Is Your Process the Problem?

Michael John Neill has been engaged in active genealogical research for over 30 years and writes the popular Genealogy Tip of the Day website. He gives lectures about a variety of genealogical topics and has led research trips to various libraries. Michael’s presentation discussed research approaches that might be hindering your chances of success and discussed ways to circumvent incorrect ways of thinking and methods to improve your chance of success. The presentation was a good reminder of the need to state our research goals clearly and to stay organized and on track. It is easy and fun to go astray and chase the rabbits instead of staying the course.

As genealogists we sometimes fail to conduct our research in an orderly manner, gather information without evaluating what we have, forget to track and organize the information we found and lose track of our original research goal(s). Michael recommended that we set clear written goals for our research so that we define the problem or goal, design a plan on how to conduct our research, execute the plan, reevaluate the plan to see if we have answered the original question, then wrap up the research to include citations and records.

We love to research! We gather loads of information about a person of family, but at some point, we need to stop and analyze the information we have collected to determine if it makes sense and is consistent within itself. Michael suggested that we need to track our progress and organize our searches, especially if we do not find someone easily. It is easy to plow ahead and research, research, research, and forget to document what we have done. This can spell disaster if you need to go back and verify information, and you don’t recall from where it was found. Document your searches by name variations, ages, places of birth, and locations tried (e.g., Ancestry, FamilySearch, etc.) and other relevant factors.

Assembling a chart or spreadsheet can be helpful. You may want to put a chart or spreadsheet together ahead of time with possible headings and revise as needed. This helps to have a dedicated place to enter your research information instead of scattered notes in various locations. One benefit of documenting and charting your research is that you have a clear record of what you have accomplished. We all need a little boost when we feel we are getting nowhere, and a chart can provide a quick reminder of just how far we have gone.

An important part of the research process is to critically assess our sources and information. It is easy to take the compilations of others as correct, but we need to try to determine the reliability of the author and clarify what documentation they used. Until proven, use information from others as clues, not necessarily the gospel truth. Use the same critical eye when assessing sources. Sometimes what looks like different sources can be traced back to a single source.

Michael provided important reminders about conducting our research. Gather, evaluate, and document information; track sources and organize your information; recheck information for accuracy; cross-check sources to ensure reliability; and cite sources so you can find the information again as well as understand how and where the information was obtained.

Michael’s handout is a good summary of the topics he covered and is available on the member page of the Cranberry Genealogy Club. Michael’s free website is: www.genealogytipoftheday.com.