Citation Needed:March for Science in Washington, DC by Adam Fagen on Flickr Citations! So necessary to our work, and so dreaded. We all know we will thank ourselves later if we write them, but somehow..... don't.  Why do we need them? Of course we want to keep track of what and where we found the source of the information we're using in our research and writing. That is our duty to ourselves.  However, to me, the most important aspect of writing citations is analysis . Analysis What is this record? Who created it, when and where, and who collected and kept it safe? Who was the informant? Did that person have any reason to give less than accurate information?  What am I looking at? Is it a digital copy, digital microfilm, in color, or black and white? Or a paper record from the household or an repository? Is there more to the record? Many cards, for instance, have information on both front and back. Probate files can be many--even hundreds--of pages long. Was that probate ...

 Odd title to this blog, I know! But I've been learning some things in our latest study group, where we are reading " Research Like A Pro " by Diana Elder and we're following the strategy (RLP). I can't say that some of it is not painful. For instance, while compiling a Locality Research Guide I wanted to follow those meaty links I was finding so much! However, that step comes after we finish the critical parts of those research guides, and get into the Research Planning step. Here are the Research Planning steps, restated in my own words: Research Like A Pro cover 1. State a clear objective, revised if necessary. 2. Summarize the important known facts 3. Clear, specific hypothesis (or multiple if necessary). 4. Identify the best sources to pursue to test your hypothesis/es. 5. Prioritize your research strategy. Of course each of us chose a research subject before we began meeting together, and began to refine a research objective, summarize the sources we alre...

We genealogists are often told by experienced researchers how important it is to begin with a research question. I resisted doing this for a long time, but now that I use a series of questions to guide my research, the search is more focused and actually finds more of the history of the family I'm investigating. I use a Google Doc as the  research proceeds, where I keep the question(s), the plan, timelines, checklist of resources to search, etc. all in one place. I've seen others use spreadsheets in the same way, perhaps splitting up things in tabs (Excel or Google Sheets). I prefer a document because I add source citations as I find them and I can begin writing up the case right there in the doc as the hypotheses are proven. Specific Questions in Previous Successes As beginners we often have no clue how much and what details we already know about a person, event or relationship, so it's hard to specify what we want to know. But when looking back at successful research, it ...