This manual provides basic information concerning linguistic fieldwork. What is it? Why do it? The ethics involved. How to choose a field language and a field location. How to go about it. What to get - a comprehensive reference grammar (written in terms of basic linguistic theory), a volume of texts, and a dictionary/thesaurus. What to do: insofar as possible, become a member of the community (for 'immersion fieldwork'); analyse texts; only use elicitation at a late stage, within the language of study (not from a lingua franca). How to work with consultants (and some things which should be avoided). Writing up the grammar. There is a short final section concerning field methods courses in a university. Fieldwork is the most important and most exciting part of linguistics. But there are many misconceptions concerning what it is and how to do it. This is a short introduction (based on my experience of fieldwork in Australia, Fiji and Brazil, commencing in 1963 - see Dixon 1972, 1977, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1988, 1991a, 2004), providing a personal view of the discipline.
