Genealogy Do-Over - May 2018

I am taking part in the Genealogy Do-Over this year. 

The Genealogy Do-Over tasks for May are:

1. Citing Sources
2. Building a Research Toolbox

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1. Citing Sources

I have tried to keep source citations in the past but always ended up becoming lazy with the method I used, or forgetting to record citations at all for some data I entered in to my genealogy software. As I progress with my Genealogy Do-Over I want to make sure I have a complete and accurate source citation for very piece of data I enter in to my genealogy software. I don't want to have to go back again over my work, so I want to do it correctly the 'first time'. 

I bought a copy of Elizabeth Shown Mills' Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace several years ago. The copy I have is the first edition, published in 2007. I have been reading the introductory chapters again to refresh my memory. I intend to keep my copy on my desk, next to my computer, so I can use it as I proceed with my Genealogy Do-Over. I have also started a Notebook in Evernote of Citation References, where I intend to keep citation templates for sources I use most frequently. 

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2. Building a Research Toolbox

I looked ahead at the topics for the Genealogy Do-Over and I have progressively been building my own Research Toolbox since January. 

I decided to create my Research Toolbox using bookmarks in Evernote. I am still unsure how this will work and I may decide in the future to use Evernote in combination with Bookmarks in Google Chrome. I already have some of my commonly used genealogy bookmarks in Google Chrome.

I have my commonly used Genealogy bookmarks in Chrome.

I decided to sort my Research Toolbox using the Record Types from the FamilySearch Wiki:

• Finding Aids
• Background Information
• Compiled Records
• Original Records

In Evernote I created a Notebook Stack and named it Genealogy Toolbox. Within this Notebook Stack I have Notebooks named:

• 1. Finding Aids
• 2. Background Information
• 3. Compiled Records
• 4. Original Records

My Genealogy Research Toolbox in Evernote using the Research Type categories from the FamilySearch Wiki as Notebooks.

Each Notebook contains Bookmarks to relevant genealogy resources. Each Bookmark is tagged with a location tag and a tag further categorising the bookmark within its Record Type category (again using the Record Types as described in the FamilySearch Wiki). 

My Genealogy Research Toolbox in Evernote using the Record Type categories from the FamilySearch Wiki as tags. These are the tags under the 'Finding Aids' category. gtb = geneaology toolbox.

My Genealogy Research Toolbox in Evernote using the Record Type categories from the FamilySearch Wiki as tags. These are the tags under the 'Background Information category.

My Genealogy Research Toolbox in Evernote using the Record Type categories from the FamilySearch Wiki as tags. These are the tags under the 'Compiled Records' category.

My Genealogy Research Toolbox in Evernote using the Record Type categories from the FamilySearch Wiki as tags. These are the tags under the 'Original Records' category.

My Genealogy Research Toolbox in Evernote. Location tags.
I intend to tag bookmarks with more specific locations such as county or state.
For example, I have created the tags for counties in England but I have not yet tagged the relevant bookmarks.

I went through all my existing genealogy bookmarks and categorised each according to the relevant Record Type (as described in the FamilySearch Wiki). I had some difficulty categorising some bookmarks and I may make decisions in the future to change categories and/or create new categories. 

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The full list of Genealogy Do-Over topics for 2018 is on Thomas MacEntee's Abundant Genealogy web site.

© 2018. Australian Genealogy Journeys. This post was originally posted at https://ausgenjourneys.blogspot.com/2018/05/genealogy-do-over-may-2018.html
Genealogy Do-Over is © Thomas MacEntee.