One of the classes that really struck a chord with me at FGS 2012 was Elissa Scalise Powell’s Write As You Go! Regular readers will remember that I make periodic declarations to be more systematic in writing about my research; however, I’m never as disciplined as I want to be.
One of the things that struck me about Elissa’s approach, compared to my own, is that she writes about the research while she is doing it. I had been trying to write genealogy research reports after I completed a whole block of research on a particular person or family. This was too overwhelming and I only occasionally got around to it.
Elissa also uses a template when writing a research report (based on the BCG Standards manual (affiliate link), of course). She calls the resulting writing process a “formula.” I would call it a “structure,” which may seem like semantics, but is consistent with my graduate work in professional writing. A “structure” is a framework that many different topics or styles of writing can fit into. A “formula” ends up with similar results every time. But I digress.
The point of this post is that I’m inspired to write regular personal research reports as part of my genealogy research process. I spent some time creating a template in Evernote that I can use over and over again to jump-start my writing of research reports. I picked up a copy of the BCG Standards manual at the FGS exhibit hall, so my template is a combination of what I learned in the “Write As You Go!” session, the manual, and some posts by Elizabeth Shown Mills on the Transitional Genealogists mailing list.
Square brackets indicate fields to fill in. Curly brackets are notes to myself regarding what I want to do with the field.
Personal Research Report Template
Memo to: [Surname] files
By: Tonia Kendrick
Date: [ ]
{above lines to be deleted in blog post}
Project { this is the larger project that this report belongs: ex. DAR application, 1940 census, Parentage of X}
[ ]
Current Focus {one sentence only! This is all that can be reasonably researched at one time. Think of it as “today’s focus,” because I want to write up summaries every day.}
[ ]
Summary of Known Information (as of [date]) {problem summary at the starting point}
[ ]
Research Objective {what is the difference between this and the focus? seems redundant – state in the form of a to-do? To locate X, to search Y, to determine Z}*
[ ]
Limitations
[ ] {time, resources, records, money, etc. – ex. burned courthouse}
Repositories/Collections Used
[ ]
Summary of Findings
[ ] {last part written, but put at top, because it’s the first thing you and others want to see}
Itemized Findings
[ ] {report body – detailed discussion of research, analysis, proof arguments, etc. (include both positive and negative). Include cited charts & images inline.}
Next Steps {aka to-do plan, additional research}
[ ]
Bibliography of Records Consulted: {leave this out of the blog post, because it will have endnotes}
*Please note my questions on the “Research Objective.” I would appreciate thoughts on this.
These research reports will likely find their way into the blog fairly often.
