Methodology Part 2: An Introduction

Shannon Bennett, Student with The National Institute for Genealogical Studies 

                                                             Shelves Of Files by Stuart Miles/courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

I am now diving into the second part of the course Methodology to give me the groundwork for my genealogy education here at The National Institute for Genealogical Studies. This course builds on the basics learned from Methodology Part 1, hopefully, so that the student will come out as a better researcher on the other end. Or, at least, that is my hope.

In the introduction for the course, the very first paragraph really hit home for me.  You can see it here:

                                                                   (c) 2014. The National Institute for Genealogical Studies

All I can do is sit here and nod my head yes!  Just because I don’t have the answer now, doesn’t mean I might not find it one day. Or, just because I think I have an answer doesn’t mean one day that answer may be incorrect. This field is all about persistence, hard work, and having a good foundation of basic skills.

Looking through the syllabus for the course I am excited about several things.  The modules appear to be geared to getting you organized in all possible aspects of your family history adventure.  Now, I can be very particular about the way certain things are done in my life.  Then there are other times that it is like pulling teeth to get that aspect of my life in working order.  Unfortunately, with my family research, it is hit or miss.

It’s not that I don’t want things organized, sorted, cataloged, and so on but the overwhelmed feeling of where do I start always kicks in. My saving grace is that I seem to pull it together for specific projects.  Too bad I can’t figure out a way to make everything a project. The portion on storing and organizing my files may help me figure out a system to use in my research space. I have struggled with so many good suggestions out there, maybe this one will really stick!

While each of the modules covers items that I am familiar with, I strongly feel that you can never take too many classes on basic techniques.  You never know what you are going to learn, what will stick, or what will finally make sense. Yes, there are accepted standards in our fields, but each instructor may have a different tip, trick, or technique that you could learn.