Archival Research Process: Developing a Research Strategy
1. Understand your research topic
- Read published articles, books, etc. on your subject. Properly interpreting the contents of manuscript collections depends greatly upon understanding the context in which the documents were created. Reading secondary sources will help you better understand that context and will alert you when the materials offer a different perspective than what is found in published books and articles.
2. Formulate questions about the topic
- As you read, compose questions about the topic. This will help narrow your focus. Consider how these questions have or have not been dealt with in the literature. Note primary concepts, people, organizations and events which would be relevant to your topic.
3. Describe your topic in detail
- List names of individuals and families
- List businesses, corporations, or organizations
- Are particular ethnic groups more relevant than others?
- What professions and occupations would have placed people in contact with your topic?
- Are some localities more relevant than others?
- What are the chronological boundaries of your topic?
- Can you divide you research topic into subtopics?
4. Determine the kind of information you will need to research your topic further.
- Do you need financial information? Personal commentary?
5. Determine how that information is likely to have been generated.
- What functions or activities would produce relevant information? Is the information likely to be found in personal papers, records of a business, government records, etc.
6. Search available catalogs and finding aids
- Search the catalog using keywords, titles or subject headings.
- Read each catalog record to determine if the collection is likely to contain information relevant to your research topic.
- You can determine relevance based on a number of factors including what activities and functions the collection documents, who is involved,
- what time period is covered, and what material types are present.
- If a collection appears to be relevant, ask to view available finding aids.
