Answers to the following will have a bearing on how to handle the finding andaccessing process. Spending some time considering these issues will helpdefine the nature and extent of the research, which will then dictate how toplan and execute the information retrieval.• What or who is the research for?• What type of document will the finished product be (for example, doctoralthesis, company report)?• What level of detail is necessary?• Who will use or read the finished product?• How much information is to be retrieved? Everything ever published on thetopic? Key texts? A single item?• How much time is available? Is this a large-scale, long-term project, a shortessay, or something more immediate
?• How current does the information need to be
? Legal information may needto be that which was made available this morning; an overview of a subjectmay consider historical changes over a period of time. Beware of outdated ordiscredited materials.• How far would I be prepared to travel to access resources (specialist archives,records offices, museums, research libraries)
?• How much am I willing to spend (for example, the cost of document sup-ply above any company or library allowance, travel, duplication andprinting)
?• What am I entitled to use (for example, there may be access restrictions andother barriers such as those resulting from the Freedom of Information orData Protection Acts)
?• Where do I start
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