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(Fogra 29_WF)Job:08-28858 Title:RP-Writing & Research for Graphic Designers
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RESEARCH
SORT
GATHER
PROCESS
RESULTS
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Ideas are good. But where do you get them? Some
people believe they fly around like radio waves just
waiting to be captured by the brain’s receiver. Perhaps
it is the way some people, those who wear silver foil on
their heads, get them. But the majority of us develop
ideas from terra firma—or rather quantifiable fact. Even
most fiction is built on fact.
That’s where research is essential. Research is the process of gathering, sorting, and processing
information. You build your writing on the results of your research. The word is often construed in
academic terms as a rigorous process of acquisition. In fact, research can be light or heavy depending on
the scope of your work. Some research demands deep archaeological digging. Other research requires only
a few Google reference searches. This section addresses ways and means of research and how to collect it
in such a way that it effectively and efficiently serves your needs.
Database Research
Class dismissed! Now, let’s get back to the computer. There is no denying that we have access to the most
powerful desktops ever conceived on this planet. The amount of information, knowledge, and even shared
wisdom at our fingertips was inconceivable when the first mainframes were spitting out punch cards. But
the challenge is how to capture the information you need. What to accept as truth or fancy could easily be
Solomonic in scope. So, it is useful to chart out a research strategy.
Great research is partly police work. You find clues that lead to more clues that lead to a hot trail that leads
to conclusive evidence. Often you may instinctively “feel” something exists somewhere, but finding it is the
result of luck and serendipity. You stumble over a document that leads you to an archive that provides you
with a key, and so on. Despite that thrill of discovery, having a plan that takes you from point A to point B
is useful.
Your road will start at your computer when you log on to the WorldCat.org (www.worldcat.org),
an online resource that compiles, aggregates, and otherwise spits up all the known archives, libraries,
collections, and repositories in the world. For scholarly research this database is essential. But it
supports nonscholarly research as well. Almost every museum, library, and archive maintains (or
will launch) its own database systems. The interconnectivity enabled by the Web, combined with the
research
Building the Narrative Foundation
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