Decide What You Want to Learn: Difference between revisions

*The name of a person you want to research.  

Most researchers have a final destination in mind even before they begin research. This is your ''research quest''. However, to achieve your quest, you should divide it into several achievable ''goals''. Goals are achieved by dividing them into specific research objectives and then accomplishing each objective in turn. A ''research objective'' is a specific piece of information about one person. See the examples in the following box.  

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| bgcolor="#66ffff" | This example shows how a quest can lead to goals which in turn lead to research objectives. Goals and objectives may be either genealogical or reference. They may be easy or difficult to achieve.  

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Your genealogical quest has already pointed you in a direction, such as learning when your mother’s family first came to the country. Now identify goals that will advance you towards your quest. Most goals focus on researching an individual or that individual’s family.  

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'''Search from the known to the unknown;'''  

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= '''One Family at a Time'''  =

Research is usually more successful when you work on an entire family group (father, mother and all children). Important clues about an individual are found in his relationships to his family. Community and family context helps us correlate and corroborate data, or reveals inconsistencies. Often it is only by learning about brothers or sisters that you can prove parentage. Experienced genealogists recognize the importance of completing work on an entire family before moving to a different family. It may even help to work on clusters of families that married into each other.  

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Proximity implies a relationship of some kind. Good genealogists use this to their advantage.  

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You should be able to name the exact person and identify exactly which event in his life you want to document. Stay focused on that research objective until you find at least one source that documents it. Do not give up or change research objectives lightly.  

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=== '''Complete Information'''  ===

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At the very least minimum identification includes the name and the date and place of an event.  

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*Unverified information

= '''Select the Easiest Research Objective'''  =

Keep your [[Research Logs|research log]] up to date. [[Document AS YOU GO!|Organize and document as you go]]. Record the following:  

*'''''Your [[Obtain and Search the Records#Correspondence|e-mail and correspondence]].''''' Include the address you wrote to and what you requested. Including e-mail and correspondence on your research log is more efficient than on a separate ''Correspondence Log''.  

*'''''Genealogical telephone calls and visits.''''' Include dates, full names, and results. Put interview notes on a separate piece of paper to go in the file.  

*'''''Notes about your strategies, analysis, discrepancies, and questions.''''' Logs should be more than just a list of sources. Make your research logs as well the journals of your genealogical thinking and ideas.<br>