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Strategies to Get the Most Out of Your Time in the Archives
- Skim materials first and then go back for an in-depth review.
- Be open-minded and let sources speak to you. If you try to find evidence to prove a specific point, you may draw conclusions not supported by sources, waste time looking for something that is not in the collection, or miss more important or more interesting information.
- Ask a lot of questions. Who, What, When, Where, Why? What are the motives of the creator of the document? What's at stake? Is there any reason s/he would distort or dissemble? Be sure to interrogate the structure of the document and unpack assumptions embedded within it.
- Practice good time management skills. One single document is very rarely going to tell the whole story.
- Take careful notes so you can locate the source later. (This means write down the record series number, the box number, and folder title, if applicable.)
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