Understanding the Principles for Effective Search Techniques

by Brian Hutchison, B.Comm., C.M.A.
Gen-Find Research Associates
Date: February 1, 1998 (Edmonton, Alberta)

Let me isolate the principles for making search results effective, efficient, and economical. Your project can easily become unmanageable and without direction if you don't have goals and applied techniques available:

1. as a researcher you need to be able to analyse your information, define what you have and what detail information you want from your searches;
2. the researcher needs to know how this new found information (if found) will enhance their documentation and further search operations. If it is information that does not enhance further work you will need to decide on just how much effort and expenses you want to place on it;
3. one needs to be familiar with the different types of documents that are available that may prove helpful in your extractions. Subsequently, familiar not only with the various document types but also development of an increasing knowledge throughout the project of the specific documents, themselves, that are available to you as a researcher for your area of interest;
4. the researcher needs to disseminate in some sort of hierarchical manner, your choices for the document types you will search for;
5. you need to ascertain what repositories exist that may contain the documents you are interested in obtaining information from;
6. one needs to determine the best method for extracting those documents and getting them in-hand. Do you ask the repository to undertake the search and extraction for you? Do you seek interlibrary loan alternatives? Do you hire a professional genealogist to ferret out the resource material for you?
7. as a researcher you need to maintain an ongoing record of the types of documents being held by institutions you use and those that may be of interest in your search. In addition, keep a record of your correspondence, the results of that correspondence and even more importantly, a detail source record of your extractions according to standard source referencing techniques. Keep in mind that you may be required to re-extract this document or other similar documents again during your research phase.