Students

Guidance for Students

Station Road Mohill taken in the early 20th century

Getting started with historical research

Selecting a topic

For ideas on selecting a topic for your research, click below.

The pdf document also provides information on the programme, awards criteria and process.

Student Guide
UL's beginner’s guide to historical research

The University of Limerick has some useful guidance on how to interpret historical evidence through primary and secondary sources.

'Historians can never completely explain events of the past or the motivations of the individuals they study, because the evidence is always partial in some respect. They identify and interpret the evidence to determine the most likely possible explanation. As new research is carried out, new evidence is identified, or new perspectives are taken, interpretations might be refined or reassessed.'.

Sources - UL beginner's guide

Conducting an interview

Threads is an initiative that provides an online space for schools to store and share student’s oral history projects. It has excellent guidance on selecting a topic and provides some good examples of different formats of storytelling.

Threads

Research sources

A comprehensive set of primary and secondary sources for County Leitrim history is listed on www.loughrynn.net (aka http://Mohill.com), a website dedicated to the history of County Leitrim. The site includes a range of links to material held in Leitrim County Library Local Studies as well as other material.

Sources are divided into:

1. Books and published material, including digitised articles and other media

2. The revolutionary period

4. Land and land occupancy

3. Genealogy

4. Other sources of local social and cultural history including links to video and image sources

Go to sources

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Finding sources

The Young Historian programme is all about history on your doorstep. Even if your topic is not specifically about your family, we strongly encourage you to find a family or personal connection to the story. You should strive to use original source material: a significant proportion of points is allocated to original research, and a special award will be given for best use of archive material – which can include family records and interviews. Finding sources can mean talking to family members, finding old news clippings, discovering old artefacts - like farm implements or heirlooms. To inspire you, here are three stories about the value of searching in attics and asking previously unasked questions.

Example 1: Attic finds

A story from The Irish Times about how the Fawsitt family found a historical treasure trove in the loft of an old farmhouse in Manch, west Cork 

The most significant find was a typed letter from Michael Collins sent from IRA general headquarters on August 19th, 1922, just three days before he was shot dead at Beal na Bláth.


Article

Example 2: Attic finds

Ken Boyle writes about how discoveries at his family home led to his book about the murder of Dr Muldoon, as well as his research on Dr Mulcahy of Ballyduff. The article on Dr Mulcahy was published in the Leitrim Guardian 2021.

Read more

Example 3: Attic finds

Fiona Slevin's research on Mohill was helped enormously when a local person unearthed an account book for a local shop, dating back to 1872.

This is a unique, very rare and invaluable resource for historians.

If you find something like this, first - mind it! – and please do let us know by using the contact form below.

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