Quick Guide to Family History Research
Description
Whether you’re just a beginner or you need a refresher course in the basics, this lecture covers all the essentials. It will take you step by step through the process of genealogical research and demonstrate the proper standards of research.
Intended Audience:
Beginner
Summary of presentation:
This lecture is the constantly updated presentation I’ve been using for over twenty years at a local and regional level (and in my college courses) to introduce beginners to the basics of proper research. Based largely on the best-selling and critically acclaimed Beginner’s Guide to Family History Research, by Carolyn Earle Billingsley and Desmond Walls Allen (Conway, Ark.: Arkansas Research; now online free at
From home and family sources, to digging through attics and graveyards, it then leads the audience to libraries and archives, armed to do their research with the proper tools and knowledge. It covers all the basics, from how to fill out a pedigree chart and family group sheets, to collecting images of people, places, and things (including maps) to add enhance a family history. This lecture also covers using online sources, including Ancestry.com, and genealogy computer programs such as Family Tree Maker.
The major stresses are on citing one’s sources properly, acquiring or using the basic books and guides, and putting one’s genealogy in historical context, with the final goal a written family history. The web site online (cited above) is always available for student’s to review the major points, although the lecture is not a recreation of the book.
Moreover, I’ve found many genealogists who have been doing genealogy for years are receptive to this lecture as a refresher course and as a reminder of the basic standards of doing genealogy well.