This chapter covers how to keep records of your information, how to prepare for visiting archives, practical tips on working with documents and how to avoid the common pitfalls.
Record-Keeping
Organising your notes properly right from the start will save you a lot of time. If you just write everything down in a bound notebook, you won’t risk losing anything – but you will also have to spend ages finding it again! So you need to think about the information you are collecting, how you want to use it, and the best way of retrieving the information quickly.
Ring-Binder (Longhand)
As you make more notes on your subject, you’ll find that they fall under different topics. For example, when I was researching
Norwich: Street by Street, I knew that I wanted to cover the derivation of the street name, who lived there, events that happened on the streets, buildings of special interest and ‘miscellaneous’ – so I kept my notes in five sections right from the start.
The easiest way to make your notes (in longhand) is on A4 paper – then you can keep the separate sheets in a ring-binder, with subject dividers between the separate topics.
Card Index
A card index – where each piece of information is stored on a separate card, sorted by subject, within a box – is useful for finding information
quickly, but as your research grows you may find yourself having to lug several enormous boxes around with you. Because the cards are stored ‘loose’ rather than clipped into a file, it is also easier to lose them or accidentally slip them into the wrong place.
Computer
You may find it easier to type your notes straight onto computer. You may have a laptop; or your local library may have computer terminals available that you can use, though you will need a floppy disk with you to store the file (or email it to your own mailbox). You may decide to keep your notes in longhand and type them up; that’s fine, but keep your original notes as it’s easy to make a typographical error, particularly on dates and the spellings of names, and you may need to refer back to your original notes.
Your notes can be stored in the same way as they would in a ring-binder. Each sheet of A4 is equivalent to a separate word-processing document, stored within a folder (equivalent to a subject divider) within your word-processing program. For example, if you are using Microsoft® Word, you can set up a directory within ‘My Documents’ for your research – let’s call it NORWICH. Within that directory, you will have subdirectories (folders) for each bit of your research. For example, you might have files such as BUILDINGS or PEOPLE or EVENTS or TRANSPORT, as well as SOURCES (so you have an ongoing index of your sources and where to find them). Within the BUILDINGS directory, you might have files on pubs, churches, schools, civic buildings, private houses, and shops – whatever suits your need.
Databases and spreadsheets work in the same way as a card index. With a database, you will need to decide what fields you need before you start researching (so make sure you use a flexible program that will allow you to add fields to your records as you need them). You
will also need some mechanism to make sure records aren’t duplicated or overwritten by mistake.
The advantages of using a computer include:
- You’re less likely to make transcribing errors – it’s easy to misread your longhand notes when typing them up, or to forget what you meant by an abbreviation, days or even weeks after you wrote your original notes
- You can search the files quickly for a relevant keyword (e.g. ‘murder’ or ‘fire’ or ‘marriage’)
- It’s easy to insert and remove material (e.g. when listing sources alphabetically by author name) without making your notes messy
- If you’re planning a book or article, you can cut and paste from your notes rather than having to retype it all.
However, there are disadvantages that you need to plan round:
- The library or archive may not have a computer terminal available (you may need to book it in advance, and there may be a limit on how long you can use it)
- If you use a laptop, the library or archive may need a certificate from an approved electrician before you can use it on their mains; if you are using battery power, be aware of how long the battery lasts before it needs recharging
- You need to keep a regular (at least weekly) back up of your files in case there is a problem with your computer and you lose data. Floppy disks are fine for small temporary files (e.g. a day’s research at the library) but the space is limited – it’s better to use a CD-ROM or a thumb drive (flash drive) for your main back up. It is also a good idea to keep two copies of a back up, because disks can corrupt. Or keep a copy on a server – most internet service providers give you web space as well as email addresses, and you can password-protect it so nobody can access your data without your permission.