Are there secret "tricks" to successful genealogy research?
I find that the longer one researches they better they get at research in general. With experience you start developing a kind of reasoning that is practical and about increased knowledge of methods and resources. Once you have gone down a research path once or twice, you remember that, and the next time it seems to go much faster.
But then again, genealogy can really challenge your assumptions and sometimes you have to stop and ask yourself if what your doing is really the best way to go and when information you want is just not there, missing from where it SHOULD be, you have to learn to interpret and sort of go around the mountain instead of down the path.
I enjoy all of it.
I also enjoy talking to other researchers, sharing in their often hard won triumphs, and have picked up a lot of "How To" over the years from others. I enjoy sharing what I know and giving advice too at times, because it not only helps others but enforces my own knowledge. In other words we learn by teaching others.
So perhaps a "trick" is really something you've learned to do quickly because you learned it from experience.
