Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about Diana’s Dillard project. For the RLP with DNA study group, she is exploring the possibility that a cluster of DNA matches from her second cousin’s network graph are related through Cynthia Dillard’s parents. The MRCA of the cluster appears to be Elijah Dillard. In this assignment, Diana followed her research plan and recorded her searches in Airtable. Her research log helped her organize many deeds in Pike County, Georgia, as well as FAN club members. She also used GWorks and the FamilySearch Tree in descendancy view to find additional matches whose...
How do you wrap up a research session so that you don’t forget all the connections made? Writing a report is the perfect way to not only make sense of the research, but to also correlate the findings, both with the documents and in the DNA analysis. In this final article of my series on using DNA in the search for Cynthia (Dillard) Royston’s father, I’ll share my process for writing the report as well as my conclusions. And yes, at the end of this blog post will share a link to the complete report for your perusal. The Project...
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is our final interview with Research Like a Pro with DNA eCourse member, Allison Kotter. In this series, Allison shares her experience studying each lesson in the course and how she has applied the lessons to her own family. This episode covers the assignments for lesson 9 in the course – writing the research report. She shares her tip for getting started with the report, and goes over all the sections in the report. Tune in to hear how the research turned out and who Allison hypothesizes are the parents of Mary...
If you’re like me and overwhelmed by DNA and this new wealth of information for genealogists, I am going through my experience with the Research Like a Pro with DNA e-course to help those looking for a way to get started! This is the ninth and last post in the series. In the eighth step of the RLP with DNA process, Following Your Plan, Research Logging & Writing as You Go, I followed the research plan I made in Research Planning – Selecting DNA Tools & Methodology, and made some exciting progress towards my research objective. Now that I’ve conducted...
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is a continuation of Nicole’s research on Robert Daugherty and Sarah Taylor of Craven County, North Carolina and Warren County, Kentucky. In the last episode, we reviewed the objective of the project, to find the children of Robert and Sarah, the timeline, and the locality research. This episode focuses on the research plan, log, and findings and how those were presented in the report. Read the report below. Links Who Were the Children of Robert Daugherty and Sarah Taylor? Report by Nicole Research Like a Pro eCourse Study Group – more information and...
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about sharing your written research documents. Whether its a report, proof argument, or ancestor biography, sharing is a great way to get your research out there. We discuss how to add a few safeguards to your report in case pages of it get separated – like footnotes, copyright notices, and headers and footers. Listen in for a discussion on uploading your report to Ancestry, FamilySearch, or your own blog/website. Links RLP Study Group Mentors How to Prepare DNA Research Reports for Sharing Best free PDF editors 2020: edit PDF documents the easy...
After you write about your DNA research results, you may want to share your report. What should you do to prepare your report for sharing and/or publication? When your research includes living people and their DNA match information, how does that impact the steps you take? There are several considerations, including private vs. public sharing, permission, and safeguards against separation. Once your document is ready to share, how do you post it? Ancestry trees, the FamilySearch Family Tree, and personal websites are simple and effective. Private Sharing vs. Public Sharing What kind of sharing do you plan to do? Private...
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about how to write a research report after your have completed your research plan. Typically a client report is about research in progress. You discuss what was found in the amount of time that was allotted. A report for yourself can be similar. Discuss the starting objective and what was known, then go through the searches that were performed and what was found. Join us as we discuss how to begin, what voice to use, the major sections of the report, adding tables and footnotes, and more. We have enjoyed revisiting the...
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about how to deal with the documents you acquire in your research. For client projects, we typically arrange the documents that correspond with a research report into a PDF file with each image copy labelled and a citation attached. We discuss how to do this with Canva and Word. We also discuss downloading images, naming protocol, organization, copyright, and workflow. Links How to Create a Digital Document Storing Protocol by Diana at Family Locket Using Canva to Add Source Citations to Document Images by Alice Childs at Family Locket Research Like a...
When you are writing a family history article or book, have you wondered if you could use a photograph, quote, or record image legally? That town map you found might be perfect to illustrate your point in a research report or presentation, but can you use it? With the proliferation of images and information across the internet, plagiarism and copyright issues need to be addressed. As family historians and genealogists we want to be ethical and on the right side of the law. Although copyright law can be confusing there are some general guidelines that aid us in navigating these...
