I have officially begun my research now. As with any project, it hasn't really started until you hit the roadblock labelled "This is incredibly difficult. You will not enjoy most of what is ahead of you. Good luck!" Yeah, that's happened. It started with actually reading every single poorly written word in the first primary source. Hand writing on an unlined page from a time period where literacy was not a standard, it's terrible.
Additionally, finding all the proper primary sources is difficult, since the majority of them stretch across two centuries. That's actually great, or at least it would be if the dates were the ones I wanted. I'm pretty sure that this is what is referred to as reality/life. I don't like it.
But the upside is that this entire process means that I'm finally getting somewhere. Something that I'm happy about, so if I need to go through a whole lot of mental agony for a little good, I'll do it. I think this is what is referred to as facing the real world. It's either this or rent. I'm not looking forward to the second one.
Hi Alison, This is in fact a big chunk of what it means to work with primary sources. My first question for you, do you have any pictures of these documents your examining? Are you allowed to post?
ReplyDeleteSo all of the documents I'm using are downloads from the welcome trust library. Which means that they're basically all downloads.
DeleteI'll try including an image in my next post for everyone to see what these documents look like.
I agree, Alison, that when it comes to research once things get tough, you are on to something! Have you sought any advice from your onsite or school mentors? They may be able to offer some great strategies (from experience!) and aid in interpreting and targeting specific primary sources.
ReplyDeleteThe best advice I have received is to skip it and move on. It's something I'm working on still because I want a problem to be completed before I leave it. With this work it just isn't always possible though, so I'm still learning!
Delete