When you’re a freelance writer, you have one of the best jobs in the world. At least, until you have about 3 hours to do a project you could comfortably deliver in 8. While it’s great to get paid to learn things, sometimes your ability to learn is limited by the fact that you’re having heart palpitations thinking about the complexity of the research you’re being expected to do. So the following five tips should have your keyboard rocking and rolling in no time.
Wikipedia is Your Friend
Wikipedia is one of the best sources of information ever devised by human beings. It changed the Internet the way the Dewey Decimal System changed traditional library sciences. So check out something Wiki first — most things have one, and they’re usually pretty accurate. Just make sure that you check the resources included in the Wiki as part of your fact-checking process.
Learn to Love Google
If all else fails, just Google it. While there are lots of search engines, Google tends to have the most results and filters out most of the SEO’d mass junk posted by lesser writers. In this day and age, you can find info on anything in a matter of seconds, and become a virtual expert in a few hours.
Open Multiple Tabs and Resources
With multiple tabs open, you can look up something in several of them at the same time while you take notes in your word processor of choice. Once that’s done, you can keep them open for review while you’re writing, instead of trying to wrestle with multiple windows or trying to remember what you found or where you found it. All the major web browsers nowadays offer as many tabs as you can target with your mouse.
Always Use at Least Three Resources
If there aren’t three sources on something, you’ve found a very special topic. Otherwise, you should have no problem combining the info you find into a concentrated, factual written work on whatever your client wants researched.
If All Else Fails, Think it Through
A lot of writing comes down to the ability to logically reason your way through something. You know the basics of human nature, history and how things work, so the rest is just filling in facts. Get a few facts, reason your way through how any given topic functions, and you’ve got it.
Research can be challenging, but with the Internet and a few basic concepts, you can conquer just about any assignment. The great thing about being a freelance writer is that you’ve got unbelievable resources. And if all else fails, there’s always another client around the bend. You can try out adwords to get clients as well and if you are short on money then try financing grants, loans or lend some money.
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