Working with archives / 166 words
Following One Story Across Several Repositories
Rarely does a single archive hold everything relevant to a story worth telling, particularly for subjects whose lives crossed institutional boundaries. Personal papers might sit in one institution, official records in another, and...
The record
every article, with its citation countThe Correction That Comes Too Late to Matter
Sometimes a correction is technically issued but arrives so long after the original error that it can no longer reach the...
Understanding the Structure of a Formal Report
Most formal reports follow a fairly predictable shape: a summary of purpose, a description of method, a presentation of...
The Use of Scene in Evidence-Based Writing
A well constructed scene, grounded in specific, verified detail, lets a reader experience a moment rather than simply being...
Building a Chronology as a Research Tool
Laying out every dated fact from a research project on a single timeline, regardless of which source it came from, often...
Avoiding Manufactured Tension for Narrative Effect
A true story sometimes lacks the dramatic tension a writer instinctively wants, and the temptation to manufacture conflict...
Testing a Claim Against Independent Threads
A claim becomes genuinely strong when it can be reached along more than one truly independent path: a document confirms it, a...
Writing About the Dead: Obligations That Outlast the Subject
A person who has died cannot respond to how they are portrayed, correct a misunderstanding, or object to an unfair...
Following a Footnote Trail Responsibly
A footnote in someone else's work points toward a source, but it is not itself the source, and treating a citation as...
Read the Finding Aid Before You Request a Box
A finding aid is the map of a collection, written by the people who arranged it and organised its parts into series and...
Using Recurring Motifs Without Forcing Them
A recurring image, phrase or detail that surfaces naturally across a piece can create a subtle sense of unity, but forcing a...
Reading a Map as a Documentary Source
A map is not a neutral photograph of a place, it is an argument about what mattered enough to include, drawn by someone working...
Reading Room Rules Exist to Protect Evidence
Pencils only, gloves for certain materials, one folder open at a time: reading room rules can feel fussy until you consider...
Building Structure Around a Central Character's Arc
Following a single person's genuine trajectory through a story, what they knew, decided and experienced over time, gives a...
Building Trust Before the Recorder Starts
The minutes before a formal interview officially begins, spent on genuinely ordinary conversation rather than the actual...