Research and Documentation Writing

Perfectly reasonable documentation can be done on ONE 5'' x 8'' index card, or on one side of a typed piece of paper.

Whether you're a seasoned writer, an emerging scholar or a student just learning the ropes, writing an essay (or a review, journal article, or book chapter, or anything for that matter) can be - depending on the day - either an absolute pleasure or an exercise in complete and utter frustratio n. Rather than banging your head against your keyboard or incessantl y cleaning your apartment, we've developed a series of steps that may help get you through the research and writing blues.

Documentation is an important part of entering A&S contests and should be done -- not for the documentation points per se, but for enhancing the journey of understanding what you are doing and doing it well.

A general overview of how to document an Art/Sci entry; a guide to the process. Regardless of what your entry is, this procedure will give you the basis for putting together documentation that will do your entry proud.

This is a quick and dirty guide to documenting Arts and Sciences competition
entries. I strongly recommend that if you are new to this and have further questions that you talk to your local A&S officer about your documentation. They will give you guidance – this is what they are there for.

This describes an approach to documentation that would both be useful for creating documentation for an arts and sciences competitions and exhibitions and, more importantly, be useful as a basis for understanding the Medieval and Renaissance world. The method described below for creating a documentation file is especially applicable to those arts and sciences in which a tangible artifact is created, such as clothing, ale, armor, scrolls, etc. An attempt will also be made to show how it can be followed for the performing arts as well. Clothing will be used as a frequent example as the author is most familiar with the application of this method to clothing and textiles.

While this FAQ seems to have been designed for entrants in arts & sciences competitions in the Kingdom of the West, most of the generic advice is useful for entrants in A&S displays and competitions in other parts of the Known World as well.

Suggestion s for documentat ion-writin g, with examples from competitio n entries and judges&#39 ; comments.

The aim of this article is to explain how to write documentat ion and what informatio n should be included. There is no one correct style of writing documentat ion. If a different style or format suits you, go for it!

A simple approach to effective and well-written documentation based on the physical and analytical procedures which took you from the original source materials and lead you to produce the item for which you are writing documentation.

Most people seem to only write documentation when they want to submit some project in an Arts & Sciences competition. This is where most people head off in the wrong direction.

Four questions to help you analyze your written documentation.

Cooking is a transitory art. Once the food has been cooked, it is eaten and the leftovers are disposed of ... in a tummy on a later day or into the trashbin. Nothing really remains to tell us how it tasted, what variations were made in the recipe, or what changes are recommende d for the next time. There are a number of reasons why one may wish to document what was cooked: entering competitio ns, proof that one can cook historical recipes, improving SCA feasts, helping new cooks, etc.

Discusses the problems of creating dishes for a feast representi ng a culture that did not record its recipes, and provides a conjectura l recipe for Irish oatcakes.

When we are faced with a dearth of source material from our chosen time period, we need to broaden our horizons to include other cultural identifier s such as the arts as well as using the sociopolit ical history timeline of the area to draw some conclusion s about what might have been used for motifs and materials.

EZDoc is a PDF form with a simple series of questions that let the user build entry-leve l documentat ion to describe a project, what it's based on, and how it was made.

Documentation should be directed to the viewer of the A&S entry who is interested in the artifact and is of at least average intelligence, but does not know much about the subject. It should give that viewer a brief, but fairly complete idea of how the object was made, why it was made, of what it was made, and how that object functioned in the place and time it represents and lead that viewer through a source list or bibliography to more detailed information.

Research is fun! It allows you to discover new insights into many areas. It leads you to ideas and activities . And it is a great assist to documentin g projects you are working on. However, many people are intimidate d by research. Because there are many factors involved in doing research, they feel overwhelme d by the procedure. Or have never been shown the method to make research an effective process. What is offered in this on-going site are articles and informatio n to assist people in learning how to do research.

There are three main things to avoid in research -- wishful thinking, assuming too much on too little evidence, and applying modern technique to period problems. We’ll cover those in more detail, and look at strategies for avoiding them.

Demystifie s the process of writing research papers on historical ly-based subjects and show how it is different from standard documentat ion for A&S competitio n entries.

I was asked about writing documentat ion for competitio n. I'm not going to talk at all about the research which IS your documentat ion - that's another question entirely, which of course you did before you started to make your object (ahem).

Docuphobia : A persistent and sometimes debilitati ng fear of writing documentat ion on a project. Learn how to cure docuphobia !

Docuphobia: A persistent and sometimes debilitating fear of writing documentation on a project.

Guidelines and to assist in compiling research notes into a cohesive paper.

Research is, essentially, learning about your craft. Documentation is explaining what you've learned and what you've done.

Research, like many things in life, can be intimidati ng until you figure out how to start.

The annual Arts and Sciences competition approaches, and the Mistress of Arts is clamouring for documentation on all entries! Spurred by visions of the populace runs screaming at the thought, I present a few guidelines for SCA documentation, for those of you who are not sure what this entails (i.e. the ones who are screaming and running).

So you've created something you're proud of and want to enter it in a competitio n. But people keep talking about the "D&#34 ; word. Documentat ion. Your heart beats in fear at the sound of the word and it's got your stomach tied in knots. But it's really not the big monster people make it out to be ... you just need to dedicate the right effort towards it.

Whether your plans include an A&S entry, an Insanity Project, an article, or simply satisfying your curiosity, research is a way to touch the past by exploring how something was done. The challenge is the more common anything was the less information seems to be available.

One way to get more out of recreating the Middle Ages -- both for yourself and others -- is to research the kind of work you want to do, and then to record what you discover so that others can learn from your process. Developing habits of documentation can give you a feeling of confidence and expertise which really add to the pleasure of creating and sharing your work.

An outline of suggestions for written docuumentation.

This article is designed to guide the inexperienced researcher into a research project. It will provide suggestions for formulating a research goal and techniques to accomplish that goal, including information on selecting sources and using the library.

Recommends specific sites for use as research sources, and advice for evaluating online source materials. Includes examples of MLA-style bibliographical entries for online source materials.

What works and what doesn' t work for documentat ion at different levels of effort.

A quick checklist for expository and "techn ical" writing for the SCA -- what's important to consider when you're writing event announceme nts, documentat ion, how-to articles, reports, scroll texts, and ceremonies .