My tools of trade - recommended resources for freelancers
There are certain things I just can’t get by without during my workday:
* 57 cups of tea (or thereabouts).
* My fitball to bounce around on when I need inspiration.
* My puppy’s doe-eyed face to remind me to take breaks.
But there are also a few resources that I simply cannot do without.
The cups of tea, the fitball and the dog all make my day comfortable. These following resources make my work possible.
Research and statistics
As a journalist, I hate numbers. Sheesh, I’d rather do English homework than maths with my primary school kids any day. But for journalists, numbers and statistics are absolutely vital.
Without them you often can’t validate the points you are making in a story and you can’t paint the bigger picture for readers.
No matter what topic you are writing about, there is a good chance someone somewhere at sometime has received a research grant to study it.
My advice is to google your topic, but be succinct in your searches. For example, if you are looking for Australian research on the health benefits of home-made lunches, google home-made lunch + health + research + au as a starting point.
Naturally, depending on the search results, you can chuck in a few variations and see what comes up. And you know what? Something always comes up.
My favourite stats website is the Australian Bureau of Statistics because it has a phenomenal array of health, social, demographic and occupational data.
Finding sources and case studies
Every established journalist will confess to badgering their friends, family, colleagues and acquaintances for case studies.
I’ve been a case study no less than half-a-dozen times myself.
But one website aims to fill the gaps that our mates, family and PR contacts can't.
Set up by Aussie marketing and PR girl, Bec Derrington, SourceBottle is a leads service that connects journalists with sources, experts and other contacts.
I have used the site a few times when trying to locate particularly hard-to-find case studies. Once, within an hour of posting a request to find someone who had a short-term memory like a sieve, I had three very professional, willing case studies eager to chat about their forgetfulness.
To find experts, your best option is go to the industry bodies who operate in the field you are writing about. For example, a story on cancer would see you calling the Cancer Council Australia and its state-based affiliates. A yarn on financial services in Australia would require a phone call to the Investment and Financial Services Association.
Another option is to track down academics with a particular interest in the field you are writing about. A succinct Google search will help you identify any university professors with an unhealthy amount of knowledge on your specific angle.
Wordsmiths
I’ve said this before, my favourite book in my office is my 2223-page Macquarie Dictionary. It is so huge and heavy that if it accidentally fell on my neighbour’s cat, it would certainly put an abrupt end to the midnight wailing outside my bedroom window.
But, I confess, I have a few other favourites. The Style Manual by Snooks & Co makes sense of grammar gobbledegook, as does Pam Peters’s The Cambridge Guide to Australian English Usage.
If I need an expert to answer a specific question on said grammar gobbledegook, I email the Chicago Manual of Style Q&A with my query. Sometimes I get a direct response within 24 hours, other times I find it on the monthly Q&A list.
Meanwhile, Mignon Fogarty is super savvy when it comes to understanding the quirks of grammar. It’s a highlight of my working week to read her weekly newsletter from her Grammar Girl site.
Modern history
Knowing yesterday’s news is often vital to a freelancer reporting today’s news.
When I am writing about current topics that are running daily in the newspapers and online, I set up Google alerts with specific keywords to see what else is running on the topic.
Often it is pretty random and you get alerts for all and sundry, but it does occasionally capture what you want.
I also trawl Google news timeline for the same reason.
The best bet to ensure you are not missing the latest news, though, is to regularly check the News Limited and Fairfax sites to see what each of the metropolitan newspapers have on the topic too.
In short, there is a massive wealth of credible sources for journalists to tap into. My recommendation is to make a note of all those great ones that you come across and develop your own 'favourites' list.
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For more information about Pamela Wilson or WriteSmart, log on to http://www.writesmart.com.au/