Are you ready to stand before your inquisitors when they demand to know why you challenge the “established” date of birth for an ancestor? Oh you have citations. Perfectly formed EE citations, even. But so do they. Can you prove yours are the right ones? Can you trace your analytical steps? Did you TAKE analytical steps? A research plan will get you there.

First things first

What is a research plan?
In the field of genealogy, a research plan is a systematic method of answering a question, thoroughly documenting your findings and conclusions.

I’ll be the first to acknowledge that a formal research plan is unnecessary for many things we do in our genealogical research. When three credible sources in a row give your ancestor the same death date, and nothing surfaces to contradict it, you don’t need a research plan to prove the death date. Not yet, anyway. But what about the facts in dispute, those that are incomplete, and those that have been much-stated and never cited?

I had heard of research plans in genealogy classes along the way, but they seemed like a tool of the pros—something you use when you need to hand a report over to a client. The rest of us have a tendency to accept the conclusions handed to us by others, making the gray grayer, the mud muddier. And then others cite us as their source, unconcerned that we cited someone with no sources at all. Worse,  on the way to answering the big, hard questions, we find ourselves distracted by other quick-and-easy questions. We lose focus. We put the hard stuff off until another day.

“Big Jim” Burson needs a research plan

I finally decided to give this tediousness called a “research plan” a try when I hit upon a knotty problem in my own family tree. It started with my 2016  blog post, “Parental relationship–the unproven link,” which warned of the dangers of failing to prove the parental connection before climbing your tree. One day, I realized I had a branch of my own tree that was hanging precariously on a completely unproven set of parents — those of my great-great-grandfather.

James C. Burson — or “Big Jim,” as he was known around Omaha, Alabama, in the early nineteenth century — led a reasonably well-documented life. At some point, I had attached to him parents named Isaac and Rebecca, but I had no source. I must have captured the names back in the 1980s when I was a genealogical kitten doing wildly speculative tree climbing. Not only did I fail to capture a source, I have found none since then that proves that Jacob, the son of Isaac and Rebecca was my Jacob. Just one person after another accepting the undocumented work of all the others.

I had committed my own publicly declared no-no: I extended a family branch on top of unproven, undocumented parentage. I had to fix it before I was busted.

Where could I start?

I started with a look at the censuses and found the problem so many of us have stumbled upon—a family that continually reused the same set of given names far and wide. My family used Isaac, Jacob, and James Burson over and over and over. Siblings naming their children the same—so cousins had to be called by numbers, I suppose. Then the numbered cousins did the same with their own children. So which of the myriad Bursons was Big Jim’s father?

This was not going to be easy. I was going to have to analyze household after household of Bursons. This required that I keep good track of what I’d done, so I would not have to do it twice. I am confident that other genealogists before me have tackled this same question, but they didn’t leave me the log to follow.

For the first time, I understood the real need for a research plan. Here is what it would bring me:

• A systematic approach to breaking down the question.
• A documentation of the possible answers and reasons for and against each one.
• An elegant way to tell everyone else why I consider the matter “proven.” The research plan becomes a key part of the proof documentation.
• Focus, and a sense of accomplishment all along the path — not just when I find the big answer at the end.

There are many templates for research plans available on the Internet, or you can create your own. Having been an editor for most of my career, I am fanatical about having documents that are beautiful as well as functional — so I created my own. (You can find my GEG Research Plan template in my store, if you want a quick start into this adventure.) I combined all of the elements that made sense to me from the many variations I was finding, and created the format that worked best for me mentally and visually.

While we all have our preferred work methods, I find it makes the most sense to build your research plan dynamically as you work. As you find new things or rule out old things, you’ll want to adapt the plan as you go. Therefore, I discourage you from using a paper form you fill in with a pencil or — horrors — a pen. But if you’re determined to do it the old-fashioned way, you can create a form and allow large spaces to fill in your findings. (If you’ve been with this blog for a while, you know it’s my mission to get you off of the paper, but all things in good time.)

The elements of a research plan

Here are the essential elements I chose to incorporate:

Identifying/administrative information

Here, I give a title to the document that will distinguish it from the many other research plans I’ll likely do over the years. I identify the date I began working on it, recognizing that I might be working on a question for years to come. I keep up with the status: Not Started, In Progress, Completed. And I add a completion date, if I consider the question answered and closed.

Research question

The key to the research question is to keep it very specific. A broad question, by its nature, creates tangents and erodes focus. There might never be that satisfying moment you can say, “Done!” In my first research plan, the question was, “Who were the parents of James C. Burson (1837-1910)?”

Established facts and suppositions

You will want to start your journey by laying out what you already know and what you think you know and where you came upon this information.  Not only does it lay the foundation for what you will build, it helps you to identify the holes in your current knowledge and the sources you have not yet mined.

Working hypothesis

It is helpful to mimic the scientific method at this stage and identify the answer you think likeliest — if there is one. This will allow you to create a focused strategy to prove or disprove the hypothesis. If you disprove it, you move to the next hypothesis.

Sources of potential value

Now that you have the question and the hypothesis identified, ask yourself where you might want to go for clues or answers. What is available that can inform your search? What is near and what is far?  As you lay out the potential sources, you will get ideas about what you should do first.

Actions steps

Identify each thing you plan to do to tackle your question. Put things in the most reasonable order, starting with the things most likely to get you answers. It’s possible you will not even need to do all of the steps, having arrived at your answer along the way. But identify them. Some of them you might be able to do quickly online while you are waiting for something you had to order or a trip you have to take. Document your results of each step. This will be the trail you leave for yourself and others, when they want to know why you have drawn the conclusion you have drawn.

Research determination

Identify your conclusion, in appropriate detail. If your research gave you more than you went after, identify it here, too.  And if your conclusion is that the answer cannot be known, then write that conclusion.

Getting it to the world

Your work will be redone by others if you do not find a way to make it available. Leave a copy in your paper files? I have very little faith that paper genealogy files will be preserved by our descendants.  Digital files? Maybe, but someone has to update them when technology changes. Best option? Put it online, so multiple genealogists are picking it up, and preserving it in their own ways. In family trees, cite carefully your now-proven fact. Attach the research plan as one of your evidences. And if you publish a family history, footnote that fact with great care — drawing on your research plan’s insights.

Creating a template

As you choose (or design) the ideal research plan format for yourself, make it easily accessible. You will encounter many research questions in need of this tool over the years ahead. I use Microsoft Word, and I have saved the GEG Research Plan as a template. It’s easy to do.

• Open an empty version of your research plan, containing the headings and formats that guide you through it.
• From the menu, choose File–Save As,
• Choose to Browse for a location for the template, but don’t worry where you put it. Word knows where it wants it.
• Beneath the filename field, click the File-as-type drop-down list beneath the filename. Choose the Word Template type.
• You’ll notice that Word has now taken you to its “Custom Office Templates” folder. Type the name you want for your template, and click Save.

Now, you’re all set. Whenever you tell Word you’re ready to create a new document, it offers you available templates. If yours doesn’t show immediately, click the PERSONAL link to reveal your custom templates. Click on yours, and a fresh new copy of your research plan will appear.

You’ll be glad you did!

I actually get excited now, when I tackle the next question. I finally feel like I’m in control of the process. If I have to leave a research plan unfinished for months at a time (and I will), I can quickly recover my  memory of the plan. I can hit the ground running, when the time presents itself.

If you’re not convinced yet, pick a question and give it a try.  Find a research plan template, create one, or use mine. (I’m partial to mine, of course, so there is the link below.) This works!