Get Your Facts Straight: Research Skills for Writers
Series Details
Get Your Facts Straight: Research Skills for Writers is a skill-building series by Dr. Hanne Blank Boyd, published as part of Reasons Not to Quit.
Hanne Blank Boyd is an author and a former professor with a doctorate in history and years of teaching research skills under her belt. Twice a month, she smuggles the goods out of the ivory tower and presents graduate level research skills and strategy to writers... or anyone who wants to know how to get their hands on information worth having.
Do you write — or do you want to write — travel, memoir, essay, creative nonfiction, history, science, how-to, cultural criticism, or any other nonfiction genre? Good research skills pay big dividends: you’ll be less frustrated and spend less time doing the research that makes your writing richer, more informative, and trustworthy.
This series is available to paid subscribers only.
Series Schedule
Individual articles will be linked as they are published.
October 10, 2024
Dammit, It Was Right Here A Minute Ago: Organizing Your Writing Research So You Can Find It Again
October 24, 2024
You Need A Research Strategy. Here’s How To Get One.
November 7, 2024
The Facts and the Stakes
Or, Why Wikipedia Doesn’t Cut It: How You Can, and Why You Should, Raise Your Research Standards
November 21, 2024
Who, What, Where and When vs. How and Why: Separating Facts from Arguments
December 5, 2024
How, When, and Why to Use AI
December 19, 2024
Ask Uncle Google: Using Almost Everyone's Default Search Engine for Research That Actually Gets You Somewhere
January 9, 2025
The Non-Academic’s Guide to Using Academic Research: An Insider’s Guide
January 23, 2025
Unoriginal Research: Mining Bibliographies and Notes
February 6, 2025
Primary Sources In A Deepfake Era
February 20, 2025
Trust But Verify: How To Tell If Your Source Is Solid and What To Do If It Isn’t
March 13, 2025
Getting History Righter: How to Not Tell The Same Old Dead White Dude Stories
March 27, 2025
I’m Not a Doctor, But: Medical Research for People Without Medical Training
April 10, 2025
How To Not Lie About Sex: Doing Sexuality and Gender Research That Doesn’t Suck
April 24, 2025
Your Tax Dollars At Work: Finding and Using Public Information
May 8, 2025
Please, Thank You, Homework: How to Get An Expert to Help You (Without Pissing Them Off)
May 22, 2025
Getting The Goods: Research Access Strategy for Independent Researchers
June 12, 2025
Context Without Overwhelm: Getting Background Information Right
June 26, 2025
Avoiding the Braindump Trap: The Art and Science of Selective Detail
About The Author:
Dr. Hanne Blank Boyd is a writer and developmental editor who works with writers and academics. She holds a Ph.D. in history of medicine and sexuality, is trained as a bioethicist, and is the author of a number of path-breaking research-based nonfiction books. A former professor, Dr. Blank Boyd has taught research skills at the university level, and currently provides literary services and consulting to individual writers/artists and to the publishing industry.