My Favorite Course: Geography and Maps

**My Favorite Course is a new blog series where students and graduates write about their favorite National Institute for Genealogical Studies course. Do you have a favorite course you want to write about? Leave a note in the comments! By Shirley L. Sturdevant, PLCGS, Graduate of The National Institute It is hard to believe that I have finally graduated with my certificate in Canadian Studies. I am so thrilled to be able to place the post-nomials PLCGS behind my name. My adventure took longer than planned due to other commitments and also to the fact that I spent a lot of time at the end of each course making detailed outlines and notes for myself as well as deciding how best to share my new-found information with other genealogists and family historians. Many of the courses were very interesting but I think my favourite was Canadian: Geography and Maps written by  Althea Douglas, UE, MA, CG.  Much of the reading for this course came from her book entitled Genealogy, Geography and Maps (©2006 The Ontario Genealogical Society).   The course description reads: Genealogy, geography and maps are inextricably entwined, particularly in a country like Canada where almost everyone has ancestors who came here     from somewhere else. If you are looking for their records you must travel across geographic boundaries as well as across time. Wherever you travel, maps are essential. Can you read a map? Did you hate geography in school? You know what road maps tell you, but are you…

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Graduation 2015!

It’s that time of the year! Congratulations to our graduates! They’ve worked hard and it’s time to celebrate! Please join us as we honor the Class of 2015. You can join us in person or virtually. Attending the Ontario Genealogical Society conference in Barrie, Ontario? Join us there as we conduct the graduation ceremony live. Or, join us online at  4:30 PM EDT on Friday, May 29th to celebrate the achievements of your fellow students . Everyone is welcome. Time zones: Friday, May 29th – 4:30 PM Eastern; 3:30 PM Central; 1:30 PM Pacific; 9:30 PM in London, England; Saturday, May 30th – 6:30 AM in Sydney, Australia MEETING LOCATION: http://genealogicalstudies.adobeconnect.com/graduation/ (NOTE: No user name or password required. Please type in your first and last name; then click “Enter as a Guest”.) Show your support for the graduates of 2015! See you there!

Methodology 5

By Shannon Combs Bennett, Student Proof, sources, information and evidence are crucial to genealogical work. Being able to prove a connection can be hindered by the validity of your source, the reliability of the information and the evidence at hand. Understanding how these elements work together is a skill that all genealogists must possess to be effective researchers and successful. Through the six modules of Methodology 5 you are taught these skills. I don’t know about you, but I love case studies and other examples to demonstrate the lesson you are learning. Which is why I was very happy to see that there were many different types of examples to walk you through the process for solving advanced research problems. These examples highlighted the skill we were just learning about to show the student how to put to use the information they just learned. The entirety of Module 5 is using the skills you learned in the course to work through various problems. I enjoyed reading through these case studies, several of which are similar to problems I have faced in my own research, and was able to learn new ways to approach problems and a different perspective to follow the leads in the future. The way the instructor presents the problems, walks you through the solutions and then shows you the proof is very informative and I feel that many people will get a lot of great information out of this section. One thing that I did not find…

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Stepping Through Methodology 4

By Shannon Combs Bennett, Student I know this is a blog post about  the Methodology 4 course, but I am going to suggest that if you have not gone back and read my post about Methodology 3 you should do that first. Why you ask? Well, like I stated in the previous post these two courses are linked together. Almost like a part 1 and part 2 and this is a post about part 2. Methodology 4 continues with the last three steps in the six steps to success. These three steps focus more on recording, documenting and preserving your research than other more fundamental skills. Don’t get me wrong. These, in my opinion, are some of the most important skills you should have. Unfortunately they are skills many genealogists feel are not as important as the research find itself. I would like to say they are wrong, and here is why. While we all love making the big finds and love adding pieces of ephemera or information to our family trees, knowing what to do with it after you find it is crucial. Without the analysis, documentation and proper storage all we have is a cool item and not something that we can really share with others. Sure, we could show the document around but having an analysis and documentation to go with it makes it much more valuable. This course starts with proper recording of information. Sometimes it amazes me that people (even those who have researched for…

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