淡江大學歷史系採用蒐集字契、古文書、日文報紙、省級與鄉級民意代表的質詢內容等方式，先蒐集零星資料，再透過以村為單位的田野調查、訪談口述資料，以及族譜、神主牌等資料的核對，歷經三年完成了二水鄉的地方史、社會史、宗教史、經濟史研究的基石。文中也考據了二水鄉鄉名的由來。

The compilation of local gazetteers has attracted investigators' attention since the 1970's. However, a shortage of relevant official documents and archives has been a barrier to this editing work. The methodological issue of how to surmount this obstacle has always been an open question. In this article, the author, based on her prior practical knowledge of editing the gazetteer of Ershui township, Chang-Hwa County, would like to share some of her field-work experiences that might be helpful to investigators. The key points of this article include a deliberation of the applications of unofficial archives, methodological issues concerning how to collect these documents, and then how to integrate this data with the available gazettes issued by the local government and/or council to facilitate the task of compilation.