Before setting out to find information,The type and detail of information required

Before setting out to find information, it is important to have a plan of what is (and is not) needed. Obviously, the researcher cannot include things of which they are not aware, but an initial outline of the requirements can be created using the most basic knowledge. Reading around and talking to others who have some knowledge of the topic are good starting points for getting a feel for the subject. It is helpful to join appropriate mailing lists and alerting services (see Chapter 15) in order to gather relevant information and monitor current activity. As the project continues, the researcher's journey will enable them to add to their knowledge of sources of information. They will also reject sources and items which may at first have seemed vital.
Having  set  up  the  mechanisms  for  obtaining  information  as  given  in Chapter 1 and carefully defined the question or problem, the researcher is ready to move on to the next stage of information gathering process: defining what information is required.

Types of information

If the researcher is writing a short essay or report, it may be sufficient to access
some key books and journal articles and no other documents. It can, however,
become rapidly apparent that more might be necessary. A researcher investi-
gating, for example, the status of women in the workplace may want to quote
sections from documents that add weight to the discussion such as the Equal
Pay Act 1970 or government statistics of women's earnings during a particular
period. Such information can then be used to support an argument or prove
the historical context.
Researchers should consider carefully all the information sources relevant to
their work (of which they are aware) before embarking on the search. Needs
may change as the research progresses: for example, encyclopaedias are useful
for an overview at the outset, but later on, more specialist and detailed infor-
mation will be needed. Or the researcher may read conflicting reports of a
situation and decide to access the primary information to ascertain which is
the more accurate.
The researcher should therefore decide:

1  What formats of information are likely to be required (see Appendix 2)
2  What types of documents within those formats will be needed (for example,
 the minutes of meetings, dictionaries, parish records, journal articles, videos
 of a performance, original dataset)
3  Whether primary and/or secondary sources will be necessary (see below)

Numbers 2 and 3 should be considered together.
Some examples of types of documents or information might be:

•  chapters of books
•  journal articles
•  newspaper articles
•  websites
•  statistics publications
•  official government publications
•  datasets (raw data and processed data)
•  leaflets
•  theses
•  conference proceedings
•  the general public
•  specialists in the subject area
•  audio visual materials
•  company reports
•  standards
•  local or national records (for example, council, genealogical or planning
 records)
There may be issues with some of these publications such as the length of time between data gathering and publication