Hello genealogical friends I hope that your tree building is going well! Today I hope to give you more inspiration as you continue your family research! I am sure you have noticed that we have talked a lot about research together, but that is because it is such an integral part to genealogy! One technique we haven’t covered to extensively is how to further your genealogy research skills. I hope that by the end of this blog you have a goal to work on furthering a particular research skill or a resource in which to begin working on building up a skill.
As a refresher, some research skills you might want to think about strengthening include: search engine tactics, finding research goals, narrowing research focus, working with specific systems (family search, ancestry, etc.), and, organization. For ideas and explanations of some of these concepts please see previous blog posts or webinars. For now, however, I would like you to choose one skill from this list or perhaps a list you have come up with on your own to focus on. Hopefully as I cover some helpful sites you might find one to help you build these skills further or prompt you to at least consider more closely examining your grasp on these concepts. Remember that it’s essential you at least have some sort of foundation in these skillsets as they are critical in gathering information that will help you build your family tree out farther!
Just like any subject you are wanting to become educated in genealogy also requires that we continuing learning about our subjects and processes. For help on general subjects and processes it’s great to visit Wiki’s. Even if you have been working in the field for quite a while like I have, Wiki’s can still be a great source to consult if you have forgotten what sort of information you should be consulting for particular projects, or maybe how to even begin a project! Great ones to use include: familysearch.org wiki and family tree, wikitree.com, familypedia, and wikipedia. For more in-depth or advanced you might consider joining local genealogy societies, seminar sponsored by societies, roots tech and other conferences and of course webinars and blogs like the ones you can find on my site. These activities and utilities could be great for those who might need help in more complicated areas like working with specific systems and dealing with storing and compiling information.
I hope that you have been able to identify at least one site or skill that might help you on your research journey. Before we part, I would love to leave you with some of my tips that I believe help create good genealogy habits: regularly research, organize yourself, keep up with some sort of newsletter, blog, or webinar, digitize old photos, subscribe to a genealogy website, create a master family tree, a genealogy-based email, and of course seek help. Speaking of which if you’re finding that your questions haven’t been answered by this blog post, previous, or my webinars please feel free to reach out to me via the contact information above! I wish you all the best in your continuing family research and research skill building!
Winona I Laird “The Genealogy Granny”
