27 January 2014 We’ve all heard the advice: full citations should appear on every photocopied or scanned document and every page of a research report. It also matters where, exactly, we place that label. To avoid . . .

26 January 2014 In the citation world, most sins against punctuation, capitalization, and stuff of that ilk are pretty venial. Occasionally, they matter. Sometimes they matter greatly. Consider this pair: ...

25 January 2014 You’re a researcher—perhaps a research professional, a student, or a family historian—who regularly tackles a variety of subjects. How do you approach each new assignment or each new geographic area? Do you, as someone asked recently in an online forum, use a checklist of source types that you keep handy so you won’t forget to search for any critical type? . . .

24 January 2014 When we set out to study slaves and freedmen in antebellum America, we learn quickly the importance of knowing the laws. Not the suppositions we hear right and left, not the broad generalizations we "learn" from the media, but the actual text of state and local laws for the time and place.

A history enthusiast, in an online forum that will go unnamed, was singing the praises of conference presentations for self-education. He noted the pros and cons of both live and recorded instruction. Then he plunged head first into the quagmire of legal rights . . .

22 January 2014 Basic research terms can mean quite different things in different professional fields or in varying contexts. Take the word "abstract" for example. An abstract we prepare in the research stage looks quite different from an abstract prepared to accompany a dissertation or published paper. . . .

21 January 2014 Legal language bumfuzzles many researchers. It also causes many to iron wrinkles into their writing when they sit down to report their findings or weave their accounts. This week, we spotted the following quartet in four different academic publications. What’s your reaction? How should each of these be rephrased?

20 January 2014 Copyright, licensing, and how-to-credit issues have been a hot topic recently. Any time we use material held by archives, it’s wise to be proactive: Ask the repository about its policy for the reuse or publication of their materials. Some . . .

19 January 2014 A researcher from Sweden, raises this issue on EE’s Facebook page. Actually, he sidled into the issue sideways, from the angle of “short citations.” But, as with everything in life, when we design shortcuts, it pays to consider the larger framework of the research needs we need to fill.

18 January 2014 We find a document. We analyze it. We create a research plan for what to do next, a plan that’s based on the evidence we gleaned from that document. Standard procedure, yes. But, as with everything, the devil lies in the details—particularly . . .