As part of our mission on the SWG, we seek to provide reliable references for our members and guests about Tolkien's world. Anyone who has ever attempted to become a "Tolkien scholar" understands the inherent difficulty of learning all there is to know about Arda. Often, when doing research for a story or for personal information, it is easiest to turn to the "experts" offering their opinions on the Internet.
Unfortunately, the ease of Internet publication has led to the proliferation of misinformation and fanon and headcanons that often gets quoted as though part of the source material. While we recognize that no source outside of Tolkien can ever be absolutely perfect (after all, only he knew exactly what he meant to say), we are committed to providing canon resources that are strongly based in what he did say rather than what an individual researcher thinks he might have said or what they were told that he said.
And this is where our reference readers come in!
Reference readers are volunteers who read essays that we hope to include in our Reference Library. Their responsibility is twofold. First, they will check the citations provided to be sure that they are correct and that the information in the essay can be found where the author says it is. Secondly, they draw on their own knowledge of Tolkien to make suggestions to help the author improve their work for publication.
So who can be a reference reader? Any SWG member! We hope that this system will allow us to keep only accurate references in our Reference Library while also opening the construction of the Reference Library to our members, instead of limiting it to a select few.
Reference readers do not need to be canon experts. If you enjoy research, love reading through Tolkien's more obscure works, and want to learn more about his world, then you would probably enjoy this job. We do ask that our reference readers keep an open mind; not all essays will come to the same conclusions that you would personally, given the same information. We do not seek to impose our personal interpretations upon what is represented in the Reference Library, and we recognize that different researchers will come to very different conclusions. We welcome all views ... just as long as they are based upon Tolkien's works.
Nor do you have to have access to all of Tolkien's works. We will help you to acquire the books and resources that you need to do your job.
So how will it work? You will be added to our list of reference readers, and the next time we seek to include a new, unpublished essay in our Reference Library, we will contact all of the reference readers to see who is interested and available to read it. Reference checking will be divided among the reference readers and editors working on the essay. At the end of the reading period, all reference readers who worked on the project will turn in any comments that they have to the SWG moderators. This information will be compiled by the editor and sent to the author so they can revise their work for publication.
It is important to note that reference readers are not expected to accept or reject submissions for the Reference Library. We will never ask you to pass judgment on the work of your peers. Final decisions and responsibility for those decisions rests with the Reference Library staff and the site moderators.
Reference readers are free to choose which projects they would like to work on. There are no minimum reading requirements that you must meet; we recognize that our members have families, jobs, and schoolwork (as well as other interests and obligations!) and want the job of a reference reader to be low-stress and something that all of our members can do, if they wish.
For more information or to be added to the list of reference readers, send us an email to loremaster@silmarillionwritersguild.org. We will get back to you as soon as possible.
