Developing your research plan- Lorna Moloney Clans and Surnames www.clansandsurnames.com

Identify what you need to know Geography. Books and tools necessary to locate and learn about places where ancestors lived. Instructions. Information about how to do research, either in general or specific to a time period, place or group of people. History. Information about the historical, environmental, educational, political, social, economic, and religious “setting” in which an individual or family lived. Culture. The customs of religious, social, or ethnic groups, including naming practices (such as patronymics). Facts about places and subjects. Language. Information about the handwriting and languages used where the family lived.

Choose what you want to research Develop your research log - examples The name of a person you want to research. What you want to find (the objective.) If appropriate, the approximate time and place of the event. Examples – life of paternal grandfather BE SPECIFIC

Managing Documentation for your plan Why is it important? Decisions to ensure survival Scanning Preserving Limitations Conservation REMEMBER YOU CAN HAVE MORE THAN ONE PLAN

Family Search

Your research log Your research objective (name the person and event) as soon as you have chosen them. The records you want to search. It is probably easiest to enter records as you select them Record enough information about each source so that someone could readily find it again—the source footnote information. The results of your search. As soon as you have searched a record, note whether or not you found anything in the record. You may want to include a document number for copies you made. Your e-mail and correspondence. Include the address you wrote to and what you requested. Including e-mail and correspondence on your research log is more efficient than on a separate Correspondence Log. Genealogical telephone calls and visits. Include dates, full names, and results. Put interview notes on a separate piece of paper to go in the file. Notes about your strategies, analysis, discrepancies, and questions. Logs should be more than just a list of sources. Make your research logs as well the journals of your genealogical thinking and ideas.

Your Personalised Research plan Evaluations Organisation Transfer Creation of documentation

Records “You cannot select an appropriate record unless your objective is clearly defined”