05 October 2009

Could you be wrong?

I realize it would never happen to any "Tip of the Day" readers, but could you possibly have made a mistake at some point in your research? Sometimes the misake isn't consequential, but in some cases it could be.

While citing my sources for an issue of "Casefile Clues," I reviewed an illustration for an article I wrote years ago and which I have used in countless lectures. When footnoting one of the items used to compile the chart, I realized that I had a marriage year listed two years off. It was clearly just a typo and did not impact my conclusion, but it was still wrong.

Could you have made a mistake or typed something incorrectly? Is it possible that the mistake has an impact on a conclusion?

Just a thought. It could happen to anyone. After all, we are human (grin!).

1 comment:

  1. I am bad about typing Escambia, AL instead of Escambia, FL. My maternal line lived in AL but they actually married in Florida where family members lived. I have to go back and review my notes often to make sure I put the correct state in. I have even spent time researching in the Escambia, AL area which is NOT where I needed to be. Tina

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