Courses

Updated: Analysis and Skills Mentoring, Part 1

Looking to get serious about your genealogical research? The Analysis & Skills Mentoring Program has been designed to promote the quality of the work that every family historian and genealogist should strive to achieve. Analysis and Skills Mentoring, Part 1  allows you to implement the training you have received throughout your Basic Level courses. Enriching your researching skills, this program provides practice to improve your problem solving capabilities. Analysis and Skills Mentoring, part 1 is one of three courses offered by the National Institute for Genealogical Studies that includes consultation appointments with an instructor and in-depth analysis of a peer-reviewed journal article. Recently updated, topics covered in the course include the Genealogical Proof Standard and  evidence analysis. Learn more about Analysis and Skills Mentoring, Part 1  by visiting our website.

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 aware that topographical maps tell you much more or that geographers and cartographers now use maps to show us all sorts of information both about the here and now and the worlds our ancestors once inhabited. While many Canadians look back to Europe or the British Isles, in the multi-cultural society we have become some of us will need maps of every continent except Antarctica. Not just maps of the place as it is today, but older maps that show former political divisions and place names, where old roads, canals or railways once ran, perhaps ownership of land, or city plans that show every building, including the one where the emigrant ancestor was born. If you plan to be a successful family historian you must learn to look at maps and extract the basic, secondary, and even the third level of information they offer, and then evaluate that information. Is…

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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 awkward was the large number of non-US document examples used in the course. This was actually  a question I was asked when I was working in The National Institute booth at RootsTech this year. Some students were worried they would not be able to understand lessons if they cover unfamiliar documents. I get that. It can be intimidating to see documents from other countries. What I told them, and what I am telling you now, is seeing documents used as examples that you aren’t familiar with is great! There are no preconceived assumptions about what it may or may not contain. You can also focus in on the question at hand and learn to use your investigative instincts. Plus, you will constantly come into contact with documents you are not familiar with as you do research. No one can master everything, there will always be surprises.  So honestly, this is…

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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 years) do not keep good records. Without good records we are doomed to retrace our steps or not find information again if we lose it or need to reanalyze it. Bad records will ultimately lead to unreliable research. Then one of the hot topics, at least in places that I have been, the instructor covers various ways that you can preserve your research. I know many people want to create something, anything, to show off their hard work and pass on to future generations. In this section were some great ideas that I have now stored away for future use. She does cover simple publication ideas (like charts) all the way through to  books. My next post will be on Methodology 5. See you online!