Meet the Author
I'm Jennifer, and I'm an Occasional Genealogist... sort of. For over ten years I've been a professional genealogist. I started researching my own family nearly 30 years ago. Like many of you, I started as an Occasional Genealogist. I had to squeeze research in while in school and while working full-time. Then I got my first genealogy job and for awhile, it was genealogy all the time. Now I have two kids. I do other people's genealogy constantly but my own? Coming up with ways to do great genealogy, despite all the interruptions, is now mandatory.
Let's bust your brick wall!
Do you keep going off-track while researching your brick wall? Do you need to find more sources to continue your research? The Brick Wall Solution Roadmap can help.

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jennifer at the occasional genealogist dot com


Comments

  1. I have been terrible at taking notes and keeping a research log. The notes I have made are scribbled in a notebook and on scraps of paper. My question is should I go back and put the old notes into a research log or just keep a log going forward? Also how do you organize a log...by person, place? Thanks for your help.

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    Replies
    1. A log is less useful if it doesn't contain every source you looked at. That means you do need to add your past information but prioritize logging your research going forward. As far as how to organize it, that's not a simple answer. It depends both on the method you're using and your research. I have so much overlap in my family, I keep one log for everything (in Excel, which makes it pretty easy to deal with so much information). Also remember, you don't have to keep a "log" if you work digitally. A log was designed to deal with the issues with paper. There are alternatives in the 21st century.

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