Research can be rewarding. Honest. It can be the sun rising over the ridge of your muddled perceptions. Certainly, research does not have to be your enemy. This dissertation is designed to assist the most clueless beginner on how to do research in order to develop a persona and or a heraldic device, but might actually be applied to just about anything which you desire to know more about. The first rule of research is this: While your local library may vary in selection and character depending on its location and funding there is always hope. Most libraries will have a librarian! Even better, they may have a research librarian! The librarian is your friend. Start by talking about your subject with the librarian and or research librarian. Set up a mutually convenient time when this person can help you to familiarize yourself with where this particular library keeps what, and how to make the best use of it. Ask about interloan books. Interloan is the way libraries allow their patrons to take books out of other libraries. Especially if your library is small or provincial, interloan may be the only way to get at the books you need. Interloan will allow you to benefit from texts held by larger libraries or more scholarly libraries, such as those at universities. Many libraries are connected now via computer, making the search for appropriate texts that much easier. It is always best to start simple and evolve into the more complex. If you are researching a name,for example, start in the reference section of the library. Look for a book on names. Here are some examples: A Dictionary of Jewish Names and Their History by Kaganoff English Surnames Their sources and Significance by Bardsley Origin and Signification of Scottish Surnames by Simms Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, The, by Withycombe Also any book on Saints will prove a good source of names.
Once you find a name that you like well enough to have it shouted at you for the next several decades look into modifications of that name. Hugh the Forester. Hugh the Crier. Hugh the Large. Hugh of Scofield. Sadie of Gaul. Sadie Saul's Wife. Sadie the Fair. Sadie the Valiant. Next, when did you live? Utilize basic history texts to determine a period. Look to the bibliography in the books you use in order to find more books and/or articles written about a subject. Bibliography hopping is one of the best ways to find other books, hopefully with more specific information. Remember, you are a beginner. If you need to start very simply, do not shun children's books. Many of the more "in depth" books will have a children's version [Golden Press frequently has two versions of their non-fiction, so Golden Books
are a good example of this.] Children's books may often offer illustrations where the adult books may not. Do not forget to take into account the date and origin of books when doing your research. You have to use your noodle. Some books will have a definitive slant on the history they offer. This can be good and bad. If you are developing a Moslem persona, you may prefer to check >out The Crusades Through Arab
Eyes by Maalouf, rather than A Saint under Moslem Rule by de Urbel. If your persona will be that of a Spaniard under the Moslem occupation, then the later book may be more of interest to you. After all, every story has two sides, but your persona
is likely to just see things from one point of view. That, dear friends, is all there is to simple research. Keep a record of your adventures through the books in case you ever need to revisit them, or for that time when it is your turn to help someone avoid reinventing the wheel. Most of all, have fun. After all, you aren't going to be graded.
Do not reinvent the wheel. Meaning, of course, that before
you go off and start from scratch, it is better to discourse with people about your subject. In the SCA this is easy. Ask anyone
about anything and they are as like as not to give you more information than you ever thought you needed! [Take it all in with a grain of salt.] Once you find out what everyone else has done, then you may proceed on your own.