Research Logs

Use this important tool to help organize and track your research work. Research logs document where you search, and what has or has NOT been found.

''Research log definition.  A research log is comprehensive list of sources you already searched, or plan to search including the purpose of each search (what you want to find), a summary of significant findings and where your copies are, notations showing sources searched where you found nothing, and plenty of comments about your search strategies, suggestions, questions, and discrepancies.

Value of Research Logs

Good research logs help you:

1. Cite your sources. This shows quality research.
2. Sort out what has and has not been found.
3. Organize and correlate copies of documents.
4. Weigh evidence to make better conclusions, and better lineage links.
5. Show your search strategies and questions.
6. Reduce unwanted duplication of effort.

Research logs show negative evidence (what you do not find). NO other tool does this nearly as well. And logs save time by helping avoid repetitive searches after a research pause. Logs can become a table of contents to documents in your file. Research logs serve as a foundation on which the next generation of researchers can build. Use research logs to help in EVERY step of the research process.

Contents

Research logs vary in form and content. The following elements work well for most researchers.

• Ancestor'''''’s name and years: husband being researched, for example, William FRAZIER 1826-1881
• Researcher'''''’s name: your name.
• Date'' of search: for example, 8 May 2001; Records you plan to search without a date until searched.
• Place of research: use full mailing address, telephone/fax number, e-mail address, or Internet URL.
• Purpose (objective) of search: event and person being sought (use symbols), for example, * Robert (Event symbols for objectives and results: *=birth  oo=marriage  †=death)
• Call number'': library or archive call number, for example FHL book 977.162 D3d
• Source Description: author, title, where the original is (that is a publisher or repository), date, and page.

      1. Log the source information at the catalog BEFORE retrieving the item.

            a. Source information is easier to find in the catalog than in the source itself.

            b. It is easier to write nil if the search is negative; overcomes a temptation to not write it at all.

      2. Write source descriptions in footnote format. Use the Chicago Manual of Style as a guide.^[i]

• Document number (your number) makes your log a table of contents to your copies.

1. If the search results are negative, leave the document number field blank.
2. If positive, use husband’s name/years (file name), plus the next unused number, for example:           
   

William   FRAZIER 1826-1881         8

'

• Results of search (positive or negative).

1. List event and person found. Use the same event symbols as you would for the Purpose column.
2. Do not list dates. This forces you to look at document copies.
3. If search results are negative, use “nil” or Ø (as opposed to blank).
4. Blank results means you have not yet done a search in that source.

General Suggestions

• Use one set of research logs for each family’s file folder; NOT one huge log for all families.
• Design your own modified research log with features you will use.
• If you use a computer to log research, print a paper copy of your log at the end of each day.
• Spill over the allotted space as needed.
• Write lots of notes to yourself explaining your strategies, analysis, conclusions, questions suggestions, and discrepancies.
• Keep everything on one set of research logs per family; do NOT keep separate correspondence logs.

      a. Keep a copy of all letters.

      b. Assign a document number to both the inquiry and the reply.

• Make paper printouts of all electronic sources, including written notes of telephone interviews.

Special Situations

Individual in two families. Each ancestor on your pedigree was in at least two families, once as a child, and once as a parent:

• Events before marriage go on the father’s research log.
• Events starting with marriage go on the husband’s research log.

Documents with two or more families:

1. Pick the most predominant family on the document.
2. Put the document copy in that family’s file.
3. Compose your document number based on that family.
4. Write your document number on the back of the copy, AND . . .
5. Log such a source on all applicable logs. Some logs will list another family’s numbers.

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[1] Endnote

      [i] G. David Dilts, “Citing Sources Using the Chicago' Manual of Style,” Genealogical Journal 24: 4 (1996), 149-53. See also Elizabeth Show Mills, Evidence Explained (Balitmore: Genealogical Publishing, 2007).

Family History Library (FHL); now called, FamilySearch Library (FSL)