How to take effective family history research notes

Avoid wasting time on research notes that are totally useless next time you read them. Learn how to craft effective family history research notes.

I know, it sounds like a boring topic, but improving your skills in this area will make your research more accurate and more enjoyable.

Four elements of effective family history research notes

Effective family history research notes need:

• appropriate context
• useful content
• a clear layout and
• revision.

Purpose of family history research notes

You probably take notes throughout the research process and the purpose of the notes will vary depending on what you are doing. For example, you might be planning your research, recording information from sources, analysing evidence or jotting down ideas for a writing project. The purpose will also change depending on the specific topic that is currently under investigation.

Depending on your purpose, the context, content, layout and revision will vary, but each element is always relevant.

Your note taking process

Research notes that are stand-alone documents will be different to notes that you make directly into your family history software, online family tree, or into a research plan or research log.

The main difference is that stand-alone documents will need to include more context so that they make sense when they are not linked to your family tree. There may be layout differences too.

Effective family history research notes have appropriate context

Context is information that provides meaning to your research notes. Context places your notes in the broader setting of your family history and the research that you are conducting.

If you do not include appropriate context, your research notes will be next to useless.

As mentioned above, if you place your notes directly into your family tree or a research plan or log, then those provide some context. However, these tips may still be relevant.

Include information about the subject of your research notes, whether that be a person, a family group, a place or a topic. In most cases, you should also state your research objectives, research questions and/or hypothesis.

Be specific with this contextual information and it will help you construct your notes, by making it clear what you need to focus on. It will also help you understand your notes better when you read them again later.

You can include some background information about the person, family, place or topic. However, keep it short and relevant to your specific research questions.

You should also add contextual information to help you organise your research notes within your documentation system. As an example of this, I like to include the unique identifier numbers that my family history software assigns to the person or couple. This helps me link my notes to my family tree.

Effective family history research notes have useful content

Purpose and audience

The content of your research notes needs to have strong links to the purpose of your research. It also needs to be appropriate for the audience. These things change all the time. One approach will not be suitable for all occasions.

Each time you take notes, think about why you are making them, who is going to read them and what they need to do with them. Notes for your own research, for example, will be very different to those you take when you are researching for a client (paid or unpaid).

Take time to clearly identify your specific purpose and stick to it. You can always revisit the source or topic another time if you need more information for another purpose or a different research question.

What information should you include in your notes?

Consider the information you need to document to answer your research questions or achieve your research objectives. This sounds pretty obvious, but think of it in terms of the information you need to gather to provide evidence for reasonable and defensible conclusions.

Is there information that fills a gap in your knowledge? Information that explains some aspect of your family history? Information that provides evidence that strengthens your conclusions? Or perhaps information that highlights an inconsistency in available information, or helps to resolve an inconsistency?

You may not always succeed in answering your research questions, but all research notes have the potential to provide you with research leads.

Copying information

Typically, historians, and all students I guess, are encouraged not to copy information verbatim but to paraphrase it instead.

There is certainly value in paraphrasing, but for family historians there is also a lot of value in copying information verbatim. Copying helps minimise the errors that can occur when paraphrasing and interpreting information.

If your research notes are based on extracting information from sources, they should include copies or extracts from those sources, as well as your own interpretation of that information.

Notes should include analysis too

Research notes are not all about copying information. They should also contain analysis.

Use your notes to record your analysis of the sources you used, the information you found and the evidence that this provides. You should also critically analyse any conclusions that others have made, to determine whether their conclusions are reasonable and defensible.

For my articles about analysing sources, go to the Analyse page.

Effective family history research notes have a clear layout

There is no standard template to help you take effective research notes, but there are certainly some characteristics that I can recommend. These are listed in the general order that I would follow.

• First, always include a good quality source citation. I suggest that you create the citation before you start your notes, as the information you collect in that process will teach you about the source and inform your notes. If your research notes draw from multiple sources, they can be added as footnotes and a bibliography.
• Include information about the repository if it is not mentioned in the citation. This will help you find the source again, if needed.
• Next, state your research question(s) or hypothesis. Putting these near the top of your research notes provides a focus.
• Other contextual information may sit well just after the research questions or hypothesis, or you may prefer to place it at the end of your notes.
• Next, document the information and your analysis. Make sure that you clearly distinguish your analysis, interpretation and ideas from the source content to maintain clarity.
• Then summarise the key points and make sure that they relate back to your research questions or hypothesis. Place your summary where it stands out. Perhaps at the top of your notes or in a text box.
• If your notes help you identify further work that is required, this should be placed somewhere to the bottom of your notes.

Other layout options that can make your notes more user-friendly:

• Use symbols, icons, headings and other formatting to highlight important concepts or key information.
• Highlight key words, surnames, place names and topics to help you organise your notes.
• Use visual elements such as maps, drawings, tables and timelines to explain and illustrate.
• Cross reference your notes to other documentation where appropriate. Use hyperlinks to online sources or summaries, for example, if your notes are digital.

Effective family history research notes are reviewed and revised

It does take additional time, but reviewing and editing your research notes will make them more effective.

During the revision process you may:

• improve the source citation
• revise the research question or hypothesis
• remove redundant information and make your notes more focused
• expand on your analysis and clarify your thoughts
• add information from other sources
• gain new research leads
• refine your language and remove ambiguous statements.

While I do recommend using your own brain for this step, you may also try using AI to summarise your research notes and edit your language.

More information

Read more about improving the quality of your family history in my book, The Good Genealogist.

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