Research : A Useful Tool

Article from The Shadowlands

By William Penny (bernard@theshadowlands.net)

One of the most useful tools that a investigator can have at their disposal is the ability to do good research . Without research your investigation can become a ineffective endeavor to construct an coherent report on your findings. You will also find that you will expend most of your time following fragments of information, that you would have discovered had been researched by another investigator or researcher . So research is a fundamental tool that is useful in many circumstances . Good researched information, will give you unequivocal evident about your investigations that will be hard to contradict and as a whole will give creditability to your work .

One of the ways that you will find the use of research useful, is in the area of background history of an address, plot of land or even the history of a former resident when needed . To start the research of an address the researcher must first establish the owner of the residence, don't make the mistake of taking for granted that the owner of the residence is the person who is residing at the address . But ask questions of neighbors and anyone else of whom could be of help .

After you have established the ownership, of the resident our next step is to look for the deed or title to the property . This is done by a trip to the County Recorder to do your research . After this is completed you should have a wealth of information to work from . I should warn you at this point that you should be ready to pay for service fees and the cost of copies of the deeds or titles . The cost, for this should be somewhere between $ 25. 00 and $35.00 dollars it will depending the individual fees rendered . You now have information about the residence, you will have in most cases information about who may have a lien on the property and depending on how far back you have searched you will have knowledge on how the property was obtain and all the owners who have bought it though the years .

Now with the information you have you can find Marriages, Deaths, Births and a score of other things to help you along with your investigation . Some of the other resources that you will find useful are the Public Library, Local and State Historical Societies, Cemetery Systems and Voting Records . The list go on and on .

Remember the more cross referencing you do the stronger, your investigations will be come and the stronger the investigation is the better your creditability will become with your peers and other individuals interested in your field of research . A last moment thought ! Your research will seem to be very time consuming but in the long run you will be rewarded