Genealogy research is founded on basic principles that hold true whether you are a novice or an expert. Following six simple steps will help you ask and answer questions about your ancestors and their extended families. Increasing familiarity with historical records, a better understanding of source analysis, and advanced techniques will come as beginners practice these steps over and over, adding to their knowledge through further experience and education along the way.
You can remember the genealogy research process by thinking about the word F-A-M-I-L-Y.
Find a person to research.
Analyze what is already known about the family member.
Map and Time Line.
Instant Records.
Look for additional records
You did it! Take time to celebrate.
I will go over each of these steps in detail during this series. If you would like to follow along and learn the research process, be sure to create a FamilySearch login and connect yourself to the FamilySearch tree. If you have not yet taken these steps, please see my article How and Why to Create a Free FamilySearch Account and Add Yourself to the Family Tree.
If you already have an account and you have connected yourself to your tree, the next step is to gain some familiarity with navigating FamilySearch. The Family History Guide is a great resource for this! Work through their lesson titled Goal 1: Signin and Navigation.
Next week, I will talk about ways to find a person to research. If you would like to work ahead, I have created a free Research101 course in the GenealogyNow Learning Center. This course includes walk-through videos for each step in the process, along with assignments that will help solidify your learning. The ancestor I researched as I made the videos was from England. For this blog series, I will be researching a new ancestor from Pennsylvania as I demonstrate the process.
Perhaps you are already familiar with the genealogy research process. Now would be a great time to invite a friend who is a beginner to learn more about genealogy research. I’m excited to see what we can learn together as we work through the process over the next few weeks!
