1. Be accurate and honest in all personal research and in work published, promoted or distributed to others.
2. Be receptive to new information and to informed comment which may challenge earlier conclusions.
3. Acknowledge and give due attribution to research done by others and use such work as a secondary source only.
4. Provide clear evidence from primary sources to support all conclusions and statements of fact.
5. Use original sources and records (or filmed images of originals) to gather key information.
6. Use secondary sources eg indexes, transcripts, published works, primarily as guides to find originals.
7. Cite and record all sources used so that others may also evaluate the evidence.
8. Use logic and reason to develop family links and prove each step from valid evidence before further deductions are made.
9. Investigate and analyse all possible solutions and contradictory evidence and examine and test each alternative hypothesis .
10. Qualify less certain conclusions as probable or possible so that others are not misled.
11. Accept the possibility that a solution may not be found and acknowledge the circumstances in which this occurs.
12. Be aware of gaps in the availability and content of information from sources at all levels.

Evidence only becomes proof through a reasoned and logical analysis and an argument capable of convincing others that the conclusion is valid.

With acknowledgement to the Society of Genealogists