NOTA BENE! This is not a full essay. This is a lecture outline, originally prepared in February 2007 and updated a few times since, for a class that has been taught at heraldic collegia in the East and Atlantia, at Pennsic, and at Atlantian University. As the original versions said, "This is really just an outline; please annotate it for your own greatest benefit."

There are many resources out there that discuss how to do heraldic research. This is not one of them. I'm here to talk about how to present that research in an effective manner.

Commenting performs two different functions. Good heraldic commentary performs both of these functions as appropriate for the context, preferably in concert with each other. The first function of commentary is to give useful information to the herald who's going to be making a decision on a submitted item -- information that the decision maker will want to have in order to make that decision. The second function of commentary is to educate those who are reading it, which is perhaps more important than it sounds.

First: Provide Information for the Decision Maker

Who the decision maker is depends on what level you're commenting on. If you're commenting on submissions that are waiting for a decision at the kingdom level, I'll call that "internal" commenting, and each kingdom has someone responsible for making the decisions on what submissions to send up to Laurel and which to return in-kingdom for further work. (The exact division of labor varies by kingdom.) If you're commenting on submissions that have been sent by all the kingdoms up to the Laurel Office and are waiting for a decision at the Society level, I'll call that "external" commenting. The Laurel Office has one or more gentles responsible for making those decisions. Currently the decisions are delegated to two Deputy Sovereigns of Arms: Pelican Sovereign of Arms handles the name decisions, and Wreath Sovereign of Arms handles the armory decisions. (This division of labor has changed over time and is subject to change later as well.)

What the decision maker wants and needs from you is as much relevant information and recommendations as possible, presented clearly in a manner that makes the information easy to find and that will be most useful for the decision maker to handle when making decisions. Information that is not directly relevant might still be useful, but it should never get in the way of presenting the most relevant info.

Second: Educate Those Reading the Comments

Education is probably more important for internal commentary than for external, but I myself learned a great deal from reading external commentary when I was still a relatively new book herald.

In order to educate the readers, one still wants to present the relevant information clearly, but one must go beyond that. One cannot leave any steps out: the decision maker may know the more obvious shortcuts, but new heralds reading one's comments probably don't know. So when writing for education, go step by step and don't skip over anything no matter how obvious it might seem.

Furthermore, irrelevant but related information can be very useful for educational purposes. In order not to bog down the decision maker, it may be useful in some cases to address the decision maker's needs first, and then the educational needs; just don't duplicate too much writing.

Pointers

Know your audience. Who will be reading the comments you make? Those who read external commentary will be heavily weighted towards senior heralds (though by no means all!), so write mostly at the Sovereigns of Arms and the more senior level folks. Internal commentary is far more likely to be read by newer heralds, so make sure it's understandable by them -- but make sure you don't, in the process, obscure the information you're sending the kingdom submissions office.

Provide your references clearly. Decision makers and general readers alike will be much better served if you do. Refer to the Rules for Submissions accurately, and quote them when appropriate. Quote precedents and LoAR excerpts as often as you need to -- don't refer to a quote you already made on another submission, quote it again! -- and make sure your reference makes the precedent or excerpt easy to find when looking it up in the original document(s)... because the decision makers will look it up.

Be kind. This is especially important when responding to someone else's comment. I shouldn't have to make this point, but it's necessary that I do.

Copyright 2007-2008, David A. Montuori. All rights reserved. EXACT copies of this article may be printed, but electronic archiving is FORBIDDEN without the express written consent of the author.