Rhys McGowan: Final Reflection

 

a) What have been the major obstacles you have faced in putting a research project together?

One of the major obstacles I had faced at the beginning of my research was choosing an area to research as I had a few in mind, eventually deciding to focus on the first court cases which set slaves free in Britain. Another obstacle faced was combing through the vast amounts of research already done on the wider topic of slavery and finding relevant literature for my dissertation.

b) What strategies have you adopted to overcome these obstacles?

In order to tackle the obstacle of the vast amounts of literature, I adopted the use of key word searches on archives and websites to allow me to narrow my search results down to those relevant. This allowed me to save time and focus more on the reading and analysing of the literature rather than spending more time locating it.

c) What has this taught you about approaching your dissertation?

These obstacles taught me that while there are large amounts of literature written about my wider topic, they are reasonably easy to narrow down in order to find only the sources relevant for my research. Additionally, it has helped me to create a better timescale for how long each stage of the dissertation should take.

d) Which aspects of the 9X6 module have been the most useful in helping you get your project ready to start?

I would say the majority of the 9X6 module has been useful in helping me start my dissertation as it has given me an idea as to how much work is required for the dissertation but has also helped me to develop a preliminary bibliography full of primary and secondary sources which can all be used within my dissertation.

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