Hello, In order to train staff members at the Provo Utah South Family History Center -- and train other folks out there who need succinct, step-by-step lessons -- I'm posting on the Web a 30-lesson guide on how to do genealogy research. About half the lessons are posted now. When I've finished posting all the lessons, the site will contain the following subjects: Unit 1: Gathering and Organizing Family Records * Starting Out Introduction to the Family History Library The Research Process The Golden Rule of Genealogy * Identify What you Know: Recording Information Golden Rule of Genealogy: Work from the Known to the Unknown Using Forms * Family Interviews Correspondence Types Process Correspondence & Guerilla Tactics Equipment for Oral Interviews * Organizing Your Files Motivations Components of a Filing System Instructions * Personal Ancestral File (PAF): Basic Editing Creating a PAF file Adding & Editing Individuals Unlinking & Deleting Individuals * Documenting Sources in PAF 3 PAF 3 Advancements PAF 3 Shortcomings Workarounds * PAF Backups Unit 2: LDS Survey Sources: Searching, Downloading, & Submitting * Ancestral File: Searching * Ancestral File: Downloading GEDCOM Files * PAF: Importing and Exporting GEDCOM Files * PAF: Merging & Linking Individuals * Ordinance Index (The new IGI), Social Security Death Index, Military Index, and Scottish Church Records * Submissions: Ancestral File, the IGI, and the Golden Rule * Ancestral File: Submitting & Correcting * Submitting to the IGI & Ordinance Index * Vital Records Index: North America Unit 3: Finding Aids * Selecting Record Types & Using Research Guides * SourceGuide * Family History Library Catalog (FHLC) * Finding the Right Locality Gazetteers AniMap Handy Book Red Book Maps Unit 4: Using Major Source Types * Census/Tax Records * Vital Records * Church Records * Probates * History * Biography * Family History/Genealogy * Periodicals/Newspapers * Obituaries * Bible Records * Land Records * Court Records * Directories * Military Records * Immigration/Emigration Records The course is at http://www.acceleratedgenealogy.com. Unit 4 should get pretty interesting, as I'll be scanning in original records to teach what one can find in each type. I'll also be covering special issues, like how to order Civil War pensions from the National Archives, how to map a deed on a range and township map, and how to trace immigrants using Gerald Haslam's "prongs on a plug" approach. -Michael