When was the last time you looked up in a reliable source the definition of a genealogy word whose meaning you think you know reasonably well? Did you learn something? Were you really correct?
If you thought the definition was wrong, did you do more work to determine if the definition really was incorrect? Did it turn out that you were wrong?
Occasionally I look up the definition for words that I think I know. I always look up ones that I don’t–especially if they are words used in any record I’m analyzing for my genealogy. I may not necessarily be able to recall every definition precisely later, but I will have learned something.
And the more I know about terminology, the less likely I am to interpret it incorrectly.
There are definitions, tips, and suggestions to improve your research in our book of genealogy tips!
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