On the first subject, I am much of the same mind as Breaker. I used to do more general research in the past, but don't need to as often these days, the exception being whenever I want to include subjects I haven't written much about. A recent example would include looking into the boom-bust cycle of towns along the railroads as they expanded west during the gold rush, to more accurately portray a similar expansion happening along the developing railroads of Salvar. I've also recently looked into the dangers of mining in particular types of ground around the same time period, to orchestrate a realistic mine disaster. On Althanas, though, I still do at least cursory research fairly regularly, primarily to include established canon where possible, but sometimes just perusing for ideas. I've never had the time to look through the entire wiki, so I still regularly find interesting tidbits I never knew.

The second subject is one I hadn't considered before, but I believe the answer is yes. My experience analyzing specific wording probably allows me to more effeciently phrase my searches to find the information I want easier, but I think the biggest difference writing has made is providing the motivation to find that information. When I first started writing, there were so many things I was unaware of that I wanted to portray well, that I spent a good deal of time researching every little detail I could make more realistic, and I think that sheer amount of experience looking things up made the biggest difference. For example, knowing which search terms are tertiary to shorten searches to include more results, i.e. changing 'The Fault In Our Stars' to 'Fault Our Stars,' is something I think you pick up on as you do more searches.