Decide What You Want to Learn: Difference between revisions

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In order to select a specific research objective, you will first identify several individuals or families you could research, then you will choose one. With one individual or family in mind, you will have a goal and can then identify questions about him or her. Next, select one question as the research objective. Then you will prepare and use a research log.  

= '''Identify Candidate Families for Further Research''' =

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.  

Browse through your various family group records. Look for families you could research to move you toward fulfilling your quest AND be '''''easiest''''' to research first. This would probably be a family closer to you in time—a parent or grandparent family. There is a greater chance living people would recall events, and have records or mementos of more recent generations. Starting research on earlier generations before pinning down the information about more recent generations might cause time consuming errors. Don’t skip any family links.<br>  

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

'''recent generations before earlier generations.'''  

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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.  

If researching two or more families would move you toward your overall quest, start with the family that is already the best documented and has the most complete event places and dates. Leave the families with less well documented events, or events with vague places or dates until later.  

A good research goal is to complete genealogical research and document each event on a selected family group record. <!--{12077796491400} --> <!--{12077796491401} -->  

For more suggestions on evaluating information see [[Use the Information#Nature of the Information|Nature of the Information]].  

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

To help judge easy-to-document versus difficult-to-document events on a family group record, use the following four factors. The factors are listed in order from most important to least important.  

1. Completeness of the sources, places, and dates for each event.  

2. Availability of pertinent documents.  

3. More recent versus earlier events.  

4. Quality of available documents.  

For more details about selecting easier objectives see [[Guessing the Easiest to Research Person and Event|Guessing the Easiest to Research Person and Event]]. <!--{12078373636090} -->  

= '''Using a Research Log''' =

Keep your research log up to date. Organize and document as you go. Record the following:<br>  

*'''''Your research objective''''' (name the person and event) as soon as you have chosen them.  

*'''''The records you want to search.''''' It is probably easiest to enter records as you select them (usually while still looking at the catalog). Record enough information about each source so that someone could readily find it again—the source footnote information.  

*'''''The results of your search.''''' As soon as you have searched a record, note whether or not you found anything in the record. You may want to include a document number for copies you made.  

*'''''Your 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.  

*'''''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> <br> [[Select Records to Search|Next page]]