First, student research assistants must prove that they have a superior grasp of the fundamental concepts and principles of archival science. It is impossible to be teaching students these fundamentals during a complicated and time-constrained research project. Second, it is absolutely necessary to spend time ensuring that students understand the objectives, methods, and organization of the project. Ideally, we would like to have master s students who act as assistants undertake their own project on questions related to the current research of faculty members. As I said, this is the expected practice, but it is also the best way to create mutually supportive interest among faculty and students.
Research is a lonely and difficult task that always profits from shared interest and commitment.
Explicitly or implicitly, I have already spoken about barriers to research, although I hardly think any of them need deter us. Indeed, in the circumstances, I think that the discipline has fared well. The field is of interest to many bright people. There is ample evidence of societal sanction for investigation of archival questions. Institutions and archivists in the field understand the need for developing new knowledge to keep them abreast of rapidly changing modern conditions, and frequently voice the opinion that academic research has an important role to play in the profession s development.