Organization Is The Key To Building Your Family Tree - article by Good English Article Sites

Organization Is The Key To Building Your Family Tree

Could you put together a five-hundred piece jigsaw puzzle if you were allowed to pick up each piece only once? Putting together your family tree is a lot like putting together a puzzle. You sort through the pieces until you find where they fit. This process goes more smoothly if you have a system of organization in place before you get started.

In the first four generations on your family tree, there are at least eight families. Each family is composed of individuals, each of whom needs to be uniquely identified. Each individual has life events that uniquely identify that person. Each life event has identifying pieces (names, dates, places, and relationships). So there are many pieces to even the smallest family trees.

There are many parallels between putting together a puzzle and putting together a family tree, for example:

1. Collect copies of the pieces in a box.

2. Sort your copies by the surname documented.

3. Further sort your copies according to the generation they document.

4. Begin assembly by recording what you have already found and where you found it.

Putting Together The Family Tree

Now that you have a box filled with copies of bits and pieces from around your home, you need to organize. The box is only a temporary storage location to get you started. It is time for you to record what you have found onto research logs. Research logs document the drama of your search. A research log (also known as a research calendar) is a form used to record both past and planned searches.

The research log is where you record what you are planning to look for and where you plan to look for it. When you make the search, write the letter, send the e-mail message, or actually do the interview, record the details of when, where, who, and what you did. You can also write down comments about problems you may have had, and details about the source (author, title, publication information, the volume and page that mentions your ancestor, etc.).

This information is needed so you can analyze and evaluate what you used. How thoroughly you record this information determines, to a great extent, whether you will be able to find that source when you need it again. A research log functions much like a table of contents. It helps you remember why you wrote a letter to Jane Doe eight months ago. It provides a means of noting difficulties you encountered with a source. It jogs your memory about searching a particular source so that you won't search that source again unless you mean to do so.

Some genealogists like to keep separate "before" and "after" logs. They record only the research they have completed (what they found or didn't find) on their research calendars. Many genealogists keep separate correspondence logs, too. I like to keep things all together in one log.

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