if, for instance, I was looking for genealogical data on Ezekiel Miller, who lived in Baldwin co, GA, I would; 1) visit the county site for Baldwin county, found by using this URL (keep it to find all the county sites you may wish to visit in the future.) http://www.usgenweb.com/ scroll down, and on the left you'll see THE PROJECT'S STATE PAGES click on it and follow the instructions to find the Baldwin co site. I then read whatever information is there (hopefully it will have information of what is available from the courthouse and their address). There is usually a lookup list of volunteers, who will do lookups for you in the book/CD, etc listed with their name. click on their name, type the name of the book or whatever they have you're interested in in either the subject slot of the email or the message. NEVER ASSUME someone will know what you're wanting. Many of us do lookups for many different places, and unless you tell us what you want and what book you want it from, we can't possible know.. 2) using the same URL above, scroll down to the right and you'll see USGENWEB PROJECT ARCHIVES scroll down a few lines till you see STATE ARCHIVES SEARCH ENGINE click on it, and then type in the name of the person you're interested in, in my case "Ezekiel Miller"...put quotes around it, and then highlight the state you want to search in....in my case GA. This will then give you all the references to the person, located in the ROOTSWEB archives for GA. 3) I always look to see what has been submitted in the Ancestral files at the LDS (I sent you that URL earlier) 4) Using the URL I sent earlier, for the CD lookup list, I see what CDs' contain the name Ezekiel Miller and then, following the instructions, send an email to a volunteer for each of those CDs......being sure to include the # of the CD, and then the name of the person I want them to look for, in the body of the message. DO NOT give big long messages...it is only confusing.....do NOT give family histories or explanations; just give the name, the place, and a date, even if aprox...that's all.....believe me, anything else is just confusing. 5) I join the county list I'm interested in, using the following URL to find all such lists; http://lists.rootsweb.com/ once subscribed, I place my query. Depending on how interested I am in the area I may simply wait for a week or so to see if my query is answered, and then unsubscribe.......then do the whole thing again, next month, in case there are new members who might be able to help 6) using the above URL, I check to see if there is a surname list for my "family", in my case, MILLER. If there is, I join the list and place my query, and hope someone recognized my specific Millers. I again wait for an answer, and then possibly unsubscribe as I discussed above, and resubscribe later. 7) I visit the following site, which is sort of like a computer bulletin board, arranged into surnames. http://genforum.genealogy.com/ check to see if there are any queries that look interesting to you, and if so, read them, and perhaps answer. Be sure to check the little box that you wish to be notified if someone answers your query. Then, place a query of your own, using a good subject.........Ezekiel Miller..Baldwin Co GA 1841......in my case,this says it all. DO NOT put subjects like My Millers.....of course they're your Millers....otherwise you wouldn't be putting a query on the Miller list. Put something that describes your own Millers! That ought to keep you busy for a while. Try to put your query out as many times as you can, wherever you can, hoping someone will see it and respond. In general, when someone replys, always send them an email to acknowledge receiving their email, and to say "thanks"......and, be sure to ask them their documentation for the information. You need to know if it is in the Caroline county Order book on page 4, for example, or if Aunt Tilly told them, both of which will let you know how good the source is! Have fun and let me know how you do! Sandra