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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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.