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eLearning Series: Geneology
My Family Tree is Important to Me
( 50 articles in this series )
Genealogy
Search: Where To Start?
Genealogy, or researching the history of your
family, can be a fun and valuable hobby. You will get the opportunity
to learn where you come from, what your family history is all
about, and if anyone in your family was involved in historical
events. The hardest part of getting into genealogy
for a lot of people is getting started. They just don’t seem to have
direction or an idea of how to get going with the search. The
best way to get started is actually by getting four things
set so that the process is easier. Make sure you have a plan,
keep track of a goal, have wide goals, and develop a set of
methods that suits you best.
The best first step to take in genealogy is to make
sure you have some sort of idea where you want to go. You will have
to set a goal so that no matter what you do online or in the
library you are always focused on an end. If you constantly
review your information and goals, you will be able to make
sure you are always headed in a direction that will aid you
in reaching your genealogy goals. The goal doesn’t have to
be complex, just make sure you have something in mind that
will help you find your way through your family tree and will
keep you focused.
Once you have come up with the specific genealogy goal you
want to pursue, make sure you have it in front of you
all the time. Keep a hard copy of your goal or your list of goals in
front of you as you research. Handwritten or even printed index
cards, a notebook, or notes on a desk top calendar all work
well to keep your goals right in front of you. By having goals
in front of you at all times, you will be able to stay more
focused on what exactly it is that you want. With all of the
information available on the internet it can be easy to get
distracted or sidetracked by other information. This way, you
can keep your focus and achieve goals and reach milestones
with more frequency.
Third in genealogy research, is to make
sure that you pursue your stated goal with a broad stroke. Meaning that you should
avoid the temptation to focus your search on a certain site
or a certain library and instead go broad to allow yourself
a better chance of success. For instance, if there is a very
specific relative you want to learn about, but about whom you
only know a name and a place of death. Your temptation might
be just search for his name or on a website with information
on the city or town where he died. Instead, brush with a broader
stroke and begin your search on someone in the family you know
more about. Perhaps you know a lot more about his son. Begin
by searching for more information on the son and his family
to focus you on that section of the family. You will be surprised
at how often you will stumble on clues to what your original
focus was anyway, by using this method.
Finally, be
prepared to learn your own little way of doing things. That seems simple, but not everyone is so prepared.
What you should do is put together strategies that have worked
for you in your search so that you can use them for other genealogy
searches. For instance, many people like to run all of their
family members’ names through all available search engines.
You can use this method and even add other keywords or search
terms that might pull genealogy or legal record websites to
the top of your results. No matter what method you use, try
to remember which methods have worked best for you in the past
and add them to your process so that you become more efficient
the more you work on genealogy.
Tracing back through your family can be a lot of fun. With
the increasing popularity and broadening of the internet, many
more people are beginning to take up genealogy as a hobby.
If you want to get started in this fun hobby, there are four
things you should keep in mind. Make sure you have a plan,
set and keep track of your goals, brush broad strokes in your
searches, and continually develop your own process for success.
Once you are ready, the process itself will be much more enjoyable.
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by SolveYourProblem.com
: 2006
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