Workshops

Finding a Needle in a Haystack

By Rosalind Lacy MacLennan, WIW Member

Research can expand the range of an article, add significant detail and depth to a novel and block a writer's path. The September Workshop, "Finding a Needle in a Haystack" featured three expert researchers and their tips for finding even the most obscure information.

Liam Callanan, author of The Cloud Atlas, a novel about Alaska during World War II, explained why research is essential when writing. It helps incorporate experiences and details outside your personal world into your novel. When asked how he accessed people when he traveled in Alaska, he said he tried to talk to as many people as possible--from people at small bed and breakfasts to those at church coffees. "Try to seek out the strange, the curious and the dangerous," he advised.

The Library of Congress (LOC) is a goldmine for obtaining information. Thomas Mann, a Library of Congress reference librarian, emphasized how helpful it can be to query a reference librarian one-on-one. And the information is "copyright free" and "download free."

The Library of Congress allows visitors to probe the depth of the Web of Science, and find highly-specialized information, in-full text articles that are not accessible from home computers. Among many other repositories, Info Track can provide full-text from 5,000 journal articles. Mann also mentioned the LOC's often overlooked Digital Dissertations, which stores all the Ph.D. doctoral dissertations completed. This is another way to obtain esoteric, cutting-edge information. The National Union Catalogue of Manuscript Collections can be accessed at the LOC's Web site: www.LOC.gov/coll.nucmc.    

Mann recommends using directories to obtain the names and locations of experts. "You'd be amazed what people can tell you," Mann said. He also shared that the Alexander Street Press is the largest index to oral histories in the world. He also mentioned the site www.geniusfind.com as a portal to accessing sites not picked up by general search engines.

If you run out of time during a LOC search session, you can set aside books in the 3-day reserve area for no fee. The LOC gives free Research Orientation lectures every Monday, 10:30 a.m. to noon. Sometimes evenings, 6-8:30 p.m. (Call 202-707-4773, and ask for Computer Catalogue Center to sign up.)

Jim Srodes, who has published Franklin: The Essential Founding Father and Dream Maker: The Rise and Fall of John Z. DeLorean and Allen Dulles: Master of Spies, not only uses the LOC resources, but also highly recommends universities for the research projects that end up online, as well as presidential libraries. He also suggests ProQuest, which has multiple full-text collections. ProQuest Newspapers provides access as far back as the nineteenth century.

Srodes has used the National Archives and also mentioned Questia.com, which costs $20 a month, and provides full-texts from 350,000 articles and 45,000 books. 

Sign up for the next Workshop online.