Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Review: A Brief Guide on How to Research Your Genealogy



Kindle Nation Daily alerted me (on the morning of July 20, 2012) to the presence of a free Kindle guide on the topic of genealogy. I decided to download the 48 page work to see whether it was well-done or not. 

Gardner, Evette. A Brief Guide on How to Research Your Genealogy. s.l.: Amazon Digital Services, 2012?

This is an overly simplistic guide on researching one's family tree. While some of the advice offered is good, the explanations of how to go about locating those sources do not hold out in every situation. There is no mention of the importance of documenting your sources. The Kindle version that I used does not show any forms that help one extract or organize data.  Repositories covered are limited to federal and state libraries and do not discuss the Family History Library, Family History Centers, Allen County Public Library, Clayton Library, etc. that are well-known as excellent repositories, which in some cases, may be more accessible to new researchers and may have as good as or better resources. The heading in the national archives section for the one in Alaska was headed by "Arkansas." The section on DNA testing was too ambiguous to be useful. If you are wanting a beginner's guide, skip this brief guide and pick up Christine Rose and Kay Germain Ingalls' A Complete Idiot's Guide to Genealogy (currently in its 3rd edition) or George G. Morgan's How to Do Everything Genealogy which is also in its 3rd edition.  (1 of 5 stars)



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