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Sian describes a great resource. I would suggest, though, that the initial questions from the first post need to be disentangled. First, there is the issue of how students research. How are they trained to research. Many students, even at MA and PHD level, are not trained to research or to search. We may assume that students have these skills but many have them at a rudimentary level. I used to work in a library and one of the best courses offered was an introduction to library research services which told people how to use the library and all of its research tools. I know that Google have done courses on power searching so that people can improve their use of Google. We may assume that putting in a question is sufficient, but it only scratches the surface and would rarely, bring the person to an archive, unless they have focused their search. Second, there is the user intelligence issue. Many people who come to archives do not know how to use it. By that I mean, what a finding aid is, how the archive is organised, and what holdings are available. These are just the surface questions. I think there was a discussion at one of the continuum events talking about archival user intelligence and how archivist could help users new and experienced. Third, there is the understanding of the archives as a resource. Many people do not understand he purpose of an archives and often assume that it is just like a library. They may not be aware of different types of libraries and different types of archives, which require different approaches. On the first point, I would recommend the following book to all students, but particular MA and PhD students who may assume that they already know this stuff. The book may appear basic, but it offers a great introduction, refresher, and resource for conducting research. http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Craft_of_Research_Third_Edition.html?id=Y31pUtkwb2oC&redir_esc=y I would also suggest any of the power searching courses offered by google. I am not sure if they are still available, but they were advertised late last year. ON the second point, I think that archives can help here by having introductions to the archives. I would also suggest that universities and post-graduate programmes could do more on offering research training modules focused on specific archives and how it may be resource for their field. ON the third point, I think this is a general awareness issue as many people assume that archives is family history, genealogy or ancient manuscripts. If they, and journalists, only knew the stories hidden away in the archives, we would have to limit access for the amount of attention. Alas, that may be some time in the future, perhaps when virtual archives becomes possible through augmented reality. Best, Lawrence Lawrence W. Serewicz Principal Information Management Officer Assistant Chief Executive's Office Room 140/4 Durham County Council Durham DH1 5UF Tel 03000 268 038 ________________________________________ From: Archivists, conservators and records managers. [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Sian Wynn-Jones [[log in to unmask]] Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2013 11:17 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: MA Students using archives for the first time: where to begin! Dear Jane/all BT Archives worked with students on the London College of Communications MA Design Writing Criticism over the last two years. Very few, if any, had worked with archives before. In the first year the students produced a short film 'Discovering BT Archives' based on their journeys of exploration with, and responses to the archives which may be of help/interest to your students. Aside from the benefits of collaborating with a different knowledge pool, when working with the students the main learning point on both sides was in working together to help articulate questions in ways that were meaningful and relevant eg - why does this document/subject interest me? how do we know this fact? what other material relates to this subject/fact? You can see the film at www.youtube.com/connectedearth I'd be interested to hear any thoughts on it Best wishes Siân Siân Wynn-Jones | Heritage Collections Manager | BT Group plc ----- Original Message ----- From: Jane Stevenson [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2013 10:08 AM To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]> Subject: [ARCHIVES-NRA] MA Students using archives for the first time: where to begin! Hi all (me again!), I gave a short talk to MA students yesterday about strategies for searching for archives. I talked about what archives are, tips for using archives, visiting reading rooms, using the various aggregators, etc etc. However, in the hands-on what struck me is that they were asking me what to actually do with the archives. That is, how do they use them in their research. They seemed a bit overwhelmed with these huge descriptions they were finding and didn't know how to start thinking about ways to bring the archives into their dissertations. I wondered if anyone knows of any advice out there that I can either point students to, or maybe utilities in order to create a few pages on the Hub about 'first steps in using archives for your dissertation'. There are some great educational resources on TNA's Education pages, but they are more focussed on exercises using archives, and present exercises that are already worked out, they are not so much aimed at students at an MA level and how they work with the kinds of evidence that archives provide (although I might have missed something here - please let me know). cheers, Jane. Jane Stevenson The Archives Hub Mimas, The University of Manchester Devonshire House, Oxford Road Manchester M13 9QH email:[log in to unmask] tel: 0161 275 6055 website: archiveshub.ac.uk blog: archiveshub.ac.uk/blog twitter: twitter.com/archiveshub Contact the list owner for assistance at [log in to unmask] For information about joining, leaving and suspending mail (eg during a holiday) see the list website at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=archives-nra Contact the list owner for assistance at [log in to unmask] For information about joining, leaving and suspending mail (eg during a holiday) see the list website at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=archives-nra ________________________________ Help protect our environment by only printing this email if absolutely necessary. The information it contains and any files transmitted with it are confidential and are only intended for the person or organisation to whom it is addressed. It may be unlawful for you to use, share or copy the information, if you are not authorised to do so. If you receive this email by mistake, please inform the person who sent it at the above address and then delete the email from your system. Durham County Council takes reasonable precautions to ensure that its emails are virus free. However, we do not accept responsibility for any losses incurred as a result of viruses we might transmit and recommend that you should use your own virus checking procedures. Contact the list owner for assistance at [log in to unmask] For information about joining, leaving and suspending mail (eg during a holiday) see the list website at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=archives-nra