FamilySearch Internet Genealogy Service

Research Guidance

More of this Feature • Pg 1: Records of the Family History Library • Pt 3: Search Strategies • Pt 4: Free Research Advice • Pt 5: Making the Most of the Information • Pt 6: Related Web Sites & Research Helps More FamilySearch Articles: • The Family History Library • Family History Library Catalog • Research Helps • Your Visit to a Family History Center     Related Resources • Searching for Surnames • Research Standards • Genealogy Libraries    From Other Guides • Guide for Librarians • Latter-day Saints • Salt Lake City Guide  Elsewhere on the Web • FamilySearch.com • The Salt Lake FHL

How Does Research Guidance Work? 

First select an ancestor that you want to learn more about.  You will have the best results if you choose an ancestor for whom you know at least some basic details, such as the geographic area in which he/she lived, and the approximate date of birth, marriage or death. Research Guidance helps you find copies of original records, such as census, birth and marriage records, based on where the person lived and the time of his or her birth, marriage, or death. You select the place and time, and Research Guidance provides a search strategy and records to search in priority order including:

• Family History Library Catalog records.
  
  
• Guides for finding and using the records.
  
  
• Related web sites.
  
  
• Other research helps.

 

The Research Guidance tool is very easy to use. It steps you through a short series of selections and then provides you with the information that you need. Here's what you need to do step-by-step:

Select a Place

1. Decide what ancestor and information you want to find.
   
   
2. On the Select a Place screen, select a country, state, or province from the list. For some of the countries you will be prompted to make a further selection of a state, duchy, province, etc. as is appropriate. 

 

Example of the second step in the place selection 
process after a user has first selected Germany.
© 2000 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

 

Select an Event and Time

To select an event and time, click the time under Birth, Marriage, or Death that you are interested in. If you need help deciding which event or time to search under, click Events in Your Ancestor’s Life. If you want some tips on how to estimate a date you are unsure of, then click on Estimating Dates.

 

© 2000 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

 

Next Page > Search Strategies  > Page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

 

---

Stay in touch with what's new in Genealogy by subscribing to our free newsletter, About Ancestry,  joining us for nightly genealogy chats, or posting your genealogy questions and/or surname queries in the Genealogy Forum.

Subscribe to the Newsletter
Name	Email

 

New posts to the Genealogy forums:

holdenUnicode cross symbolInteractive pedigree chart

 

URL: http://genealogy.about.com/library/weekly/aa050700a.htm © 2000- 2001 Kimberly Powell and About.com.  All Rights Reserved. Family History Library images © 2000 www.lds.org