Re-Do-Over Month #3

Because I had already done the self-interview and the parents interview I decided to move on to Month 3 Topics.

Genealogy Do-Over Month 3 Topics:

Month 3 Topics Include:

• Tracking Research
• Conducting Research

And my progress:

Step 1: Tracking Research – I have decided to go with EverNote instead of OneNote.

I have set up my research notebooks in EverNote. These binders include:

• Research Goals (To Do List) – These have check boxes so I can check them off when I have completed them.
• Linkable Notes that contain the documents that satisfied proof points
• Timelines that I will complete as I input the documents.
• Research Logs for each item searched.

Step 2: Conducting Research

In conducting my research, I will take one data point at a time and find the proofs. As I find a document, I will transcribe the information and be sure to pull all the information out of each document.

If I find a document that leads to a different question, I will NOT start researching it, I will instead add it to my To Do List. This will keep my attention focused on the document at hand. I am hoping this will stop the running down rabbit holes until early morning hours haha.

The use of To Do List, timelines and research logs did help a lot last time, and it still helps keep my focus where it needs to be. (Most of the time anyway, I do still get stuck in the BSOs, but not nearly as often, this is something I am trying to work on)

Not a lot has changed in this area since my first do-over. Let’s see what Month 4 brings me!

#Wk3GenealogyDoOver

OneNote Research Plan and Timeline

On my last blog post I said I would post a screenshot of the research plan and timeline that I am using.

First, let me say I cannot take credit for the outlines of these. I did a ton of research on timelines and based mine around Ancestry Anne’s livestream presentation. She does a fantastic job of explaining how they work. I would recommend you watch this to get a better explanation of Timelines. I also add ideas that come to me while entering information from the death certificate.

When creating the research plan I will refer to this page as well. This saved me from switching back and forth between the research page and the timeline. As ideas come to me I make a note here on the timeline. Then later when making a research plan I refer to this page of collective thoughts and ideas.

Now for the research plan, I searched all over the internet and found another livestream presentation, this one done by Krista Cowen. I love listening to her presentations, she is such a smart woman! I also watched a great YouTube video done by Caroline Pointer, and I combined things from these two amazing ladies. After some tweaking a redoing, this is what I came up with.

These are what is working for me right now and helping me get organized one paper at a time. Going digital isn’t as painful as I thought it was going to be. Time consuming… yes. Worth it… we shall see!