Chapter One Homework

Thomas W. Jones, Mastering Genealogical Proof (Arlington, Virginia: National Genealogical Society, 2013). [Book available from the publisher at http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/mastering_genealogical_proof , also available
in Kindle format through Amazon.com]

Chapter One: Genealogy’s Standard of Proof                                      Homework:   Molly McKinley

Question one:  Genealogy is the field of research that strives to accurately and carefully reconstruct those forgotten or even unknown identities and familial relationships.  This study includes both those who have passed on and those who are still living.  The basis for these studies may borrow from other fields of study such as economics, genetics, anthropology, law and certainly history.  It can be a hobby, strictly for fun or it can be a full-blown career.  Either choice does require a set of standards and rules in order to keep the information gathered as correct as possible and leave a legacy for those who come after the researcher to be able to follow easily.

Question two:  The five GPS elements are:

            1. Thorough searches in those sources that will help answer a research question.

            2.  Creating informative citations to those sources for every information item that contributes to the research question that is being asked.

            3.  The researcher must analyze and make comparisons of those sources and information items to assess their usefulness for use as evidence to prove the question being asked.

            4.  The researcher needs to resolve, as much as possible, any conflicts between what he believes to be so and what he has found in his research so far.

            5.  The researcher needs to have a written statement, list or narrative to support the evidential proof he has found.

Question three:  Should someone decide they want to use all the family history the researcher has found, without accepting all the source citations and proof evidences, the researcher should try to explain why the person needs those proofs and decline to share without them.

Question four:  A genealogical conclusion cannot be partially proved due to the GPS’s five parts being an interwoven set of rules.

Question five:  The first part in genealogical research is a series of questions set forth.  Those questions are then answered one-by-one.