Documentary sources have become increasingly neglected in education and the social sciences. This book seeks to emphasise their potential value and importance for an understanding of modern societies, while also recognising their limitations, and explores their relationship with other research strategies.

This up-to-date examination of how to research and use documents analyzes texts from the past and present, considering sources ranging from personal archives to online documents and including books, reports, official documents, works of fiction and printed media.

This comprehensive analysis of the use of documents in research includes sections covering:

* analysing documents

* legal frameworks and ethical issues

* records and archives

* printed media and literature

* diaries, letters and autobiographies.