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…

Continue reading

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…

Continue reading

New Course: Research-South Africa

The National Institute for Genealogical Studies is proud to announce their latest course, Research: South Africa Ancestors Including Military Records written by South African genealogist Audrey Portman. This course covers the history of South Africa, genealogical sources and repositories for searching your ancestors. General genealogical topics covered include birth, marriage, death, church records, cemeteries, newspapers, and more.  Research examples are provided to give guidance on various types of research projects. In addition, the course looks at major wars and conflicts, and the records they produced. Starting with the Boer Wars, World Wars I and II, and ending at the Korean War. In particular, records of the South African Constabulary, South African Defence Force, South African Air Force and the South African Police are covered. This course provides researchers with the tools they need to research their South African ancestors. The first offering of this course is June 1, 2015. Learn more about it on our website.

The Steps of Methodology 3

By Shannon Combs Bennett, Student Well, I have entered the realm of the Intermediate coursework. I decided that I am going to first take Methodology 3, 4 and 5 back-to-back  to lay the ground work for the other courses that are coming in this section. Following those three, I will work on the rest of the required courses for the American Records Certificate and then a few electives. So, hang on to see what I am up to over the next few months. Methodology 3 is broken into six steps the instructor thinks you need to know to be successful. The first three steps are covered in Methodology 3 with the last three covered in Methodology 4. Which made me thankful that I was taking these two courses back-to-back since they really read as a part 1 and part 2 of the same course. These steps are: Defining your goals Learning the basics Deciding on strategies for research Effective searching and recording Documentation Presenting and preserving your research For this post I will focus on my takeaways from the first steps listed. The next post will cover Methodology 4 and the last three steps. To be honest, Methodology 3 focuses primarily on setting up your office space and further honing your research skills. Now “office space” may be too formal of a term. I started out at my kitchen table with boxes that I shifted around when we actually had to use it. Just recently I have moved into the…

Continue reading