Note Taking for Family & Local Historians

Note Taking Tips

• Record full and exact details of the source -- it can be a challenge and time consuming to re-find your primary sources
  • View the Picture Ipswich Referencing guide 

• Record where you found your source (e.g. Ipswich History Room, Picture Ipswich, Trove, Ancestry, etc.)

• If you are recording your notes on a computer, make sure you
  • Save your files regularly 
  • Create a back-up
  • Name and store your files appropriately 
    • One document with all your research separate documents for each source?
    • A folder per person / family?
    • Decide on a naming convention early and stick with it (e.g. family name, given name for a person file/folder)

• If this is your only chance to handle a primary source (e.g. something held at the Queensland State Archives), take detailed notes of everything you think might be relevant, or take a photograph
  • If a source is fragile, you may be unable to photocopy it, so keep your mobile handy
  • If your pre-loaded camera app does not have a text scanner feature, you may want to download a scanner app
  • Check your photos before you finish with the document to make sure they are readable

• If your preference is for handwritten notes:
  • Keep your notes in one book / folder
  • Use index cards and sort them alphabetically or thematically 

• Don't just take notes, jot down ideas and further research questions as they come to you

• Record what you are looking for, not just what you found, also record what you didn't find, for example:
  
  • If you are searching a post office directory for Nunn / Black family, record that in your notes
  • If you found the Nunn family, but not the Black family, than record that no members of the Black family were found in that directory 
  • When you later go to look for members of the Walter family in the post office directory, you will know from your notes on that directory that you had not previously searched that edition for the Walter family, only the Nunn and Black families

• Different ways to keep track of your notes: 
  • Timelines
  • Family trees