73,385
edits
toc right
No edit summary |
(toc right) |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
''[[Principles of Family History Research|Principles of Family History Research]] [[Image:Gotoarrow.png]] [[Use the Information|Step 5. Use the Information]] [[Image:Gotoarrow.png]] [[Evaluate the Evidence|Evaluate the Evidence]]'' | ''[[Principles of Family History Research|Principles of Family History Research]] [[Image:Gotoarrow.png]] [[Use the Information|Step 5. Use the Information]] [[Image:Gotoarrow.png]] [[Evaluate the Evidence|Evaluate the Evidence]]'' | ||
Having found one or more records about a person, it is time to evaluate what you found and determine how helpful and reliable it is. For example, a birth date from a birth record is probably more accurate than a birth date derived from a census record. | {{TOC right}}Having found one or more records about a person, it is time to evaluate what you found and determine how helpful and reliable it is. For example, a birth date from a birth record is probably more accurate than a birth date derived from a census record. | ||
Evaluating the evidence takes place in several phases. It starts as soon as you find a document that must be evaluated to see if it is relevant to the family you are researching. It continues as you transfer the information from the source to your genealogical records and compose a source footnote. In that phase you are evaluating in two ways: (1) a preliminary evaluation of the reliability of the source, and (2) a comparison and contrast of data on the source with other information about the family to see if it corroborates or contradicts other sources. Later, after research on the family is mostly completed, carefully make a final, well-reasoned re-evaluation of '''all''' the sources compared to each other to help you reach a reasonable conclusion and write a proof statement subject to the [[Genealogical Proof Standard|Genealogical Proof Standard]]. | Evaluating the evidence takes place in several phases. It starts as soon as you find a document that must be evaluated to see if it is relevant to the family you are researching. It continues as you transfer the information from the source to your genealogical records and compose a source footnote. In that phase you are evaluating in two ways: (1) a preliminary evaluation of the reliability of the source, and (2) a comparison and contrast of data on the source with other information about the family to see if it corroborates or contradicts other sources. Later, after research on the family is mostly completed, carefully make a final, well-reasoned re-evaluation of '''all''' the sources compared to each other to help you reach a reasonable conclusion and write a proof statement subject to the [[Genealogical Proof Standard|Genealogical Proof Standard]]. | ||