Primary Sources

• Start your research early. Make sure to plan ahead, as research in primary sources is labor-intensive and takes time.
• Consult with library reference staff for help researching your topic and navigating collections.
• Read actively and critically. Think about your sources and evaluate them thoroughly.
• Get the facts: Use reference works and secondary sources to gain a solid understanding of your topic and to put the primary sources in context.
• Make use of secondary and reference sources to help you find primary sources. Mine the text, footnotes, bibliographies, and acknowledgments in your secondary sources for ideas.
• Every discipline has its own universe of primary sources. Ask questions to focus your search. For example, you might ask:
  • Who would have produced sources relative to your topic?
  • What types of sources might exist?
  • When would they have been produced?
  • Where?
  • Why and for whom?
• Be creative - Use images, oral histories, maps, statistics, diaries, personal papers, organizational records, government documents, material culture, film, alternative press, pamphlets, posters, printed ephemera, and literature in your research. Use published and unpublished, printed, and digital sources.
• Take good notes so you can accurately cite documents. Record the collection title, call number, box number, folder number, item title, date, and description. If you are taking photographs, make sure to organize them and label them so you can easily find and identify them.
• Maintain a working bibliography as you do your research.
• Special collections materials are often one-of-a-kind. Handle them carefully.
• Call or inquire in person before you being research in a special collection.

William Cronon.  Learning to Do Historical Research:  A Primer for Environmental Historians and Others
Although this website was created with environmental historians in mind, it is intended to assist, "anyone seeking to learn the craft of doing historical research."  The website follows the steps outlined in The Craft of Research.

Mary Lynn Rampolla.  A Pocket Guide to Writing in History, 10th ed.  New York:  Bedford/St. Martin's, 2021.
This is extremely useful, exceedingly portable guide demystifies the research process and guides readers through the steps. This book is available via Interlibrary Loan.