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I'm doing a research paper over the connection between Vlad the Impaler and the vampire Count Vladimir Dracula. Any tips? Possibly questions I could answer in the paper?

Watch 'what we do in the shadows' -- it is not non-fiction but it is great! The makers might, even while joking, point you to new material to try to look up.

What are you looking for, more precisely?

The Lore about Count Dracula and Vlad the Impaler start from the fact that Vladimir been excommuniated if I remember, and, having quite a temper, proceeded to get rid of his foes by slaying them and/or impaling them. It's how you were killing strigoï (aka "vampires) in the Eastern worlds.

You should get a tiny look at the word strigoï, and search Vladimir 3 excommunication/excommunion.

Well, Stoker likely did not know much about the historical figure he borrowed the name Dracula from, and the vampire bears fairly scant resemblance to the Impaler Prince. Vlad III 'Tepes' Draculea was an ethnic Vlach of Romania, and Voivode of Wallachia. But Dracula in the Stoker novel identifies himself as a Hungarian descendant of Attila the Hun and ruler of Transylvania rather than Wallachia. Vlad the Impaler was an atrocious mass-murderer (albeit in the defense of his country, for which he is still remembered as a Romanian national hero), but spent far more time spilling blood than drinking it, hah.

The historical Vlad III got his surname from his father, Vlad II Dracul. Dracul means 'the Dragon', as Vlad II had been inducted as a knight in the Order of the Dragon of St George (Ordo Dracul/Societas Draconistrarum). Vlad III took the name Draculea, meaning 'Son of the Dragon'. It's kind of ironic now that Vlad III has overshadowed his father Vlad II in the history books. As for his other title 'Tepes' (which is pronounced tepesh and sometimes spelled Tsepesh), it means 'the Impaler', which he earned from his infamous habit of impaling his enemies and captives of war on wooden spikes, which he would line the borders of his kingdom with to scare away his enemies. The Turks also knew him as 'Kazıklı Voyvoda' or 'Kazikli Bey', meaning 'Impaler Prince'.

Now the fictional Dracula, his name probably takes the other meaning 'Son of the Devil', as Dracul can mean Dragon or Devil in Romanian. Stoker's Dracula appeared to have acquired his vampiric powers from his studying at the Scholomance, the legendary Devil's School which is in a hidden location (sometimes under a lake, sometimes in the mountains) south of the city of Hermannstadt in Transylvania. The novel erroneously says the Lake is called Hemannstadt. The legend of the Scholomance goes that only ten scholars are admitted at a time, and are personally tutored by the Devil himself in the occult arts. When the class ends, the scholars have to rush out, because the last one to reach the exit has their soul claimed by the Devil as payment.

Also, here is Vlad III Draculea's signature:



Which reads 'Wladislaus Dragwlya', so the Vlad is short for Vladislaus, not Vladimir,