Filed under Starting From Almost Nothing: A Method Guide
First checks before you go further
With no service hint, test each service in turn using the clues you have, starting with the service that fits the place, dates and any uniform or medal detail. Keep each test separate, so a failed test in one service does not contaminate the next.
The strongest clue is often the least glamorous: a number, a date, a place. Glamorous clues, badges and stories, point in many directions at once. What you do not know matters as much as what you know, because a search built on an assumed date or an assumed unit will miss the right record.
What are the common dead ends?
The quietest dead end is a record you never open because a search snippet looked irrelevant. Open the catalogue description, not just the snippet, before you dismiss it. Where a record set is arranged by unit rather than by surname, a surname search alone will miss it. Mirror the catalogue structure, and the record set opens up.
Each dead end here is a normal research outcome, not a personal failure, and each one points to a next check rather than to a conclusion. When a trail breaks at a transfer, a renumbering, or a reorganisation, follow the dates and the people, not the name of the unit or the ship.
How do you work through it step by step?
Do not let a tool, a website, or an index set the order of your work. Tools serve steps; steps do not serve tools. Work from the most reliable record you have towards the least, not from the most interesting towards the most convenient. A reference without a date, or a date without a reference, is half a note. Both halves are needed before the note can be used.
| Step | What to do |
|---|---|
| 1 | Name the clue exactly: what it is, what it says, and what it does not say. |
| 2 | Choose the first record that clue points to, and note its reference before opening it. |
| 3 | Extract only dated facts from that record, and add them to a first timeline with source notes. |
| 4 | Let the first timeline choose the second record, and keep guesses in a separate list until a record joins them. |
Making sense of what you find
When a file is thin, read it twice: once for what it says, and once for what kind of file it is. A thin file read as a thick one will be over-interpreted. Numbers matter more than names in these files. A service number, a roll number, or a piece reference will survive spelling changes that defeat name searches. Check whether an entry was written by the unit, by a clerk, or by a later compiler. The writer decides how much weight the entry can carry.
What to open after this one
Where this record and another disagree, the next record should be one that can explain the disagreement, not one that repeats one side of it. If this record answered your question, stop and note the reference. The next record should start from a new question, not from momentum.
Do not collect records for their own sake. Each new record should earn its place by answering a question the timeline actually asks. When the trail goes cold, note where, and when, it went cold. That note is the starting point of the next session, not a reason to stop.
Primary sources for this guide
Everything here is kept general and tied to official holders, so check the current position with the holder for your own case. The guide is educational information only: it is not personal professional advice, it is not a lookup service, and it settles nothing about any one person's service.