Keep a Research Log

From the moment you start searching for information it is important to have a method to track the sources and information you find.

If you don't you will probably find that you look in the same sources more than once. It happened to me repeatedly when I first got started. I was searching so many different places, but many of them sent me to the same primary source.

A research log is a form  that will be specific for one person, and you will write every source you look at for a particular person. Write the library call number or microfilm reel number. Write the name of a book, the location, etc.

You think you will remember what we looked at, but as we get deeper and deeper into a project, it becomes hard to remember all the sources.

Always carry your research logs with you, even if you think you are only going to just research on one person.  It seems like inevitably, you find information about other relatives - and you need a place to record that information.

Another option that someone suggested was to write a person's info on the front of an index card, and tuck it in your pocket to take with you.  Record all sources searched on the back of the card.

This sounded like a great idea, so I tried to get creative and use all pink cards for ancestors on my mom's side, and all blue for those on my dad's side.

I found them too small to record everything I needed, and they were too easy to lose so it was back to the Research Log.  Be sure to make many copies of the log so that you have one for each person you will be searching for information.