How long is this research thing going to take?

A good question, and one that I’m contemplating right now. The only way I know how to even begin to answer that is to start with a related question: How long does it take to research a dissertation?

So let’s start from there. I know that a lot of lucky folks get year-long fellowships to pursue dissertation research in foreign archives. Not me, sad to say.** Instead, I had the following:

• One six-week trip right after my comps, in which I spent a month polishing up my main research language in-country, and then two weeks (after I had gathered my nerve) to poke around in what would be my main research archive, just to get the lay of the land and determine if my project was feasible.
• One three-month trip the next fall – this was my main research trip, and my longest stay to date: 88 days. [As you may guess, I didn’t get to do a lot of sightseeing.]
• Two mop-up trips over the next couple of years, three and two weeks long, respectively.
• And then: presto! Dissertation! (okay, well maybe not quite so simple, but you get it).

After that – quite a bit of time after that, in fact – there were two month-long trips that allowed me to visit other archives and gather documents that I hadn’t gotten before, and these were added to what became my book.

Total archive time logged in pursuit of the dissertation/first book: 25 weeks, spread out over the course of 7 years

So, I’ve found myself idly wondering how much archive time I’d be logging for this book. Maybe less, because I know what I’m doing, and know the collections a bit better? Maybe more, because I’m forging into new archives? Hard to say. But here’s the tally so far:

• 1-month reconassiance trip
• 3-month major trip (in progress)

…and counting.


**I was a finalist for that One Big Fellowship that grad students apply for, but missed the final cut.