What’s in Mrs. Hale’s Receipts for the Million 1857?

2078. Why will a black teapot make a better tea than a bright metal one, if it is set on the hob to “draw”?  2079 Because the black teapot will absorb heat plentifully from the fire and keep the water hot; whereas a bright metal teapot (set upon the hob) would throw off the heat by reflection.

Last week we had one of the wildest wind and rainstorms that I can recall in years. The temperature outside was in the 50s, but the wind was powerful, shaking the 100 foot plus Douglas fir next to my house into a frenzy. From a distance it looked like the willow in Harry Potter, its many arms whipping around like an octopus. I finally vacated my upstairs.  Not safe for writing or drinking tea.

Organizing your research

The past couple of times I wrote about creating a research plan. I also wrote about primary and secondary sources. Once you get your secondary sources search underway with that first book or article, you’ll need to create a bibliography.  It sounds like writing a high school or college report, but organization will be your friend when you go on that book tour.

There are several ways to do this. Do it like old school research.  Create a card for each book with all pertinent information. Give it a number. All notes taken related to this source will have that number 1a, 1b, 1c.  Also give it  subject title. I wrote my first novel this way. Just like I was trained in college and followed as an intern at the Smithsonian. Lately, I’ve gotten sloppy. I write on notebook paper.

If you go this way, first repeat the process above and create a biblio card for your source ( or if you prefer a data base on your computer, do that. See on-line source below) Remember to give the source a number.  Then when note taking on paper, record the title of the book on the page or first part, and the page number next to each bit of info for any quote.   Write down a subject title.

Frankly, this is sloppy.

For cyberpedias, get title of article, URL, time accessed and of course, look for those org, edu and gov at the end.

Some notetaking sites are at http://mashable.com/2008/08/19/online-note-taking-applications/ Personally, I don’t like storing my info this way. Hardcopy just seems safer for a variety of reasons, one of which is losing everything if the computer crashes. But each his own.

You can create bibliographies at http://www.librarything.