Objectives: * Identify the special information needs of creative writers * Discuss the research process for creative writing and how different source types fit into that process * Evaluate the usefulness of sources for creative writers based on their information needs

1. The Facts of
Fiction
Information Literacy for Creative Writing

2. Objectives
After the session, you will be able to
1. Identify the special information needs of creative writers
2. Discuss the research process for creative writing and
how different source types fit into that process
3. Evaluate the usefulness of sources for creative writers
based on their information needs
4. Design an information literacy instruction session for
creative writers to help them articulate their information
need and understand the best options for their research

3. One Minute Paper
•Imagine that you are taking a creative
writing course and your instructor has
asked you to write a story about a Civil
War soldier returning home after the
surrender at Appomattox.
•Take a minute to start writing.

4. Small Group
Discussion:
?Share what you wrote.
How did you start your paper?
Who is your soldier?
Was this easy or hard for you?
Why?

5. So Many Questions…
• What was America society like in the 1860’s?
• Where would this soldier see himself fitting in?
• How did people live in the late 1800’s?
• What would the soldier have eaten? What would he wear?
Where would he live? How would he travel?
• What problems would a soldier likely face when returning
from war?
• What adjustments would he need to make? Would there have
been a job for him? What if he were injured in the war?

6. Where No Man Has Gone
Before…
The Special Needs of Creative Writers

7. Traditional
Research & Writing
Standardized Formula:
• Abstract
• Introduction
• Materials & Methods
• Results
• Discussion
• References

8. Traditional
Research & Writing
• Style and Content
Reflects Academia
• Thesis Clearly States
Purpose
• Communication
Based on Shared
Knowledge

9. Traditional
Research & Writing
A Well-Defined Path
• Identify Research
Question
• Search Catalog and
Databases for Relevant
Literature
• Analyze Results and
Discuss Context &
Meaning

10. Creative Writing:
Structure &
Content
• Narrative Structure
is Flexible
• Tone Ranges from
very Formal to
Informal &
Conversational
• Reflects Life,
People, and Society

11. Research for Creative Writing
• Purpose for Writing
is often Implicit
• Not Driven by
Research
• Need to Create
Your Own Path

12. What Does All This Mean?
Imaginative and Original Approaches are Essential
• Immersive
• Visual
• Tactile
• Olfactory
• Behavioral
• Psychological

13. Breaking Free From Orthodoxy
Unconventional Uses of Conventional Sources

14. • Most Primary Sources are created soon after an
event occurs
• Over time, more Secondary Sources are created

16. Complicating the Situation…
• Source types that are
typically considered
Secondary may also be
seen as Primary Sources
• Books, Articles, and
Reference Materials may
be Primary Sources
• Source types that are
typically considered
Primary may actually be
(or may be seen as)
Secondary Sources
• Letters, Diaries, and
Photographs may be
Secondary Sources

17. The Rest of the Story…
•Unconventional approach to sources
disrupts the ‘traditional’ schema
•Context for the use of a source is just as
important as the context of its creation

18. Dictionary as Primary Source
The Book of the Household; or Family Dictionary
of Everything Connected with Housekeeping and
Domestic Medicine ...
Compiled by competent persons, under the
superintendence of an association of heads of families
and men of science

19. Encyclopedia
as Primary
Source
A cyclopedia of
Agriculture, Practical
and Scientific: In
Which the Theory,
the Art, and the
Business of Farming
are Thoroughly and
Practically Treated
Edited by John C. Morton

21. Article as a Primary Source
• The Authority of the
"Provisional Court" of
Louisiana
The American Law
Register (1852-1891), Vol.
13, No. 7, New Series
Volume 4 (May, 1865), pp.
385-390

22. Diary as a
Secondary
Source
Belden, the White
Chief : or, Twelve
Years Among the
Wild Indians of the
Plains
George Belden
and James Brisbin

23. Every Source Has Many Potential
Uses
• How many ways
can you think of
to use Harry Potter
and the Sorcerer’s
Stone ?

24. Your Turn to Combat Conformity
• Form small groups
• Brainstorm uses
(conventional and
unconventional) for the
source you are given
• Try to think of as many
as you can!
?

25. Discover, Read, Repeat
The Research Process for Creative Writing

26. The Research Cycle
Ask a
Question
Brainstorm
Background
InformationSearch
Evaluate
Results

27. Ask a Question
• Research starts with Curiosity
• What do you want to know?
• May start with a general question
Ex. What would life have been like for a young man in the
1860’s?

28. Brainstorm Related Terms and Ideas
• Pick out the key ideas in your
topic/question
• Try to think of synonyms or
alternate phrasing
• List any related terms
(broader/narrower) you can
think of
 Especially important for
searching primary
sources and historical
literature
(American) Civil War / War Between the
States / War of the Rebellion / War for the
Union / War of Succession / War of
Northern Aggression / War for Southern
Independence / War of Southern Aggression
/ War of Freedom / Second American
Revolution
PTSD / Post Traumatic Stress Disorder /
Shell-shock / Soldier’s Heart / Irritable Heart
/ Combat Stress Reaction / Combat Fatigue
Anxiety / Panic Attack
Reaction to Trauma
Peritraumatic Dissociation
Flashbacks, Nightmares, Hypervigilance, etc.

29. Initial Search for Background
Information
• Read for general information on your topic
• Identify gaps in your existing knowledge
• Narrow and focus your research
Sources
• Encyclopedias and other Reference Books
• Skim a Book on the general topic
• Web Search

30. Define a Search Strategy
•Articulate what you need to know
•Determine where/how you are most
likely to find it
•If you don’t know, ASK!

31. Types of Information Sources
• Primary Sources
• Has not been published anywhere else or put into a context,
interpreted, filtered, condensed, or evaluated by anyone else
• Secondary Sources
• Restates, rearranges, examines, or interprets information from
one or more primary sources
• Tertiary Sources
• Leads you to secondary sources

32. Where Do I Find…
Primary Sources
• Library’s Catalog
• Library’s Databases
• ARTstor
• Print Indexes
• Archives & Historical Societies
• Manuscript Collections
• Museums
• Embedded in Secondary Sources
Secondary Sources
• Library’s Catalog
• Library’s Databases
• JSTOR
• Arts & Humanities Citation Index
• Project MUSE
• Bibliographies
• Print Indexes

33. The Firefly Visual Dictionary, 2002

34. Random House Historical
Dictionary of American Slang

35. Chambers’ Book of Days, 1863-1864

36. American Diaries: An Annotated
Bibliography of Published American
Diaries and Journals, 1983

37. Repeat ?
•Research is an iterative process
•Finding the answer to your initial
question may raise new, more
interesting questions

38. Ask a Question
Original Question
What would life
have been like for
a young man in
the 1860’s?
Focus and Narrow
• What choices would a man
have for an occupation?
• What kind of clothes did
men wear?
• What would have been
popular or common
knowledge?

39. Questions?
Comments?