By Lisa-Dawn Crawley, Student
Greetings from Nerdville and the geek who picks the Methodology series as her favourite offering (so far!) from the National Institute for Genealogical Studies!
It’s only logical, (said Mr. Spock, from Star Trek) that we start with the first course in the series, right? Right.
Reporter Table by koratmember/Courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net
Methodology Part 1: Getting Started was my first peek into the world of practical genealogy study. In fact, it was only the second course I took through the Institute! I had been doing my own thing for a couple years at that point, climbing and pruning my trees in a consistent though haphazard manner. As such a typical beginner, I knew there must be better, more efficient ways to manage what I was doing and I was eager to begin learning Proper Techniques for researching and organization. I was not disappointed.
I get excited just going back to the outline for this course on the website and reading through my submitted assignments (which you can do by clicking the S beside any completed course in your Student Briefcase). I remember how new and wondrous it all was at the time. So much to wrap my little brain around! Fortunately, this course (and the series, for that matter) took it slow and steady. Not only did it give me a realistic idea of “how far back you can go” and of the caveats involved in most human interaction versus what is recorded and/or remembered, it introduced and explained frequently used and helpful forms (ie, pedigree charts, family group sheets) and provided the reasoning behind such things as the standards for recording abbreviations and dates. I have found that understanding the reason why a practice is considered standard often makes it easier to be consistent just as looking back at this course material and my notes was a great refresher — are you listening, More-Seasoned Researchers??
Methodology Part 1 is a solid overview of this Hobby-That-Is-Also-A-Skill. I believe it would serve as a good review for an experienced genealogist. It is most certainly a course for eager beginners to get their feet wet in all the areas of general research most interesting to them — from the many types of records and repositories available to interviewing living relatives and collecting clues closer to home — while developing a solid foundation of practical knowledge. In fact, it offers hands-on experience at working through a research problem and building a research plan. Confusing terms and situations which will likely arise are also discussed. Similarly, types of sources (original versus derivative) and information (primary versus secondary) are introduced — WITH EXAMPLES, thankfully!!
Indeed, this is the course series where you first really begin learning about those strange and sometimes scary but significant terms new genealogists stress over — numbering systems? proof? evidence? transcribe?? abstract?? extract?? CITATION???? But not to worry!! Your completion of The National Institute’s Methodology series will ensure any terror and trepidation subsides considerably, if not disappears completely!
Until next time – Happy Hunting!
Lisa-Dawn Crawley is a current student of The National Institute for Genealogical Studies. She is enrolled in four certificate programs (Methodology, Professional Development, Canadian Records and English Records) and hopes to graduate with honours in her hometown of Ottawa, Ontario at the 2017 OGS Conference, in the National Capital’s celebratory year of Canada’s 150th birthday. Her new blog LDC: The Zombie Genealogist chronicles her sleepless endeavours to bring the dead back to life, to interest her relatives and the younger generation in family history, to preserve some of her own thoughts, experiences and memories and, ultimately, to become a professional genealogist. Besides genealogy, LDC’s vices include books (so, so many books!), movies (and Netflix), boardgames and geekery (zombies, minions and Star Wars, oh my!), photography, contesting, bargain hunting, social media and privacy (yes, conflicting).
You can usually find LDC online at:
Twitter: @elle_dee_see
Facebook: facebook.com/TheZombieGenealogist
Personal Blog: http://thezombiegenealogist.blogspot.ca/
