Building on a Solid Foundation - Genealogy methods and techniques (204)
It is all too easy to jump straight into family history research without a thought for methods and techniques. In fact, the commercial websites encourage you to do so. However, how do you know that what you are building is robust and accurate? This course builds upon your knowledge of sources with a walk through good technique, recording of your research notes and some useful research tools, such as research logs, timelines, source analysis, places in context and building a weight of evidence, to help you to be confident in your family tree.
You will learn how to analyse your research so far, identifying gaps and appropriate next steps, and develop your research plan. Along the way techniques are demonstrated with examples and problem solving will be showcased using a variety of case studies.
During this course you will have the opportunity to build on an example from your own family history research.
Reading List:
Students often ask us for recommended reading for their courses, that they can look at before the course starts. Here is a suggested book list for this course.
Lesson Headings:
- Five golden rules of genealogy
- Write it right: notes, sources and gaps
- Inside sources and search techniques
- Research tools and problem solving
Relevant countries: England, Wales
What to expect:
Each lesson includes lesson notes, activities and forum exercises for students to complete during the week and a one-hour live tutorial (text chat or Zoom) with the tutor and the rest of the class. Times for the tutorials are set at the beginning of each course by the tutor.
This is an assessed course. The length of the course given is the number of teaching weeks but students should also allow time in the couple of weeks after the course ends to complete assignments.
Students said:
"Thank you for such a fantastic course, I learnt so much, including good habits for researching. I would advise anyone, whether researching for personal reasons or looking to research professionally, to do this course."
"The course is fundamental to an understanding of genealogy research and I was very pleased to have been here at a time when it was introduced. The content was very useful - crucial even. I enjoy the chat sessions a lot - it is so helpful to go over the lesson with the tutor and other students on board... The notes were detailed and clear (as you would expect!) and some parts are definitely for printing and keeping handy. A thoroughly enjoyable and valuable course, delivered with great knowledge and understanding - and humour."
"The course allowed you to reflect on your practice and apply new strategies to the work you had already done on your family tree. This allowed you to recognise how you could carry out research more professionally and effectively."
"I've enjoyed it all, it's reinforced so many things I knew and were probably at the back of my mind. It's been really helpful seeing new ways to think about researching things. I've even used some of the things in my normal job which I wasn't expecting..."
- Tutor: Karen Cummings
- Length: 4 weeks
- Start date: Mon 7 Sep 2026
- Start date: Mon 11 Jan 2027
- Start date: Mon 6 Sep 2027