Since many genealogists “start anew” at the first of the year, we’re posting an overview of the problem-solving process. 
There are essentially four steps:
- Understand the problem–this involves learning the history of the area, learning the applicable laws of the time, all the records available (and their issues), knowing key terms in any documents already located, assumptions you have made, your ancestor’s background, etc. Understanding takes time.
- Plan–pick a record to access or an approach to use to answer your question
- Execute-search the record or apply the approach
- Evaluate-did you answer your question?
That’s a broad generalization. We discuss some of these items in slightly more detail in occasional tips and the Rootdig blog mentions them in more detail–sometimes a lot more detail.
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