Ten tips for researchers: avoid these thoughts!
1. “This family tree is so thorough that it must be correct!”
There may be a lot of sources attached, and there may be many other trees with the same information, but that doesn’t make it correct. Beware of the Illusory truth effect: the tendency to believe false information to be correct after repeated exposure to it. Always examine the sources and draw your own conclusions based on careful, unbiased analysis of the most reliable evidence. If you cannot prove something to be true, can you prove it to be false?
2.“Squirrel!”

Dug the dog from the Disney movie, “Up”
It may be that researchers are, by nature, more prone to going down “rabbit holes” or chasing after informational squirrels. Be laser-focused on your research objective. If you find something of interest on the internet, save the link, make a note, and go back to it later. If you find a book at the library on a fascinating but not-really-related topic, check it out so you can read it later. Your future self will thank you for that.
3. “I’ll remember.”
Maybe. Regardless, effective researchers always log their research. Even if you dislike doing it, it is well worth the effort. Get into the habit of logging your research in whatever way allows you to retrace your steps. No matter how great your memory is, you are going to encounter a lot of evidential details. In your earliest stages of research, you won’t necessarily recognize which details are important. For example, you might notice that a particular person witnessed the baptism of your research subject. Later, when you encounter the same person’s name as a census neighbor to your research subject, suddenly, that person has become potentially more significant to your research. If you didn’t log it, you might wonder, haven’t I seen that name before? Was it on this record?…or that one?
Log ALL of your unfruitful (or “NIL”) searches and what you were looking for. You may want to revisit the same document later, looking for something different. If you leave a project for several months or years and come back to it, a brief look at your log will refresh your memory, and you won’t duplicate the same efforts. It is more efficient to “handle” each document once, glean everything you can from it, log all the details, including a citation, save the image in your files (with a name that will help you locate it later), and move on. Citations might slow you down at first, but work to develop a habit of identifying the who, what, when, where, and wherein. It will get easier! Mastering Genealogical Documentation by Thomas W. Jones is a wonderful resource for learning how to make correct and effective citations.
4. “I’ll just abbreviate this–it’s too long to type/write it all down.”
Hmmm. I wrote that this person was born in LA. Does that mean Los Angeles, California, or does it mean Louisiana? Abbreviations can easily mislead you and others looking at your work. It’s almost always best to spell it out. If you do use abbreviations, use the same ones consistently so you don’t question yourself later on. For example, in my census notes, I consistently use the abbreviations SIL, DIL, MIL, and FIL when encountering “son-in-law,” “daughter-in-law,” and so on. But if I make up an abbreviation I haven’t ever used before, I probably won’t remember what it stood for later on. (See number 3!)
5. “This is the same name and township–it must be the same person I am searching for.”
A project I worked on had four women with the same name, living in the same township, who were all born within a few years of each other. If I had stopped at the first name that matched, I would have attributed her to the wrong family. Find distinguishing details–key identifiers–and log them all carefully so that you have sound evidence you can use to distinguish one person from others with the same name. Pay attention to occupations, religion, and associates–these details help to confirm you’re tracking the right person.
6. “Everything I need is online.”
Occasionally, this might be true. But more often, non-digitized records can provide information that is unavailable elsewhere. I once investigated a client’s ancestor who had been murdered. There was a coroner’s report available only at my state archives. I made the trip there and examined the original coroner’s report. It provided specific information about the man’s wife and children that were not included in any newspaper articles about the murder, nor in his online death record or memorial. If you learn that an original document exists, and if you can reasonably obtain it, make the effort.
7. “It’s published in a book. It must be right.”
Published county histories, historical magazine articles, family Bible notes, or compiled family histories can be wonderful resources, especially for some time periods and places in the early US, before vital records were kept. But remember that the information likely passed through many hands before being published and may have come from those who were not eye-witnesses to the events described. While these published sources can be valuable for clues to an ancestor’s family ties, the information in them should be confirmed with original source documents whenever possible.
8. “I’ll just make a working Ancestry tree and accept all the hints.”
Accepting hints without verification can propagate errors. When one person accepts an incorrect hint, it becomes part of their public tree. Others then copy this information, and before long, an incorrect connection becomes widely accepted as “fact.” (See number 1!) Record-matching algorithms, while impressive, are not infallible. They work by looking for similar names, dates, and locations, but these surface-level matches can be deceiving. Transcription errors in original documents can also lead to incorrect matches. Treat hints as suggestions that require verification. Look for multiple corroborating sources. Check if the locations make sense geographically. Verify that ages and dates align logically.
9. “I’ve looked everywhere.”
This is rarely literally true. The universe of genealogical records is vast and constantly expanding. New records are digitized daily, archives are still processing backlogs of documents, and private collections are continually being made public. Even if you have done extensive research, there’s almost always somewhere else to look. A few examples:
- Newspaper archives from small local papers (available only from local libraries)
- University special collections
- Local courthouse records, not yet digitized
- Church archives, often not digitized
- Family Bibles and other personal papers, in private hands
- Historical societies with unique local collections
- Undigitized land records in county offices
- Military records in various repositories
- Cemetery records, not yet online
More importantly, saying “I’ve looked everywhere” can close your mind to new possibilities. In my experience, collaboration often leads to breakthroughs, but others may hesitate to offer suggestions if you’ve declared your search “complete.”
10. “So what if it’s 2:00 a.m.–I’m on a roll!”
Plentiful research (done by well-rested individuals) has proven that our cognitive abilities are considerably compromised when we are sleep-deprived. Make some notes, and get some sleep. You can pick up with a refreshed brain in the next research session.
Of course, when you’re really excited about a research find, it might not be easy to fall asleep! I’ve been there. But your brain, just like your phone, needs to recharge. You’ll be less likely to make errors and more likely to think logically and use good judgment when you’ve had enough rest!
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Thanks for the note!