welcome back to the ancestral findings podcast are you looking to improve
your genealogy research skills consider these three top online genealogy courses
do you wish to improve your genealogy research skills whether you're a beginner
or an intermediate level genealogist you have room to hone your skills to make your research better
more accurate and more thorough so you can discover more about your ancestors there are books
you can read on the subject and they can be quite helpful in improving your skills however nothing
is quite like improving your skills through a class you will actually get hands-on practice
that will help you remember what to do when you're out in the field doing it on your own you don't
have to go to a college or adult education facility to take a genealogy research class
the internet offers plenty here are the three best ones you should consider taking if you are serious
about getting your research skills to the next level number one the national genealogical society
family history skills course this online course is given by the prestigious national genealogical
society and it is free to members if you're not already a member you can get an annual membership
for just sixty five dollars and take the class it has a lot to offer you some of the benefits
of the class include learning how to properly record genealogy information you find during your
research how to look for information in published sources as well as how to find the right sources
locating and accessing more recent records that may not yet be available to the general public
where to look for birth death and marriage records for ancestors in the 19th century and farther back
in history how to use online library catalogs and other digital finding aids to assist in your
research how to properly write source citations for the information you include in your official
family history the course does not go over using the internet itself to do genealogy research while
it does cover online catalogs and provides links to websites that may be helpful in some lessons
the real focus of the course is to learn to do genealogy with physical sources in the real world
you'll have to step away from the computer eventually in your research
this course shows you how to do it number two familysearch.org's beginning genealogy courses
familysearch.org is the website run by the jesus christ church of latter-day saints
and is one of the largest repositories of free genealogy records in the world it also has
some free online classes that are well worth your time if you are a beginning genealogist
you may want to consider taking their entire spectrum of beginning genealogy courses each
course is an online mini video of around five to six minutes in length and will teach you the
basics of using different types of records in your genealogy research ways to stay organized
best methods for interviewing living family members and how to record sources there are 21
courses in the beginners category in all and you can easily go through them in just part of a day
you'll be surprised at how much you'll learn and how much your research skills will improve
after you take these courses number three university of toronto st michael's college
national institute for genealogical studies the university offers a catalog of online genealogical
courses for both amateur family historians as well as professional genealogists you can look
through their online catalog and decide which courses are the ones that interest you the most
or that are best for your level of research most courses last between six and eight weeks
with online interaction with professors and students as well as homework assignments
some of the courses can even be used towards college credit or toward your certification
as a professional genealogist with the board of certification of genealogists registration
fees vary for each course but are generally quite reasonable especially for college-level coursework
seriously consider looking into any of these online genealogy courses
you naturally want to improve your research skills so you can make excellent breakthroughs in your
research these courses will give you the skills you need to achieve these goals and more they
are all a worthwhile investment of your time and money as they will make you a better genealogist
thanks for listening and subscribing to the ancestral findings podcast
check out ancestralfindings.com and download a free genealogy ebook and sign up for the
weekly historical postcard giveaway i hope you have a wonderful day and happy searching