Researching while travelling
Turn time away from home into a fact-finding mission with advice from research expert Tarja Moles
Combining research and travelling is not a privilege only meant for travel writers. It can be useful (not to mention exciting!) for many others, regardless of whether they write fiction or non-fiction. In fact, all writers should keep their eyes and ears open while travelling as new ideas are bound to pop up that way.
If you’re thinking about embarking on a research-related trip, either going abroad or visiting somewhere local, here are some tips for how to prepare in advance, what to do at your destination and how to process your findings when you get back home.
Planning
The first task is to figure out what you want to accomplish. It may not always be possible to be entirely clear about your objectives, but the more specific you are, the easier it will be to devise a plan and achieve what you set out to do. In particular, if you can spend only a short period of time in your destination, you won’t want to spend your time on figuring out practicalities when you could be doing your actual research.