Organization

Organize early and often. It will make your research more effective and save a lot of time.

I use a basic family tree program and print out a hard copy of my documents.

Keep detailed research notes, so that you know where you’ve been and what you’ve looked at. Keep an inventory or records you have for each direct-line ancestor, and what you still need. It is very satisfying to mark off documents you have found!

Don’t forget to document negatives. If you disprove something, it is just as important to have that research trail.

Keep up with citations as you find documents, otherwise it’s a nightmare to find a document again.

Audit your existing filing system. How are your files organized? Are the file names standardized?