| Introduction to Genealogy | |
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Duration
This class is self-paced so you can go as slowly or quickly as you desire. Ultimately is designed to take approximately six weeks, with one lesson per week.
Course Overview
This Introduction to Genealogy class is designed to take you step-by-step through the process of genealogical research. You will be introduced to the resources and techniques needed to track down the information about your family's history and to build a family tree. This class is intended for beginners and for people who have been doing genealogy for a while, but need some help putting it all together and keeping it organized.
Objective
In this course, you will learn how to:
- start your search for your ancestors
- organize your search (we'll have an entire class on this at a later date)
- track what you find in a variety of formats
- properly record names, dates and places
- locate sources for family information
- locate sources for published information
- find birth, marriage and death information for your ancestors
- use proper source citations for the records discussed in this lesson
Class Schedule
This class is self-paced so you can start and finish whenever it fits your schedule. There are six lessons, each of which include reading, a summary, a quiz and discussion points as well as optional homework assignments (you didn't think genealogy was a spectator sport, did you?). I check into the classroom message board on a regular basis to answer any questions and comments. Please feel free to help each other out as well!
A note about class length: This is a six week class but you may jump in and begin at any time. The lessons and classroom messages will remain online and may be read or referred back to at any time.
Interactive Classroom: Message Boards
includes guidelines for using and navigating the message board as well as classroom rules.All students should read the Classroom Message Boards FAQ at the start of each new class. This FAQ
All instructor-led class instruction and discussion for this class will take place in Classroom #1 of the Let's Learn Genealogy discussion forum. Each lesson will contain a direct link to the help thread for that lesson. Just look for the Interactive Classroom heading in the sidebar of each lesson. If a lesson has a homework assignment associated with it, there will also be a link to a thread for posting your homework. Post course work questions and comments under the appropriate topic and please only post items that relate specifically to that topic. If you would like to interact with your classmates and share surnames, chit-chat, Web sites, etc., then please post these in our Class Lounge (the folder marked "Lounge"). If you have genealogy-related questions that fall outside of the scope of this class, please post them in our main Genealogy Forum.
A Note About Assignments
For each lesson there will either be a quiz, a homework assignment or both. These are not by any means required, but it is well known that practice is the best teacher. Completing these assignments gives you the opportunity to ask questions and share experiences with your teacher and fellow classmates. They will not be difficult or demanding assignments given that this class is only six weeks long and genealogy can be a life-long hobby. As a matter of fact, learning how to spell 'genealogy' may be the most difficult part of this course (genealogy is spelled with an "a" even though it is pronounced with an "o")!
If you're ready to begin, continue on to the Introduction to Genealogy Course Outline.
