- In our personal records and our private tree
- In personal trees shared publicly with others online (such as Ancestry, My Heritage etc)
- In global collaborative trees able to be edited by “anyone”
- In published works whose status rests upon the reputation of the named author(s)
- In blogs, articles (and even lectures or presentations)
Whoppers |
|
|
|
Not good |
|
|
|
Minor annoyance |
|
Not really an error |
|
How do they happen? |
How can they be avoided? |
Blindly, copy and pasting other people’s work |
Don’t do it! Look for the sources cited and confirm that they are relevant. Always ask your own questions and seek your own evidence. |
Inexperience as a researcher |
Accept that you make mistakes. Learn from them. Seek assistance and guidance with tasks that are unfamiliar. |
Information entered in wrong field of a form or in not the required format (dd/mm/yy or mm/dd/yyyy) |
Don’t make data entry a repetitive mechanical process. Process people in small batches so that you are motivated to read the whole form carefully for each one. |
Typographical (spelling) errors in data entry. |
Do the job when you are fresh and alert. Slow down. Recognise your personal common mistakes and watch out for them. Proofread carefully (twice) |
Responding to automated hints within software. |
Use them as suggestions for investigation but do not accept them as truth until they have been tested (by you). |
Accepting family myths |
Take nothing at face value. Carry out your own research. Be alert to evidence that “does not fit” the story. There will usually be a “kernel” of truth but it may be very small. |
You were deceived by deliberate misinformation in records. (Ancestors did tell fibs!) |
Be alert for circumstances in which an informant might gain an advantage or avoid embarrassment by deception. Seek additional confirmation (or contradictory evidence) in those cases. |
Not my fault! Error was in the source material. |
Don’t rely on indices or transcriptions. Try to view the original record (or a good copy) yourself. |
Poor legibility of the source. |
Magnify an image as much as possible. Alter the colours or contrast in the image. Don’t guess at indistinct words. If there is ANY uncertainty, add a note or comment to your transcript. |
Only part of the record appeared in the search results |
Turn the page. Check the index or table of contents to understand the whole document. Read the instructions. on how to use. |
Someone changed their name! |
Take advantage of the capacity in most software to record multiple versions of a person’s name. Accept that each one was correct when you entered it, but that one will eventually be marked as “preferred”. |
They all had the same name! |
Recognise that families re-used names across generations and even within the same generation (e g multiple cousins named for their common grandfather). Do not accept the first likely candidate and explicitly list (in a research log) all those that you rejected in case your first choice was a mistake. |
Which name was which? (Given name or surname, masculine or feminine, baptismal or customary) |
Look for other examples of the “challenging” name within the family across generations, within the parish of residence, or in general usage. A grandmother’s maiden surname could become a “middle” given name in one generation then be shortened into a given name of everyday usage (for either gender) in a later generation. |