Do you want to start looking into your family history but don’t know where to start? Researching your roots can be highly addictive and it’s easy to get carried away. But it doesn’t pay to be hasty when starting out in family history; you can make progress more quickly if you begin your research on a good foundation and put aside some time for planning what you want to achieve.

This course will take you through step-by-step so that you can get the maximum information from these personal sources. You will learn different methods to set up your own system for recording and filing information. This way, when you start looking in official records you will have a clear idea of what you are looking for and why and how to preserve the information logically.

Outline

1: Family history choices - why trace your ancestry?

2: Starting with you - a detailed description of your own life.

3: Ask the family - tap into the memories of the family

4: Documents, papers and photographs

5: Help! What can I do with all this stuff?

6: The first hundred years - using the 1901 census online

Who should take this course?

This course is for anyone with an interest in finding out about their family history.

Follow on

After taking this course you will be able to explore your own family tree and to develop your skills on other courses in researching family history.

You will need

All learning materials are provided online through the course, but you will need an audio recorder.

Entry Requirements

There are no entry requirements apart from curiosity.

How long is this course?

This course lasts 7 weeks.

Your tutor

Your tutor for this course is Kathryn Senior. You can find out more about Kathryn on the Tutors page.

Further information

Kathryn Senior, our course tutor, also runs a website on Genealogy: Family Tree Folk

Do you have any further questions? Visit our Contact Us page and ask away.