Genealogy Online For Dummies - Softcover

Helm, Matthew L.; Helm, April Leigh

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0470916516 ISBN 13: 9780470916513

Publisher: For Dummies, 2011

Synopsis

Researching your genealogy online can be a daunting undertaking—but it doesn’t have to be. Genealogy Online For Dummies, 6th Edition takes you through the basic steps for researching and tracing your family’s lineage in a clear, easy-to-understand manner. Plus, this newest edition offers the latest information on leveraging the potential of social networking sites in order to locate extended family members and uncover additional family history. You’ll discover how to start your investigation, build a Web site for sharing your finds, identify sites that will be of the most use to you, get information from government records, preserve electronic materials, and more.

• Serves as a helpful starting point for beginning your investigation into your family’s history
• Walks you through developing a plan for your research, using online and offline research techniques, and researching ethnic ancestry through international records
• Details how to create Web sites where family members can make contact or you can share your findings
• Looks at how to use social networking sites as a new portal for locating extended family members and acquiring additional family history
• Explains how to access domestic records for births, deaths, immigration, and more on both local and state levels
• Companion Web site features a vast collection of genealogical software tools and resources

Genealogy Online For Dummies, 6th Edition helps you branch out and achieve your genealogical goal!

About this title

Review:

The Helms have put together an excellent introductory guide to doing genealogical research online. They've avoided the usual trap of organizing their book by resources, which may be easy for the author but makes it harder on the user. So instead of devoting this chapter to useful Web sites, that chapter to valuable newsgroups, and so forth, they've organized the book in a way closer to the way you'd organize good family research.

They begin with a series of chapters on preparation, including doing initial groundwork, developing a plan, picking the names to begin researching, and locating ancestors geographically. Next, they deal with the means for finding valuable records and then delve into getting the most from your resources. Chapter 8, for example, discusses organizing and presenting your findings, while chapter 9 deals with cooperating with other researchers so that you can all be more effective (and probably make some new friends in the bargain).

As is always the case with a Dummies series book, the Helms present a "Part of Tens" section, in this case four chapters each covering 10 top online genealogical sites, tips for designing your genealogical Web page, sites for beginners, and general tips for "smooth sailing." An enclosed CD-ROM contains nine genealogy programs plus a wide assortment of Internet tools and utilities. --Elizabeth Lewis

From the Back Cover:

Get to the roots of your personal history, using all the resources of the Internet

A lot has changed since the first edition of this book 12 years ago! This sixth edition is loaded with updated information about international records sites, new tools, tracking your ancestry with DNA, and more. Not only that, but this edition helps you plan your research, use both offline and online tools, verify what you find, and share your results.

• Start off right — make a research plan and organize the results to get the most from your efforts

• Choose your tools — evaluate hardware and software options as well as "low-tech" sources such as photo albums and family files

• See where they came from — search records for various European, Asian, and Scandinavian countries and get help locating African American and Native American ancestors

• Go high tech — learn about molecular genealogy and what DNA testing can offer

• Share — make your research available to other genealogists, explore blogs, and start your own blog

Open the book and find:

• Basic research techniques

• Unexpected places to look for tidbits

• Great tips for tracking non-European ancestors

• What WorldGenWeb is and how it helps your research

• Whether subscription sites are worth the cost

• How to fill in the details

• Dozens of new genealogical Web sites

• A glossary of genealogical terms

Learn to:

• Develop a plan, organize your research, and use a genealogical database

• Use social networking sites to find family members

• Find online records to support your research

• Share information on genealogical networking sites

About this edition

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0470916516
• ISBN 13: 9780470916513
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 6
• Number of pages: 408