Facts—Nothing But The Facts (Non-Toolbox Post #3)

There is no Author Toolbox Blog Hop this month or the next. Life is too hectic with Nano and Xmas (or other festivities). But I like posting twice a month so here I go anyway.

~~~oOo~~~

The Internet

The world wide web changed the world yet not all the available information is to be believed. False News is only the tip of the iceberg.

Writing Research Online

That said I’m sure you follow the same rules I do. The source has to be reliable: a university for example is a great place to start.

But let’s not forget anyone can post anything.

Sorry Blogs. But until the information is confirmed, I’m out. Even Wikipedia concerns me and I tend to check out their source  material rather than take what they post as the gospel.

Who to Trust

As I mentioned, universities are one of my favourite places to go. For example, when looking for grammatical advice I go to  uToronto.

Note: I also trust Grammar Girl and The Editor’s Blog. But that took time and testing.

Newspapers can be a great source as well. Wikipedia Current Events Page is where I check-in. I tend to avoid the drama queens and kings on the typical news sites.

 

Homework Help + Kid’s Pages

As writers, we need the facts, but we don’t always want a degree in whatever we are researching. Homework help and student pages can be a very effective way to cut to the facts of the matter.

Here’s a list of some of my favourite go to sites:

Online Library | Smithsonian | Fact Monster | How Stuff Works | PBS VIDEOS | OLogy | Windows to the Universe

Adult sites – Forensic & LEO

D P Lyle | Forensic Outreach Library | RCMP News Room | FBI Writer’s Page | Nelson BC Police Department

I’m sure you  have your own sites and/or lists and I’d love to learn more about them. Feel free to put a link in the comments.

Thanks for dropping by. 🙂

12 responses to “Facts—Nothing But The Facts (Non-Toolbox Post #3)

  1. Thanks so much for sharing these links. All new to me. Snopes.com is my go to to make sure a story is true. I guess I missed the memo on no author toolbox this month. Mine is up and the topic is keywords. That’s ok. I always blog on Wed. Have a great day!

  2. The internet is just a starting place, to get ideas. I always follow up by going to primary sources – research sites, authors, books, newspapers. I love newspaper archives. Two of the best for me (in the U.S.) are Elephind.com and the Library of Congress.

  3. Lots of good resources listed there. Thanks for sharing.

  4. Yes, this is important. I’m cautious until I see it cross-referenced somewhere else that shows their source material, too. My mom always used to say ‘triangulate your data’.

  5. Thanks for doing the work and weed out the bad, Anna! 🙂 I’m pretty lazy and first type things into Google and then select what might work. I often cross reference when writing for a magazine. But, I usually only check facts that I have forgotten during my travels, since I only write non-fiction. I usually need spell checks and confirm data about buildings or sites visited.

If you're new to writing, ask me anything and if you're experienced, feel free to share what you know. Learning something new in the craft is always welcome.

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