[stylist] {Spam?} Research

Tue Oct 11 18:22:52 UTC 2016

Tessa let me chime in with some ideas on research. You may get closer to the source you get need some kind of research assistant to help with specific things you can't find online. I did this for my railroad novel. Sometimes finding someone to help can be as productive as scanning, I wouldn't rule out any possibility. I had a historian once suggest finding a phone book from the area so you might find businesses that way. Museums in Britain would probably have clothes or menus, things that might have descriptions online to supplement the pictures. Don't rule out getting someone to describe pictures. If you're looking for hymns the Coxsbury hymnal if I spelled it right will be a great resource for that.  If you want hymns specifically online go to thehymnsite.org where you can hear Midi files and also see lyrics and see who wrote the text in what year.  You can be creative with this because most churches will sing ten to fifteen favorites so you could pick two or three to work with in your book. "Nearer my God to Thee" is definitely one song in or before 1941. "A Mighty Fortress is our god"  "Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken", sometimes cross denominationally. I don't think the site lists hymns by year but they do have them listed by titles and subjects. I play piano for our Methodist Church sometimes and I put together one or two hymns each week and I have found that site to be very helpful. Useful also is Youtube and if you have Apple music you can find english hymns sung by the King's College choir. I' not sure which branch Cornawall was then but hymns are pretty standard especially the older ones. 

All the ideas listed so far as excellent. For. Nursing programs google nursing programs in Britain and the year. You may know much of this. Definitely don't leave out a research assistant. Bribe them well. And they'll find something you didn't think of. Good luck. ley, Queen stylist <stylist at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> I just Googled "hymns sung before 1941 in London" and got:
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Role_of_music_in_World_War_II
> that one will be pretty general, but should be a good overview
> 
> next up: http://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/ww2-music-uk.asp
> I used the JAWS hotkey "N" to go to the beginning of the text since there weren't headings.  That takes you directly to the beginning of the article. I read the first bit.  It looks like a good listing of popular wartime music at the time.
> 
> My general Google strategy is to type in specifically what I'm looking for. For example something like: "how to repot aloe vera plants" not just "repotting plants" or "aloe vera".  The second two will get you general info and won't be what you want.  You'll wade through a lot of junk before getting to answers. If I notice in the first few search results that most people use a different word to describe the same thing, I might do another search using that term.  In my aloe example it might be succulents instead of aloe vera or just aloe.
> 
> Usually if you use the JAWS hotkey "H" or the number 1, that will take you to the first headingg.  Often that is the beginning of the main article. Sometimes you have to go down a couple of headings, just press "H" and then the down arrow to check for the text.  A lot of articles begin with sharing links and then the text.  So if you down arrow and find those sharing links keep arrowing down, the text is likely to follow.
> 
> In the listing of search results is usually a part of a sentence, which is the beginning of the text on the linked page.  That text is a good indicator of the information to expect.  If there is no text or it's some sort of code, I skip it.  In my experience those are the heavily graphics based pages or pages with a load of ads that will load slowly.
> 
> If you are doing academic research, where you need to cite sources, I stick to sites that end with .edu or .gov or a specific country designation.  I will use a Wicky page to get an overview for myself or to find helpful search terms, but Wicky isn't much more reliable than asking your next door neighbor.
> 
> I'm happy to help folks with research.    I really enjoy it.
> 
> Julie
> New lowered price on my book:
> Courage to Dare: A Blind Woman's Quest to Train her Own Guide Dog
> http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QXZSMOC
> -----Original Message----- From: Tessa via stylist
> Sent: Tuesday, October 11, 2016 7:54 AM
> To: Writers' Division Mailing List
> Cc: Tessa
> Subject: [stylist] {Spam?} Research
> 
> Hi:
> I am curious to find out how those of you who do research for your writings
> manage it.
> 
> The novel I'm closest to having publisher ready is set in London and
> Cornwall during the second world war. It's the story of a young woman who
> loses her family and home to the blitz and ends up working in the hospital
> caring for victims of shell-shock.
> 
> I wanted to write something about civilian life during that time as all the
> books I'd seen were all about the military side of things. Since then of
> course I've discovered a half dozen or so authors who have done just what
> I'm attempting. Anyway my issues are around getting information about the
> time how people lived, what they ate what they wore that sort of thing.
> 
> I know sighted writers use the internet a lot for this sort of thing but
> what I find is that a lot of information is stored as photos or as
> inaccessible pdf's or I simply don't know how to find the details I need,
> such as the basics on the structure of a nurses training program at the
> time.
> Basically I'm winging it LOL. I read a dozen or more books on the subject,
> diaries as well as fiction and the rest I'm just making up as I go along. I
> have talked a lot with the ladies and one guy at our local public library
> and they provided me with a few web sites for example "which ships were sunk
> in november of 1941?" They know how to find that stuff and have been a
> tremendous help.
> 
> So, I wonder if any of you have research tips that you'd care to share or
> websites that are accessible and useful.
> 
> Two things I'm looking for in particular,
> hymns that were sung before 1941
> and
> popular music of 1940/1941.
> There are a couple dances in the book and I would like to be sure the
> musical references are correct.
> I have several friends who were alive at the time, but they were children so
> don't remember much of the detail for many of my questions.
> 
> With my second piece that I submitted here it's a little closer to home the
> Alberta Badlands about which I know nothing and getting information is a
> little challenging, again it's mostly pictures. Ideally I'd like to go
> there, visit the area get a sense of it, see what it smells like, feels like
> all that stuff, the details of a dig, though I have some of that already
> from a background in anthropology.
> 
> As you see, I tend to be rather detail oriented LOL.
> Anyway if anyone has tips for finding info to share I'd love to hear them.
> Tessa
> 
> 
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