Q2. I am a student at university/college/school and have to do a dissertation/study/essay - can you tell me about a particular aspect or theme?

>I have decided to do a special study and dissertation on a specific vampire theme - can you give me some indicators as to where I should start? I need to have this done quite soon - about ten days actually. (this is a paraphrasing of a genuine request!)

...........................................................We are aware that students do take on unrealistic studies and are quite often just looking for a quick crib to avoid putting much effort in. We are also aware that our websites include quite a lot of detailed and learned information and that there are many teachers and lecturers who, in order to avoid having to do too much coaching, just point their students and pupils in our direction. We have to make two things clear;
a) if you have chosen this topic, it's your baby and you will not be able to get us to do it for you, and
b) if you have a genuine fascination for the subject you will already be involved in the scene - the easiest route is to get properly involved and correspond with those people who seem to have the knowledge and opinions -as an outsider you will find this hard to do (see also answer Q3)

We suppose that when there is an Academy for Vampiric Studies, then things might be different!