Project 4: Research

  Guided Learning Video   |   Part 2

Summary Vault

1. Getting Started: Here are some suggestions for getting started with your family history research.
   
   MH—Genealogy Research for Beginners: How to Get Started


2. Study these tips for starting your genealogy research.
   
   Top Ten Tips for Starting Your Family History
   FMP—5 Steps to Starting Your Family History - 2019


3. For a more detailed approach on beginning your family history, read this article from the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society.
   
   Getting Started on Your Family History


4. Here are some questions to ask yourself before starting your research.
   
   AF—9 Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Start Researching Your Family Tree - 2020


5. Research Principles: Understand the basic research process:
   1) Gather known information; 2) Choose a research goal; 3) Find new information; 4) Evaluate new information; 5) Share new information.
   
   FS—Research Process - Introduction
   APL—The Research Process—5:44 - 2020
   
   
   

More ...

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Resources

1. Terms and Abbreviations: Learn important genealogical terms for your research. You can return to these lists over time and increase your knowledge of terms for your research.
   
   AC—Glossary of Genealogy Terms
   FS—Glossary of Genealogy Terms


2. Learn about abbreviations used in documents and genealogy research.
   
   FHD—What Does That Mean? 300+ Family History Abbreviations Explained


3. Charts and Relationships: Get familiar with pedigree charts and family group sheets and how they are used. For free charts and forms, see Goal 12 in Project 1: Family Tree.
   
   Step 1 - Pedigree Chart
   Step 2 - Family Group Sheets


4. Learn about basic family relationships with this chart from the Irish Family History Centre.
   
   Family Tree Explained – Family Relationship Chart

Exercises

Choosing one line at a time to pursue is a more efficient way to do research. Try to gather as much information about a given family unit as possible, before tracing back additional generations: work backwards in time.

Summary

1. If possible, look for someone who was born after 1700, with a recorded spouse.
2. View or print a family group sheet for the person. Make note of missing names, dates and locations in the records of recent ancestors.
3. See the Puzzilla.org Goal in FamilySearch Project 3 for instructions on displaying an ancestor view. Nodes without extensions are the end-of-line ancestors. To highlight these nodes so they stand out more easily, click Targets in the left pane.

Resources

1. Plan to search for all your ancestors, not just the direct male or female lines.
   
   LDS—Search for Every Ancestor


2. Use the Ancestor Source Finder to locate possible source records for ancestors in your tree.
   
   LDS—How to Use the Ancestor Source Finder—1:50 - 2023
   
   
   


3. Read this article for tips on finding missing parents in your line.
   
   FHD—Five Uncommon Places to Find Your Ancestors' Missing Parents

Exercises

Summary

1. Ask the questions you're most interested in: Why did an ancestor move? Are there missing children in a gap on a family group record? Watch the videos and read the article for ideas.
   
   FHF—How to Ask Productive Research Questions—10:04 - 2019   
   • Purpose of research questions
   • Develop a research question
   • Event-based questions
   • Biographical questions
   • Researching your question
   • Start with yourself
   • Add research evidence
   • Gather facts
   • Improve the research question
   
   
   
   
   FS—Genealogy Starts with a Question - 2023


2. Here are some additional tips for developing research questions.
   
   RT—A Foundational Step in Research Strategy - The Research Question—18:55 - 2024
   
   
   
3. For a review of questions for ancestor research, watch this video.
   
   AC—Asking Genealogy Questions and Getting Answers—17:20 - 2016
   
   
   


4. Learn how questions fit into a good research plan.
   
   FL—Research Like a Pro, Part 1: What's Your Question? - 2017

Exercises

Summary

1. Read these articles to learn about the importance of adding sources for your family history work.
   
   FS—What are the benefits of adding sources to Family Tree? - 2025
   GC—Sourcing: Key to Family History Detective Work


2. This article discusses the use of sources in FamilySearch Family Tree.
   
   JT—Digging into Sources in the FamilySearch Family Tree, Part 1 - 2017


3. Watch these videos to get an inside look at using sources in family history.
   
   AAC—Sources: A Family History's Raw Material—8:45
   AAC—Understand Your Sources by Answering Five Questions—10:46


4. Learn about the basic types of sources you can use.
   
   AJC— Understanding Genealogy Sources - 2018


5. Learn how to determine accuracy of information in source records.
   
   GC—Determining Accuracy of Information
   TH—Verifying Online Genealogy Sources - 2019


6. Here are some tips on sorting fact from fiction in sources.
   
   GTV—Fact vs. Fiction vs. Sources—6:20 - 2018
   
   
   
   AJC: 5 Things to Ask about Genealogy Information - 2018