Tika & Rocks (Documentation)

Documentation is, according to Webster's Dictionary, "anything printed or written that is relied upon to record or prove something."

Documentation is, then, something printed or written that substantiates as correct a conclusion…… something that documents your research conclusions.

To me, documentation is finding the answer to a question.

I have collected rocks from my travels. I arrange them on my deck and like to look at them and remember where I found them. Got to thinking one day about the geological origins of my rocks and which rocks came from the seashore.

So my question was: Are any of my rocks sea rocks?

Looking carefully at each one I could see that some are sandstone, some granite, some lave, some petrified wood, some basalt, etc. Very different origins. Only three prove to answer my question. Only three can "prove" that they are sea rocks. One is coral-turned-to-stone from the Pacific Island of Kiribati, one a different coral from Maui and one large one is sandstone-with-shells from an Oregon beach. Only these three document the answer to my question.

How do they do so? By what they are……….. corals and seashells only live in ocean water.

How does any of this apply to genealogy? Just as visualization documents my sea rocks, when I find and see the real, correct, answer to my genealogy question then I know I have my documentation.

Tika says, "This makes no sense to me." I hope it does to you.