I just found your youtube channel. I LOVE the way you keep your research notes. I have a question about photos. Do you list photograph file names within the research notes, or do you handle documenting your photos some other way? Also, I noticed a separate citation document in the person file. What is included in this document?
HI Linda.
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment and following me. Regarding file names of photos within research notes, typically I don’t list photos in the research notes document, but I will cite (with a source citation) if the photo is providing evidence. Because I keep electronic individual file folders for each person all images for that person. Looking inside that folder contains a list of all images. For example a file folder for DOE John James, would have everything related to him including documents, images and such.
Having said that, if John James DOE also appears in other documents or family photos, I will note that in his research notes… usually in the timeline. For example, say it’s a group family photo. I will put that in the DOE Family Photos folder and note it in the DOE John James Research Notes document… with an estimated date of when I think the image was taken. I will also note where it is located… in a source citation. Sometimes I even put the file path in my research notes… but that’s only good as long as the file is there. If the file moves, then that path is worthless.
Keep in mind too, that as long as you’re naming EVERYTHING with the same naming format, such as “DOE John James – Research Notes” and “DOE John James – Marriage Certificate” etc… then you can search your computer for all documents and images for “DOE John” and it should provide you with a list of everything.
It takes time to get all of your files in the same order, but boy does it make research go so much faster when you can find everything in one place for the research question you’re chasing.
One more note about photos, I will keep a separate document when I do Photo Analysis and cut and paste a copy of that image right on the Word document when I’m writing my comments about the image. This is basically a report about my findings within an image.
I’m not sure what you saw or which video you were watching regarding your comment when you wrote “I noticed a separate citation document in the person file. What is included in this document?” but I suspect you saw a source citation document that I keep for all of my sources for each person as I’m working on their story. Sometimes I keep a Word document as I write or discover evidence, with just the source citations. This way when I go to write my case studies, or stories I can cut and paste the sources into my document quickly so I can march on with my train of thought and not get bogged down in the citations. Does that make sense?
I hope that answered all of your questions.
If you’re into old images, you’re going to love the series I’m getting ready to release in a couple of weeks where I go step by step restoring a really old family photo using Photoshop. That will go up on Genealogy TV on YouTube in the next few weeks.
Thanks again for following. I’m not sure where you found me, but feel free to follow me on Facebook at Genealogy TV, subscribe to YouTube at Genealogy TV and NC Ancestry channels and here on the website. I have a newsletter now too for both GTV and NCA. I can’t get to those links right now, but if you’re interested, let me know.
I just found your youtube channel. I LOVE the way you keep your research notes. I have a question about photos. Do you list photograph file names within the research notes, or do you handle documenting your photos some other way? Also, I noticed a separate citation document in the person file. What is included in this document?
HI Linda.
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment and following me. Regarding file names of photos within research notes, typically I don’t list photos in the research notes document, but I will cite (with a source citation) if the photo is providing evidence. Because I keep electronic individual file folders for each person all images for that person. Looking inside that folder contains a list of all images. For example a file folder for DOE John James, would have everything related to him including documents, images and such.
Having said that, if John James DOE also appears in other documents or family photos, I will note that in his research notes… usually in the timeline. For example, say it’s a group family photo. I will put that in the DOE Family Photos folder and note it in the DOE John James Research Notes document… with an estimated date of when I think the image was taken. I will also note where it is located… in a source citation. Sometimes I even put the file path in my research notes… but that’s only good as long as the file is there. If the file moves, then that path is worthless.
Keep in mind too, that as long as you’re naming EVERYTHING with the same naming format, such as “DOE John James – Research Notes” and “DOE John James – Marriage Certificate” etc… then you can search your computer for all documents and images for “DOE John” and it should provide you with a list of everything.
It takes time to get all of your files in the same order, but boy does it make research go so much faster when you can find everything in one place for the research question you’re chasing.
One more note about photos, I will keep a separate document when I do Photo Analysis and cut and paste a copy of that image right on the Word document when I’m writing my comments about the image. This is basically a report about my findings within an image.
I’m not sure what you saw or which video you were watching regarding your comment when you wrote “I noticed a separate citation document in the person file. What is included in this document?” but I suspect you saw a source citation document that I keep for all of my sources for each person as I’m working on their story. Sometimes I keep a Word document as I write or discover evidence, with just the source citations. This way when I go to write my case studies, or stories I can cut and paste the sources into my document quickly so I can march on with my train of thought and not get bogged down in the citations. Does that make sense?
I hope that answered all of your questions.
If you’re into old images, you’re going to love the series I’m getting ready to release in a couple of weeks where I go step by step restoring a really old family photo using Photoshop. That will go up on Genealogy TV on YouTube in the next few weeks.
Thanks again for following. I’m not sure where you found me, but feel free to follow me on Facebook at Genealogy TV, subscribe to YouTube at Genealogy TV and NC Ancestry channels and here on the website. I have a newsletter now too for both GTV and NCA. I can’t get to those links right now, but if you’re interested, let me know.
Happy Holidays
Connie