Lesson 4
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Lesson 4

 

Document, Document , Document!

Before you begin to collect more information about your family you need to think about documenting. Documenting your information is very important.

Even if you think you’ve written down every scrap of information found in a record, chances are, at some future time, you’ll want to refer back to it. The more records you search, the easier it is to forget which records contained which pieces of information.

Using a  research log that will allow you to re-trace your steps. At the top of the research log, write the name of the ancestor for which you are trying to find information. Next, write the objective of your search, and under "locality," write the library, archive, or other repository in which you found the records below.

Each time you get a new source of information about an ancestor, write it on your research log as follows:

If the source is a person, include the person’s name, address, city, state or province, country and phone number.

If the source is an object (such as an heirloom or photo), write the name of the object and the location of where it’s kept (address, city, state and country).

If the source is a record , write the title, author and publisher of the record and its location on the research log

Include a list of the information learned from the source.

ALERT!

As you begin collecting information from many resources you will want to look carefully at the documentation that verifies this information. Some people mistakenly believe that because a person has published a family history on-line or in a book the information must be true. This is not always the case. There are many people who do a very good job in creating their family histories, but others are more careless and use dates, places and family connections based on guesses and hunches or just plain bad information. So it is really important that when you collect information from others you check their documentation. If it looks questionable, then you should try to verify it on your own. Sometimes you will not be able to do this. Does this mean you can't use the information? No, but you need to make sure you document that the information is unverifiable so others who might use your information will know.

Questions to Consider

1. Why is documenting your sources so important?

2. Why should you check the sources of information you gather from other people?

3. In what ways does a research log help you document and organize your information?

What I have learned

In this lesson you have learned why it is important to document your sources of information. You also learned that their is a lot of information available out there and that you must be careful when using information from other researchers. Remember:

  Document! Document! Document!

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