It is virtually impossible to remember all details of a research problem after not having worked with it for awhile, let alone the many other research problems you will encounter in the course of your genealogical experiences. Keeping no or poor research records is equivalent to making no searches at all, because you will undoubtedly forget what you have done and what you found or did not find.

Beginning genealogists, in particular, may overlook logical sources and spend too much time on illogical ones until they are more experienced, but as long as they take good notes and file them well, their experience will always work to their good, and searches will seldom need to be repeated.

A good genealogical research game plan, note-taking and note-keeping system will enable the researcher to easily answer four strategic questions:

What is our intended scope of the project and our short and long-term objectives of our genealogical research plans?
What information do we know and what genealogical records sources have already been used to discover information on the person, family, or surname in question?
What exact information was discovered?
Can the information be found again quickly by using the references for it?

Once these questions have been answered the more tactical or detail questions of operation can be asked. Namely:

What is it (exactly) I want to accomplish and in what time period?
What letter-writing technique should I use in my correspondence?
What sort of log should I use to document my sources and finds in?
What sort of log should I use to document persons and institutions contacted?
What specific resources and institutions are available in pursuing answers to problems?
What detail record-keeping system should be used?