Regular Meeting of East Texas Genealogical Society, Tyler, TX Saturday, July 10, 2004 Tyler Public Library - Taylor Auditorium 2:00 p.m. Speaker: Jeri Steele Program: "A Methodologist's Tips to Research" Are you a weekend genealogist? Do you have long periods of time between research trips? Do you forget from one trip to the library to the next what books you have examined? Did you ever want to infuse the very experienced genealogist's knowledge into your brain? Then you need a methodology for your research. The dictionary defines a methodology as "A documented approach for performing activities in a coherent, consistent, accountable, and repeatable manner." A methodologist is one who practices a particular methodology. Once you realize that genealogy can be approached in a disciplined manner, then you can repeat the process that experienced genealogists use. Each cycle in research consists of 4 steps: Evaluate, Transcribe, Analyze, and Define new goals. Guest Speaker, Jeri Steele will describe these steps and give examples including some forms she currently uses. Tips on Research will be presented within the framework of this research cycle. These will include: Evaluate: evaluating genealogy sources and the repository. (Web page, library, archives) Transcribe: Making out that bad place on the microfilm or the unreadable word. Analyze: How to determine that you have missing information in a document. Define/Design New Goals: What would help me most in my research goal? Jeri is a software engineer for Texas Instruments. Her knowledge of defining repeatable processes comes from that software engineering discipline. She has been on the staff of The Colony Family History Center for over 9 years and a professional genealogist for over 12 years. Her specialty is North & East Texas records. Her grandmother's 4 grandparents were all in Smith County by 1852. Whether it's teaching hands-on computer classes or giving a society program, Jeri enjoys getting people excited about genealogy research. A recent attendee exclaimed, "I'm going to be up all night researching!" after attending a day-long seminar on the Internet and genealogy. Following a short refreshment period, at approximately 3:30 p.m., the Computer Interest Group of the East Texas Genealogical Society will meet. Bill Dow will present a program on "GenSmarts". Information on upcoming programs can be found at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~txetgs/meetings.html East Texas Genealogical Society represent six counties which are Anderson, Gregg, Henderson, Panola, Rusk and Smith counties. ETGS publishes the "East Texas Family Records" four times a year which features articles and records concerning our six counties and a monthly newsletter "The Bulletin" which features information about our society, things of interest to our members and information about our six counties. ETGS has began a First Families of East Texas covering our six counties. To find out about this program go to following link: http://www.rootsweb.com/~txetgs/firstfam.html . For more information, you may contact me at scottfitzgerald@tyler.net or go to: http://www.rootsweb.com/~txetgs/ Submitted by Scott Fitzgerald, President.