Research Trip - Activity

Introduction | Research Trip Activity

Imagine a research trip (10 minutes)

Develop a Plan

Imagine a research trip you'd like to make, whether in the immediate or distant future.

It might be to a special collections library, archives, or museum across the state or across the world! Or perhaps you're planning to go into the field to conduct interviews, take samples, gather surveys, or make ethnographic observations. No matter your research goals, traveling for research requires planning and preparation. Developing a plan for your research is just as important as having a detailed and carefully considered travel itinerary for a vacation or trip aboard.

Figuring out where you need to go - review your destination location using maps, parking information, and other transportation options.
Contact the site and make a research appointment.
Applying for funding and getting your paperwork together.
Getting the most out of your time on-site
Properly crediting the material you found in your publications
Be prepared for unexpected changes or challenges.

Make a List

Make your to-do list for the research before your trip.

What do you need to search for or learn about? What questions do you have? How will you figure out who can answer those questions? Give yourself several months’ lead time to complete your tasks. This includes time to test things out and explore unexpected discoveries.

Read this helpful Research Travel Checklist Links to an external site. from Harvard Libraries, it offers tips for the many different steps involved in research travel.

Who can I ask for help?

Ask for advice from individuals around your campus.

Librarians and archivists at UK Libraries can offer a wide variety of assistance with your research plans. There are also many experts across campus to offer advice on the research before your research. Your campus will have staff in many similar roles that you can seek out. Here are some of the types of offices you can consider:

Archives & special collections
The staff at your campus’s collections of rare books, archives, and manuscripts can offer great general advice on working with those types of materials.
Grant proposals
Many campuses have an office that supports research proposals and grant funding, and/or a writing center.
Copyright
Copyright advice might be available from your campus’s library, office of scholarly resources, or office of general counsel. There’s also a national network of Copyright First Responders.
Institutional Review Board (IRB)
For surveys, interviews, and other types of research with human subjects, you will likely need approval or a waiver from your IRB. The staff can also offer great advice on conducting this kind of research.
Fellow researchers

Lessons learned can be incredibly valuable. Ask colleagues about their experiences, and share what you learned on your own travels.