Much of your research experience is likely secondary, connected with the internet and library and composed of published scholarship. The PRP offers an opportunity to practice primary research and consider what other things we might look to for evidence. The PRP will help you develop a topic for your analysis essay. 

Why This Project?

Successful completion of this project will assist in the following goals:

• To gain initial experience with archives and primary research
• To generate an awareness of ourselves as data-producing beings & data-managing beings
• To practice thinking with concepts about data, managing data, and considering data methodically
• To gain initial experience with using material culture as primary evidence
• To practice thinking in terms of relationships
• To generate awareness of the powers of audience, purpose, and context on knowledge, research, writing, and culture
• To generate original, preliminary research that results in research questions and hypotheses.

Primary Research Workshop | In Special Collections

We will spend a day in GSU’s Special Collections for an introductory workshop, during which you will learn more about researching in archives and several of GSU’s specific collections of material artifacts. After our talk with the archivist, you will curate your own collection of materials from the artifacts and documents provided.

After the workshop, you will be asked to continue your research in order to develop your knowledge of the materials and their significance. To do this, follow the steps below.

Deliverables 

This project will be completed on your website, so you will submit just your URL to the iCollege submission box. Under the menu page “Primary Research Portfolio” create the following pages:

• Organization Description: A one-page description and discussion of your method of organization (we will discuss this in our workshop) that includes your initial reasoning behind your choice of materials as a collection. Include how these materials coherently connect, either explicitly or implicitly.
• The Artifacts: Create a collection page for each of your artifacts/ephemera. Divide each page into two sections – collection metadata (see “finding aid template”) and a description. The metadata will be at the top of the page, along with any images, photos or sketches (unless prohibited). Below, write a 250- to 350-word description of your artifact that offers a thorough, thick descriptions and includes any additional background information. 
• Works Cited: A Works Cited page for additional research done to complete your thick descriptions, formatted in MLA8.

To complete

Complete these tasks while in special collections:

1. Curate a collection of 4-6 artifacts/documents/ephemera.
2. Make a note of the metadata for your artifacts and include answers to the following:

• What collection does each come from?
• Are they a part of the digital collection?
• Who is the archivist connected with your artifact(s)?

3. If possible, make sketches or take photographs of your selections.
4. Ask relevant, clarifying, and focused questions that will help you build your project.

Methods of Organization

Consider your method of organization and follow one of the two approaches below and then begin building your deliverables.

People/community first:

A people-first approach focuses on the humans involved with your research artifacts. This means you are researching a community, organization, or the individual person who originally owned or donated the archival materials. When you select a people first approach, you may be interested in exploring goals, reactions, philosophies and ideologies, events, or historical experiences.

To complete the assignment using this approach:

• Select your artifacts from one of the communities represented, or from an individual’s collection
• Compose thick descriptions (practiced in class) of the artifacts with attention paid to both the physical elements and their connection to the community/individual.
• Record images (sketched or photographic)
• Research the person or community for more information
• Maintain a bibliography of potentially useful resources for further research later.
• Consider these questions:

• • Who might find the collection interesting or important? Why?
  • What might your collection say about the community/individual that you have chosen to magnify? What questions might your collection raise?

Things first:

A things first approach focuses on trends that can be discovered from looking at the actual materials and documents. This means you may be researching methods of communication, social performance, historical expectations, legal limitations, to name a few. Here, you may ask what things are consistently present; what is consistently missing or scarce; what might the materials say about the moment in which they were created?

To complete things first:

• Select your artifacts considering the commonalities between each. Are you selecting all the same type of artifact (all t-shirts, all letter openers, all art, etc.)? Do they all do the same thing, or communicate the same thing, or are composed of the same raw materials, perhaps? Make notes.
• Consider what the artifacts were used for, thinking deeply about their actual use and their immediate use (for instance, a t-shirt is to be worn, but perhaps it was also used to show affiliation with a band, an organization, an idea, etc.)
• Record images (sketches, photos, etc.)
• Compose thick descriptions of the artifacts and consider provenance, material composition, etc. Make sure your physical description is detailed and thick. Also make sure to include as much detailed background info as necessary.
• Research the artifact and possible uses (again, if the t-shirt was used for protest, you might want to research the use of t-shirts as protest items. Note your research goals and questions).

• Maintain a bibliography of potentially useful resources for further research later.
• Consider these questions:

• • Who might find the collection interesting or important? Why?
  • What might your collection say about the composition of common materials, or the goals of the time in which they were employed? What questions might your collection raise? What about these artifacts is still relevant or obsolete?