beboots

Good question! I had to write a historiography paper last year at this time, which forced me to read a lot on my topic and essentially talk about the historical field surrounding my subject over the past half-century or so. That also gave me an idea of what's been done... and got a lot of research out of the way. Also, mining the bibliographies of those books and papers for primary documents = SO USEFUL.

I did almost nothing last semester except write a really basic outline that I only half-followed... well, and I also got some primary source reading done. A huge chunk of my research had been done the year before for the historiography. I also took several courses over the last two semesters on subjects similar to my topic or at least in the era (stuff like the Health Consequences of War or the History of Slavery & Emancipation), which helped keep my mind on topic and has allowed me to double up readings and research for term papers as well as my thesis.

It was only over Christmas break that I really sat down and wrote things like my introduction and random paragraphs and lines. By January I had only about 10 pages. I've been steadily working on it since, though, and have submitted several drafts to my research supervisor and edited based on her suggestions. I'm handing in a third draft this coming Monday. :)

I hope this info helped! :D