Principles of Family History Research
Genealogical or family history research is the process of searching records to find information about your relatives and using those records to link individuals to earlier and later generations.
This article describes a process for doing genealogical and family history research. In addition to following a process, research includes knowing about the different types of records that have the information you seek. For discussions of specific records to use in your research, see the "Topics" on this wiki for the country, state or province of interest. You may also find information about records in the genealogical handbooks.
This article is intended for persons who are interested in learning more about family history research. For a brief overview of the research process, see A Guide to Research.
Table of Contents[edit | edit source]
STEP 1: Identify What You Know
STEP 2: Decide What You Want to Learn
STEP 3: Select Records to Search.
STEP 4: Obtain and Search the Records.
STEP 5: Evaluate and Use the Information.
Using This Article[edit | edit source]
This article explains the basic steps of the research process. Figures illustrate the text while blue boxes provide important background information. Key points (maxims) are highlighted. A short bibliography of books about research methods under “For Further Reading” is at the end of this outline. The appendix includes a useful summary diagrams of the research process and record types.
See also[edit | edit source]
- Your Genealogical Quest
- Research Process
- Poster: Identifying Your Ancestors, and Overcoming Hurdles - a process summary of multiple best-practice FamilySearch articles written by experienced genealogists
