Conducting the interview with my biographical subject, my grandmother, helped me to grow in research by helping me practise skills such as critical thinking, probing for relevant information as well as organising the information obtained.

Firstly, preparing the questions for my interview required me to think of what questions would bring out the most relevant and interesting facts from my grandmother's life. To do this, I had to ensure my questions were as specific as possible, yet also easy to understand in order to avoid misinterpretations.

Secondly, as the interview was conducted, I had to think of questions on the spot based on my grandmother's answers in order to probe her for more information. This required me to use critical thinking, another important research skill. 

Lastly, when the interview had concluded, I had to consolidate all the information my grandmother had provided. In order to accomplish this, I learnt that the simplest and most effective way to do it was to sort them out according to their main point.

In conclusion, all these skills have helped me to grow in research. I practised investigation and studying sources throughout the duration of the interview by probing for information as I listened to my subject's answers, and practised establishing accurate and relevant information through consolidation of my subject's answers. Hence, conducting the interview with my grandmother has helped me practice and improve these research skills.

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Drawing out a timeline of my grandmother's life taught me the importance of accuracy in research as well as how to analyse different sources besides the primary source, which is a crucial skill in research. As many of the key events in my grandmother's life occurred many years ago, it was, at times, hard for her to recall the exact year in which it happened. However, when drawing a detailed timeline, we should ensure that the dates included are accurate. As a result, I consulted various other sources besides my grandmother, the primary source, in order to find out the dates. Some of these sources include people related to these events (e.g. my grandfather) and physical records of these events (e.g. photographs). Hence, drawing the timeline enabled me to practice analysis of various sources and ensure the accuracy of the information I have obtained, allowing me to conduct research more effectively.

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Archiving artefacts has increased my knowledge regarding research. Firstly, it helped me learn more about how to collect a wide range of sources. In addition, it also showed me how these sources are useful for helping me to improve and build on previous sources. As information obtained from physical artefacts is more detailed, it allowed me to provide more vivid and memorable descriptions of events. Hence, this task has helped me acquire this research skill of collecting many different sources.

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Analysing how a biographer uses artefacts helped me to gain knowledge regarding how research can be incorporated into the actual work to improve its quality e.g. using artefacts to create contrast and increase impact.

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Analysing how a biographer uses secondary sources has enabled me to learn about research skills such as the different ways to collect information and sources. Analysing the example in this excerpt has shown me examples of secondary sources (i.e. other biographies) that enhanced the quality and reliability of the biography. Hence, through my analysis, I am able to learn, from the excerpt, the research skill of collecting different sources, in this case particularly secondary sources.

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