Documents, publications, photographs, transcriptions, newspaper articles, and original records provide a variety of data: name, date or year of birth, death, or marriage; possible relationships, occupations, military service, civic life, land ownership, and church affiliations. We evaluate the reliability of this information, and form hypotheses about the people or events, then set out to prove or disprove these hypotheses by gathering more evidence to support or negate the fact.

As a basic review, the most important steps in genealogy are to

• Work from the present to the past using known information as the basis of proposed research
• Avoid taking big leaps in time backwards (many changes can take place in 10 years!)
• Avoid the pitfall "The name is the same, he must be the person I'm looking for."
• Evaluate information a record provides against the data already accumulated on an ancestor.
• Resolve any discrepancies
• Validate transcribed information with a copy of the original whenever possible.
• Cite the exact source of information directly on the front side of the photocopy. (Book title, author, publisher, year, page: Webpage URL and title, name of the document, its location (library, name of archives) and its form (digital image, an e-mail transcription, or interview).
• Perform a reasonably exhaustive search

Example : A basic Research Plan based on a death date transcribed on this Website from Walnut Hill Cemetery Lot Cards might include

• Obtain a photocopy of the original Lot Card (City Hall or Belleville Public Library).
• Seek an obituary (Belleville Public Library has many indexes, and all area newspapers on microfilm).
• Obtain a copy of a death certificate to confirm the death date from the office of the County Clerk, or Illinois Department of Public Health, or City Registrar. The certificate may also provide names of the deceased's parents, spouse, and cause of death. In lieu of a certificate, some death registers provide similar information - the Belleville Public Library has registers through the early 1940s. Transcriptions of the death register from 1878 - forward appear beginning with SCCGS Quarterly Volume 30 (2007). Church burial records are good substitutes as well.
• Search for a will or probate case file at the Belleville Public Library, Circuit Clerk's office, or Illinois Regional Archives Depository at Carbondale. Useful Addresses
• Find out where the decedent lived, working backwards in time. Use the decennial census for 1930, 1920, 1910, 1900, and 1880. The census is a basic research tool available on microfilm or online at the Belleville Public Library and other libraries. Close the gap between censuses with city directories, land deeds, and church registers. The St. Clair County, Illinois Research and Resources: A Genealogist's Guide illustrates and describes many such records, their location, and access.
• Discover when the ancestor married (use clues from obituaries, newspaper extracts, census, year the first child was born, marriage indexes and certificates in the state and county where the ancestor lived about the time of expected marriage).
• Identify siblings (use clues from obituaries, marriage witnesses, census, deeds for land, and sponsors at baptisms or confirmations) Along the way you will run head-long into a possible parent or relative one generation back. With this good foundation, begin the process over for the new person on your tree.