writing. But I can see how it would also be ideal for organising research for a novel. You can set up note-taking files, which can easily be managed by category. Then you can do Boolean searches across all your note-taking files, or some subgroup of them and drop the data directly into your main manuscript. It's called Nota Bene, and I think it's excellent, though it may be more than you really need for non-academic work.

Even within Word you could do something similar. If you put keywords with all your data, then use the Find function, it should help you to access the information you're looking for quickly. You could include dates, character names, and other categories such as those Doogs suggests, as your keywords.

Doogs · Sep 28, 2007

girlyswot said:
Even within Word you could do something similar. If you put keywords with all your data, then use the Find function, it should help you to access the information you're looking for quickly. You could include dates, character names, and other categories such as those Doogs suggests, as your keywords.

You can do this with a folder architecture and separate files, too. I personally prefer the freedom to be able to jump between Word, Excel, and Powerpoint as needed. Google Desktop Search is fantastic if you're on a PC. On a Mac...Spotlight's got ya covered.

lkp · Sep 28, 2007

Girlyswot!!! You use Nota Bene??!! That's so cool. I looooove Nota Bene! But I have to admit, I don't use the note-taking files feature. I write best on computer, but for taking notes, I need a pen and paper.

ishtar'sgate · Sep 28, 2007

wee said:
What method do you use?

How do you keep it all together? What do you do when you've had to borrow books? Do you take heavy notes & then return them? I'm afraid to return some of the books even after taking notes. Some of these have been out of print for upwards of a hundred years ... there's not a good option for acquiring my own copies -- impossible & prohibitively expensive.

Ahhhhhh,

wee

I tried borrowing books but ran into the same thing as you have. I didn't want to return them as I needed them throughout the writing process. I photocopied the books. Tedious, I know, but so worth it because I knew they'd be at my fingertips when I wanted them. Also, I didn't feel so bad about marking them up. I highlighted information I wanted for my story - medieval meals, how patients presented with the plague and things like that. You might be able to find some out-of-print books on Amazon. I found a few for my current WIP. As to method, I don't really have one. I tack up pictures on the wall. Right now I have a map of Babylon, pictures of temples, streets, bridges, gates etc. I keep hard copies of information on everyday life and religion and commerce as well as a through story time line. They're alphabetized in file folders on my desk so I can grab what I want when I need it. I work best with everything spread out around me.
Linnea

Puma · Sep 28, 2007

I use a combination of a master Excel spreadsheet (to keep all my subject and reference material organized by chapter/topic) and folders in Word. But, I also have my piles of paper - one pile for each major area - with maps I need to look at closely, deed records, reference books, etc.

I've found a lot of useful information available on the web using specific (within quote marks) Google searches - that gets copied and put in the Word folders. In some cases, the web data is the same as is in some of the old books I have - and that's great because then I don't have to worry about damaging the old books.

Library books - I've had to get some through inter-library loan and I'm a fanatic on returning them promptly. I won't xerox them because I don't want to take any chances on damaging the old books, so I do a lot of note taking making sure I put the page numbers in my notes. That way, if I have to re-borrow the book I know immediately where to look. One option, that I've only used a couple times, is photographing the pages in an old book so I always have the pages.

And, Ishtar's right - there are a surprising number of old books available for sale on line. E-bay is another place to look for them. Puma

girlyswot · Sep 28, 2007

lkp said:
Girlyswot!!! You use Nota Bene??!! That's so cool. I looooove Nota Bene! But I have to admit, I don't use the note-taking files feature. I write best on computer, but for taking notes, I need a pen and paper.

I've had to retrain myself to take notes on the computer. Actually, at the moment I'm doing a reading course that I won't have to write any papers for, so I'm taking my notes for that by hand. But for producing a paper or a thesis, the note taking feature is brilliant. You can find exactly the quote you're looking for with Orbis and just stick it straight in with all the bibliographic info there as if by magic. I would say that it cuts the amount of time it takes me to write something by at least a third.

I second the calls for making sure you have page numbers written into your notes. And if you have to return a book, make REALLY good notes before you do!!

When I make handwritten notes, I like to use a different colour pen for each book. Often I'll remember that I wrote something in, say, purple or green or whatever, and that makes it a lot quicker to find what I'm looking for again!

pdr · Sep 28, 2007

A couple of name...

authors I interviewed recently took notes by hand, in notebooks. Each notebook had a specific topic, page numbers and was indexed.

They also photocopied, bought books and original sources, and both had wall space covered with a map or maps of the areas their book covered, plus pictures ditto and reference charts noting which notebooks for which topic.

For myself, notebooks, photocopies, the old books and documents to hand, my photos of articles or costumes important to the characters, and maps pinned up because they are so important to my novels. Computer storage is not usual although I do occasionally find something and print it off. Some characters have on-line character files but the beggars make their own lives so the files are often more a laugh at what my original intentions were rather than of use.

ishtar'sgate · Sep 29, 2007

pdr said:
authors I interviewed recently took notes by hand, in notebooks. Each notebook had a specific topic, page numbers and was indexed.

They also photocopied, bought books and original sources, and both had wall space covered with a map or maps of the areas their book covered, plus pictures ditto and reference charts noting which notebooks for which topic.

For myself, notebooks, photocopies, the old books and documents to hand, my photos of articles or costumes important to the characters, and maps pinned up because they are so important to my novels. Computer storage is not usual although I do occasionally find something and print it off. Some characters have on-line character files but the beggars make their own lives so the files are often more a laugh at what my original intentions were rather than of use.

I'm sure glad I'm not the only one who prefers their research material where they can get their hands on it. I love having my walls covered in maps and pictures. One photo inside Babylon really creeps me out but keeps me in the period - the dark end of a narrow stone hallway. A raised altar with ominious rusty stains is built into the wall and you can feel death in that photo.
Linnea

PastMidnight · Sep 29, 2007

Although I've been able to add to my personal collection with marvelous finds from the charity shops, most of my research is done through library books, and so I hear you, wee, about the stack of overdue books. I keep a bibliography and then an annotated bibliography on all of the books/sources I've consulted. I try to give a thorough summary in my annotated bib, list of relevant chapters, and whether or not I think the book is helpful and worth checking out again.

I honestly don't have a lot of notes for this book. I've found in the past that I take copious notes, spend a lot of time arranging them, and then rarely consult them. It may just be the way that I work, but if I want to look back at a fact, I need to see it in the original context, rather than on a bulleted list. I do have notes of chronologies, places, and things like that. For other details, I just reread the relevant sections in the original works. I think it probably helps in that I can get all that I need at my library (as much of it is local history). Most are short and specialized, so it is easy to lay my hands on whatever bit of info I need. General books on the period are in my personal collection. I've also had good luck with finding older or more obscure books complete and online through places like Project Gutenburg or through university collections.

So, don't know if this helps, but that's how I've been doing it! I might do things differently depending on the topic, time period, and how much background knowledge I already have on both, but this is working for this project.

Doogs · Sep 29, 2007

pdr said:
For myself, notebooks, photocopies, the old books and documents to hand, my photos of articles or costumes important to the characters, and maps pinned up because they are so important to my novels. Computer storage is not usual although I do occasionally find something and print it off.

I do 90-95% of my writing and revising away from home (early mornings, coffee shop near the office, dodge rush hour traffic...), so if I want to have all of my notes with me, it is more practical to have them in an electronic format.

doeraymee · Sep 29, 2007

This is my first (real) attempt at writing a novel. I have two methods.

For notes that I take from hard copy material (books, newspapers, etc): So far I am writing these notes by hand onto pages of lined paper and then slipping those pages into a binder which is divided into broad research sections like Labour, Setting, Women, and WWII. Whenever I start taking notes from a new source I just write the general source info at the top of the page, then put the page number ref at the end of each point (notes are in point form). And I occasionally photocopy stuff (news articles, book pages) and hand-write the source of those items at the top of the page.

For stuff that I find online, I copy and paste the material into WORD docs and file each WORD doc into a file folder in the appropriate category on my computer. In each word doc I record the source of the info including the URL. I'lll eventually print this stuff out and add it to the binder too, so I can leaf through it (I find "leafing" very helpful.)

I hope this works!

wee · Oct 9, 2007

doeraymee said:
For notes that I take from hard copy material (books, newspapers, etc): So far I am writing these notes by hand onto pages of lined paper and then slipping those pages into a binder which is divided into broad research sections like Labour, Setting, Women, and WWII. Whenever I start taking notes from a new source I just write the general source info at the top of the page, then put the page number ref at the end of each point (notes are in point form). And I occasionally photocopy stuff (news articles, book pages) and hand-write the source of those items at the top of the page.

Heeeyyyy, how did you know? I started doing something similar, which incorporates several things mentioned here. All the books I've been reading cover broad subjects, but each one has a little tidbit on every page that answers a question mark in my head.

I have a loose-leaf binder thing now, and as I'm taking notes, I'm not just note-taking for a single source. I read a little bit, and then think, "Okay, so now we have:
--new info to add to Character A's page
--need to add a page for Character B and put this info on it
--more info for this other subject"

I have sections divided out for characters (the non-fiction ones so far), events, culture, background info for various things, etc. I'm going to take my previous typed notes & put them in where they go, by section.

Also, I'm trying to fix certain things in my head & make sure I have them right ... for mine I needed a timeline. I need to be able to fit my historical characters around it, and it's hard to write a scene when you have to stop & think, "okay, wait, would she be lighting a fire? Is it cold outside?" The timeline, which spans 10 pages of graph paper, all hand-written, is my number one good idea so far.

Dividing it by subject/person/etc. instead of by source helps me see all at once, "here is person A and what 5 sources said about him...." or, "here are 12 different reasons this might have happened, from 4 different sources."

Mebbe I am a lunatic, but this is working better. It's making research more interesting because I'm thinking about it as I go instead of rote note-taking & paragraph/section summaries -- I'm working through books faster & more efficiently, too.

An old post from Doogs about writing out "acts" like a play helped. I realized I have three major "acts" to my book, and the chapters fell nicely into there. The chapters will change, I can already see that, but the three acts will stay the same -- that helped me break the book into more manageable chunks, too!

thanks to all -- I'm rereading this thread tonight to see what I missed before that could be incorporated & helpful.

wee

Organizing Research

wee

just a little

Doogs

girlyswot

Doogs

lkp

ishtar'sgate

living in the past

Puma

Retired and loving it!

girlyswot

pdr

ishtar'sgate

living in the past

PastMidnight

Oponionated

Doogs

doeraymee

wee

just a little