Numerous articles are available on FamilySearch Wiki to help you get started in family history. This page will provide links to articles about general research topics.
Principles of Family History Research
- Identify What You Know
- [[Decide What You Want to Learn|Decide What You Want to Lear]
- [[Select Records to Search|Select Records to Searc]
- [[Obtain and Search the Records|Obtain and Search the Record]
- [[Use the Information|Use the Informatio]
If you are wondering where to get started in your family history research, the following articles will help you with this decision:
How to Guess Where to Start
- [[Guessing a Name Variation|Guessing a Name Variatio]
- [[Guessing a Date|Guessing a Dat]
- [[Guessing a Place|Guessing a Plac]
- [[Guessing the Easiest to Research Person and Event|Guessing the Easiest to Research Person and Even]
- [[Guessing a Record Type to Use|Guessing a Record Type to Us]
Organization and Documentation[edit | edit source]
Organizing and documenting your research is a key concept for both beginners and seasoned family history researchers. File organization is important in computers, but for genealogy and family history research work it is absolutely imperative. Creating links between files (such as source documents that have been scanned, research logs, analysis forms, and records managers) can help in keeping the sources available for quick view while studying and analyzing a research problem. Many types of organizing methods exist, so researchers can adopt and then adapt them to personal styles. The following articles will help you understand this important process:
- Cite Your Sources (Source Footnotes)
- [[Copying Sources|Copying Source]
- Document AS YOU GO!
- [[Keeping a Research Log|Keeping a Research Lo]
- [[Organizing Your Files|Organizing Your File], which deals with general organization matters, also providing links to other important topics
- [[Research Compass Description|Research Compass Descriptio], which introduces a comprehensive approach to linking digitized sources, research logs, analysis tables, reports, and records management programs
- [[Research Logs|Research Log]
- See the category page [[:Category:File Organization|File Organizatio] for a complete list of articles that are related to organizing your research.
Other articles that may be helpful include:
- [[How to Begin a Search for Your Ancestor|How to Begin a Search for Your Ancesto]
- [[How to Find Descendants in the United States|How to Find Descendants in the United State]
- [[How to Get the Best Research Advice|How to Get the Best Research Advic]
- [[How to Preserve and Restore Family Records and Book]
- [[How To Start Your Family History|How To Start Your Family Histor]
- [[Introduction to Family History|Introduction to Family Histor]
- [[Locating Genealogical Websites|Locating Genealogical Website]
- [[Family History Library Internet Favorites|Family History Library Internet Favorite]
- [[Genealogical Proof Standard|Genealogical Proof Standar]
- [[Major Databases for Beginning United States Research|Major Databases for Beginning United States Researc]
- [[Research a Family in Community Context|Research a Family in Community Contex]
- [[Rookie Mistakes|Rookie Mistake]
- [[Civil Government Birth, Marriage, and Death Certificates|Civil Government Birth, Marriage, and Death Certificate]
- [[Family group record: roadmap for researchers|Family group record: roadmap for researcher]
- [[Sharing: a good way to FIND ancestors|Sharing: a good way to FIND ancestor]
- [[Solving Tough Research Problems—Overcoming Brick Walls|Solving Tough Research Problems—Overcoming Brick Wall]
- [[Spelling of Surnames and Given Names|Spelling of Surnames and Given Name]
- [[Spelling Substitution Tables for the United States and Canada|Spelling Substitution Tables for the United States and Canad]
- [[Start Family History by Writing What is Known|Start Family History by Writing What is Know]
- [[Surname Research|Surname Researc]
- [[Traditional Nicknames in Old Documents - A Wiki List|Traditional Nicknames in Old Documents - A Wiki Lis]
- [[A Guide to Researc]
- [[Burned Counties Research|Burned Counties Researc]
- [[Solving Tough Research Problems—Overcoming Brick Walls|Solving Tough Research Problems-Overcoming Brick Wall]
Technology can be a useful tool when doing genealogy. Understanding how to use technology can help genealogists create an organized, useful system that makes doing research much easier. A few articles that have helpful tips on making technology work for you include:
- [[DIGITAL SOUND|Digital Soun]
New Video Demos:
- [[FamilySearch Wiki:How To Demonstrations|How to use the Wiki!]
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Wiki Search Help:
- [[Search for an article or topic|How to search for an article in the Wik]
- [[Search Tips|Search Tip]
- [[Boolean Searches in the Wiki|Advanced Searc]
- [[Browse by Country|Browse by countr]
How-to Wiki Articles:
- [[Help:Contributor Help|Register, contribute, edit, author, format, create links, upload images, create Un-Portal page]