As an aspiring writer, I have one short coming... I detest research. At the moment, I need to do some research in the effects and speed of death by sleeping pill overdose. So far my lack of research skills have only offered up people saying that death is not the answer and that people should call the suicide hotline. So if anyone could point me in the right direction on how to research this properly, I'd really appreciate it! - L
Google barbiturate overdose Recommendation for research in general - Wikipedia should not be your primary or only reference point. You may get an adequate capsule summary, but don't consider it the final word on anything. Some articles are wildly biased and inaccurate. Some may be fine. The problem is knowing which is which. Always look at a range of sources, and keep the source in mind when deciding how reliable the information is.
Well for a start take a look at this for your sleeping pill problem. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedative But in general when researching things like this (I've had to do a lot for the novel I'm writing, solar flares, asteroids, mental illness, explosives the list really goes on) I tend to look more for scientific articles rather than opinionated pieces. Wikipedia as Cogito suggested was my main source of information gathering. Instead of say googleing side affects of sleeping pills Google sleeping pills get the scientific name for it which in this case would be Sedatives then use that term to google the effects of overdose on sedatives, if you get what i mean?
Cogito - my ancient history teacher in high school once referred to wikipedia as 'the double-edged sword of the internet'. I generally try not to use wikipedia on the basis that you can't be certain what you're reading is reliable. houda - my only problem with looking at scientific articles is that i can't understand them!!
I think they use benzodiazepines like temazipam now rather than barbiturates in the main, although I am perfectly willing to bow to Cogito's lab experience.
There are plenty of medical websites out there, most of which allow you to post questions. You could also give the local hospital or clinic a call, see if they have a public liaison or otherwise know of a doctor/nurse willing to answer a few questions for you.
yeah research is hard unless your already an accomplished writer who has the money and most importantly the time to research for us mere mortals it's hard enough to find time to write never mind do research but it is really important inaccurate information can pull the reader from the world you are creating. Maybe we should have a research thread where we all post useful links for various research on different topics.
apologises shadowwalker for not being clear. I meant money to live i.e food, rent and living costs. If you have enough money not to work then you can spend more time researching and writing.
Your question about death by overdose on pills is not one that should be too difficult to research. Just a few quick Google searches should give you some reliable sites and if not you can check the footnotes on Wikipedia as they often have links to websites so you can verify info. I'm sure this issue has been talked about enough for your research to be quick and painless.
If it has anything to do with pills and overdosing on them (or anything medically-related at all) I'd suggest looking at websites that summarize conditions and side-effects of pills and what happens if you do too much and what you should do in the case that occurs. These articles are usually written without heavy medical wording so it shouldn't be too hard to understand ^^
