Robyn's 10 Key Genealogy Principles

When I teach my classes, I start with the following list of what I call my “10 Key Genealogy Principles“. I have garnered these from the best & the brightest and take no credit for any of them.  These are the most useful techniques and methodologies I have learned in my years of research that I keep coming back to again & again. I hear one or more of these principles taught at every conference and in every article I read, even if they are called different things, and utilizing one or more of these has been responsible for every breakthrough I’ve ever had.

So, I share them here with you, my family–they are in no particularly order. And, I’d love to hear what principles you’d add to this list?

Robyn’s 10 Key Genealogical Principles:

• 1. Proof is Not A Document
• 2. Always Seek Original Sources
• 3. Always Cite Your Sources
• 4. Any Source Can Be Wrong
• 5. Search Broadly and Deeply (Use Multiple Locations, Types of Records & Generations)
• 6. Research to Uncover Identities (Not Names)
• 7. Rebuild Communities (Don’t Collect Individuals)
• 8. Use Evidence to Build A Case
• 9. Watch Your Assumptions (And Revisit them Often)
• 10. Don’t Isolate Records (View them in Context)

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