I'm about to go and talk about my 'military influence' ideas with the graduate seminar. Then I'm going to put them away for a while. So far this term, I've been reading secondary literature, and thinking about theory. I've found that 'theorising' can slip quite easily into the realm of 'guessing,' especially when up against some sort of deadline for the production of work. At the beginning of term, I set myself up to present papers, giving myself deadlines, so that I would work. After this, I have one more thing to write, 'a geographical interpretation of the constitution,' which again will be based on theory, secondary sources, and work done last year. I'm hoping to write that this week, although it's due to be presented in three weeks' time.
When I've done that, I'm going to devote myself to primary research. I want to build up an archive, maybe even on paper but at least on computer files, of original sources to read and draw on in my work. Part of this may also mean noting archives that are not available to me here in Oxford, which I'll have to travel to in order to use. Working out, literally, where I want to go in my research, will be useful for funding application stuff next spring, and for my own sense of planning. Of course it's not completely simple, and 'research strategies' isn't something I know much about. But I intend to learn by doing.
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