Filed under The National Archives and Discovery: A Method Guide
What should you look for first?
Work in this order: research guide, then catalogue search by unit and date, then piece level entries, then viewing or copy arrangements. That order prevents a promising search result from becoming a wasted copy order.
The record you need is usually the one for the dates you have, not the one with the most dramatic story attached to it. Write down what you know, what you suspect, and what you do not know, in three separate lists, and keep them apart until a record joins them. If any one of the four filters fails, name, number, unit, dates, stop and re-check before reading further into the record.
The order to work in
Where two steps could come in either order, choose the one whose record is more reliable, and let the reliable record frame the less reliable one. Keep the timeline open beside you as you work, and add to it as you go, rather than reconstructing it at the end from memory. Order matters more than speed here. The same records, opened in a different order, produce a different timeline, and only one of those orders can be checked. A reference without a date, or a date without a reference, is half a note. Both halves are needed before the note can be used.
| 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. |
As an illustration only, suppose a catalogue entry describes a whole battalion diary series but the piece you need covers only one month: reading the piece dates before ordering is what stops you paying for, or travelling for, the wrong piece.
Where this kind of research usually stalls
If the same name keeps appearing in the wrong unit, the problem is usually a filter, not a missing record: widen the dates, or narrow by number, and try again. A gap in a record is a finding, not a failure. Note the gap, its dates, and what kind of record might fill it, instead of filling it with a plausible story.
A unit, ship or camp that cannot be fixed from the clues available is a reason to gather one more clue, not a reason to guess the most likely candidate. A trail that goes cold at a particular date often restarts under a different number, a different unit, or a different holder. The date of the break is the clue to which.
What to open after this one
A next step that is easy is not necessarily the right one. The right next step is the one the timeline needs, and it is often the awkward one. If this record answered your question, stop and note the reference. The next record should start from a new question, not from momentum.
Use the pillar guide for this section as a map, and the neighbouring guides as the detail for the exact point you have reached. Let each dated entry earn its place before the timeline grows.
Primary sources for this guide
Everything here is kept general and tied to official holders, so check the current position with the holder for your own case. The guide is educational information only: it is not personal professional advice, it is not a lookup service, and it settles nothing about any one person's service.