Don't have enough time to investigate genealogy mysteries? I get it. We are all busy and live in busy times. So how can you save time while researching?
For most, genealogy is something we do "when we have time." And that time doesn't roll around often enough. That's why we need to use the time we do have to gain the maximum amount of progress possible.
One way to do that is to avoid "time destroyers," like repeating searches. Repeating ourselves is a waste of time but it's easy to do. We forget what searches we conducted or we don't take advantage of hints and clues that are offered to us.
Here are three simple ways to avoid repetition and save time.
1. Use research logs. Research logs capture our searches and results. This prevents us from forgetting what we've searched and conducting the same searches over and over.
2. Use others' research and family trees as hints or as a starting place for those tough problems. Yes, I said it. It's ok to review online trees and research posted online. The key is to treat that information as a lead in your own research. Check the lead out. Verify (or disprove) the information. Never just blindly accept facts that are not supported by solid sources. But it is ok to look at others' claims and use those as hypotheses to check out.
3. Go slow to make sure you miss nothing and make no mistakes. It may seem counterintuitive when you're trying to save time, but going slow will produce higher-quality research results, and THAT saves time. Often, when we speed through research, our results are faulty. That causes us to have to backtrack and more thoroughly verify our information later. Going slow and making sure our research is solid will save time and effort in the long run.
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