Filed under The National Archives and Discovery: A Method Guide
What should you look for first?
A Discovery reference is the archive address of a record: department, series, piece and item. It is what you need to order, view or cite a record, so copy it exactly and keep it with your notes.
The record you need is usually the one for the dates you have, not the one with the most dramatic story attached to it. One dated fact from a record outweighs three plausible details from a story, and the timeline should show which is which.
Making sense of what you find
A word that looks familiar may have meant something narrower, or something entirely different, when the record was written. A medical entry, a pay entry, or a disciplinary entry should not be read as a character judgement. These are administrative categories, and they record process, not personality. A promotion, a transfer or a posting that looks sudden usually has an earlier entry behind it. Work backwards from the surprise, one dated entry at a time.
Where this kind of research usually stalls
If the trail ends at a particular holder, the next step is to ask that holder where the record went, not to search the same catalogue harder. If you have tried every spelling variant and every date range, the next step is not another search, it is a different record type. Let the timeline choose it.
A record that is closed, a record that is withheld in part, and a record that is lost are different outcomes with different remedies. The holder reply says which. A photograph with no caption, a medal with no roll entry, and a story with no dates are all the same problem: a clue without a filter.
How do you work through it step by step?
Steps that look bureaucratic, noting references, dating entries, separating lists, are the steps that keep a long research project honest. A step that involves another person, a holder, an archive, or a relative, should be prepared before it is taken. Unprepared requests get vague answers. A method that works is a slow one. Each step below earns the next, and skipping a step does not save time, it creates a check you will have to do later.
| Step | What to do |
|---|---|
| 1 | Fix the record series first, from the research guide for the record type you need. |
| 2 | Search inside that series by unit, ship or date range, with the surname as a filter inside it. |
| 3 | Read the catalogue description carefully: it tells you the dates, the coverage, and whether a digitised copy exists. |
| 4 | Note the full reference before you open, download or order anything. |
The next record in the chain
The next step is usually a record that answers one specific thing: a date, a unit, a place, or a name, rather than a whole new area of research. If the next record is a unit record, carry the posting dates with you. If it is a personal record, carry the number. The filter you carry decides what you find. Trust the dated entry over the vivid memory, and keep both in your notes, clearly labelled, so neither can quietly replace the other.
Primary sources for this guide
This guide keeps its claims general and points to the official holders, so the holder itself is the place to check the current position. It is general educational information only, not personal professional advice, and it offers no record lookup service and no determination of any individual's service.