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Hello ! I'm afraid my own methods of encouraging MA students ( and other post-grads) to use archives are quite primitive, but seem effective. In the course of a year I often see students from a number of different disciplines, brought in by 'archive-friendly' lecturers. That's the first point I'd like to make - quite often those who are actually doing the teaching at Universities now have no personal experience of the world of archives so it doesn't occur to them to recommend our services to their students. Once over the threshold I try to appeal to the students' sense of adventure often asserting ( very rudely) that 'history books are just the author's version of events' and to find out what really happened we have to look at the surviving evidence in archival sources to discover 'the truth' ! In group visits we look at a selection of documents from our collections and have a think about what research uses might be applied to them. We spend time just enjoying the documents and what they have to offer. I also try to stress that sometimes the document they need to prove their hypothesis no longer exists - or never existed - which comes as a bit of a blow to students who occasionally have a touching faith that all information survives somewhere if you just Google hard enough for it. Students seem genuinely excited that they are allowed to handle and use the documents in our collections - and as this is a university town our collections are well -used by MA students, and undergraduates too. I think once students understand that archives are splendidly evidential, but that they may also be partial, prejudiced, incomplete and difficult to understand, they really enjoy the feeling and the practice of venturing into uncharted territory. As to how students use archives in their dissertations - I suppose it depends very much on the subject. Some choose to use archival sources as a 'garnish', providing some examples and illustrations to add value to their work, and keep the examiners awake and on their toes (!) whilst others spend hours and days trawling through collections and come up with genuinely ground-breaking research. All best, Helen, Ceredigion Archives Aberystwyth -----Original Message----- From: Archivists, conservators and records managers. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jane Stevenson Sent: 06 February 2013 12:02 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: MA Students using archives for the first time: where to begin! HI all, Thanks for the various suggestions - maybe if people could keep them coming in I'll draft up a page with various links, which would make a good starting point. A few people are talking about things like how to reference archives, but I'm really talking about first steps in using archives. There's been some great suggestions, so I'll pull them all together. cheers, Jane. On 6 Feb 2013, at 11:17, Sian Wynn-Jones <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > 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 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 -- Ymwadiad: Er y cymerir pob gofal posib i sicrhau cywirdeb unrhyw wybodaeth a chyngor a roddir yn yr ohebiaeth hon, ni dderbynnir atebolrwydd am unrhyw golledion a all godi o unrhyw gamgymeriadau sy'n gynwysedig ac fe'ch atgoffir o'r angen i chi ofyn am gyngor proffesiynol eich hun. 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