The role of research in nonfiction genres

By definition, nonfiction texts are fact-based pieces of writing. Whether that’s a blog post, a newspaper report, memoir, some travel writing, an academic journal article, a book length narrative nonfiction story or any of the variations in between, they all communicate something that actually happened, or that real people (including you) experienced, felt or thought. This is called the ‘nonfiction contract’ and although its not usually written down anywhere, it forms the basis of trust between author, publisher and reader. To keep to it, we need to be sure that what we are writing about is grounded in fact - however creatively we do that - and that means we need research those facts and investigate the factual foundations of our topics.

Fiction writers also do research for their stories too, but there its an optional element - for nonfiction work its a non-negotiable, but it shows up in different forms. If you’re writing an academic journal article it’s likely that most of your research has already been done as the job of these texts is to report the results of studies and investigations. But if you’re embarking on a narrative non-fiction project about something you find fascinating, you’re almost certainly going to need to generate the evidence base that underpins the arguments you’re going to want to make and the story you’ll be telling. And if you’re writing from your own experience, you’ll probably have the beginnings of your tale (after all you’ve lived through what you’re going to write about) but you may well need to flesh out some of your skeleton memories by gathering more information. These categories are not exhaustive of course - the academic writing a book from their research might find they need a deeper dive on a topic as the writing progresses, and the memoirist might have kept detailed diaries that lessen the need to do more exploration, for example.

Research falls into two broad categories - primary and secondary. Primary research is material that’s been generated for the needs of your specific project, and includes things like interviews, surveys, and more creative methods too. Secondary research is when you generate information for your project using materials that were produced for some other purpose, such as entertainment, the news, or even another research project. It’s this last type of research that we generally think of as research for writing purposes - especially if you’re not an academic. Reading books, articles, google searches, examining archives and so on are all common forms of secondary research.

But whatever the type of nonfiction writing involved, research performs a number of important functions:

Investigating your topic so you know what to write about

This is perhaps the most common way we think about the role that research plays. How can you write if you don’t know what you’re writing about? Here, research can be for background learning that guides the direction of the writing, or specific investigation of a central (or peripheral) problem that appears in the book, but in either case its likely to take place in the earlier stages of your project - both to write your book proposal or article pitch, and then in more depth when you come to the writing proper.

Fact-checking and providing balanced accounts

The nonfiction contract requires fact-based writing and as an author you’ll be responsible for the validity of those facts. The due diligence function of research is important for your own peace of mind as well as to make sure you’re telling true stories to the best of your knowledge. You might also want to generate information that shows a different side to the story you’re telling too - either to report in the text itself, or to enrich your understanding of an event or situation. This is important in narrative nonfiction where you’re telling an engaging story, so these additional details are extremely useful.

Deep dives on emerging topics

During the writing you’ll almost certainly find there are parts where you realise your knowledge isn’t quite enough to put together a convincing argument or story. When writing my book about women in electronic music ‘Minor Keys’ - I I found myself generating additional research information right up until the last revision because I realised some parts still felt a little thin, so research in often not a one-and-done process!

Building trust between you and your reader

Being transparent about the research you’ve done, and how you’ve done it, is an important signal to readers they they can trust what you’ve written actually happened, represents real-life events, and presents authentic experiences. No matter how creatively you tell your story, the nonfiction contract remains. Your writing needs to be fact-based, and it’s research that will enable you to uncover them. You can read my previous blog post on trust here