Help:Tour

Welcome to the Research Wiki!



 * The FamilySearch Research Wiki is a place where you can:


 * Research your Family History
 * Find out what historical records are available in localities around the world and how to access them
 * Learn research strategies to help you know how to research your family


 * Contribute Your Knowledge to the Wiki


 * Share your knowledge about the best ways to do family history research
 * Store great research tips you learn about but may not be ready to use yet


 * Collaborate in the Wiki


 * Collaborate with others to create a comprehensive tool for research guidance


 * To understand better what the Wiki is, the following links will help:


 * Wiki Overview
 * Wiki Purpose and Appropriate Topics
 * Why We Built FamilySearch Wiki

Research your Family History

 * Following are two of the many ways to use the Wiki for research assistance:


 * 1. Finding information
 * Find out where an ancestor is from, then search for that location in the wiki to see what records are available there:


 * Basic searches (also see video demonstrations)
 * Advanced searches (also see Search Tips)
 * Review articles by country
 * Review articles by topic


 * 2. Research Guidance
 * Learn about specific strategies and tips on how to do genealogy research


 * Getting started with Family History Research
 * Articles to help you know "what to do next" in your family history research

Share your knowledge with others

 * Even if you've only been researching for a short time, you know something that can help other researchers find their family members. Everyone knows something. By sharing your knowledge, you are ensuring that others will be able to find their families.


 * The Contributor Help page is the central resource for instructions about how to edit in the Wiki.
 * Projects Seeking Contributors lists some of the community projects that are currently being worked on.
 * There is a Community Meeting for New Wiki Contributors on Thursday afternoons. Come to learn more about how to edit in the Wiki.

Store Information in the Wiki

 * As a genealogist, you are constantly learning tips and tricks that you will be able to use to find information on a family you may not be ready to research yet.


 * As you find these types of research helps, rather than Bookmarking or creating a Favorite in your browser that you may not be able to find later, go to the Wiki page for that locality or topic, and add a note about this resource. That way, you and anyone else who is researching in that area/topic will be able to find it too!


 * Here are a few links to get you started:


 * Basic Editing
 * Copying and Pasting into a Wiki Page
 * Adding Links
 * "Watching" pages of interest

Collaborate in the Wiki
Working together, we can create a better research tool than we could if individuals were developing pages on their own.

Projects Seeking Contributors

 * There are always many projects in progress in the wiki. Our Projects Seeking Contributors page lists the many projects that you can get involved with.

Following are the ways we communicate and collaborate in the Wiki:

Discussion Pages

 * When a Wiki user has a question or comment about a specific article, policy, or other page in the Wiki, they can add their comments to the Discussion page.
 * This will send an email to anyone who is "Watching" the page, notifying them of the change. They can come in and reply to the original question or comments.
 * See also:
 * Help:Discussion Pages (Talk Pages)
 * Help:Watchlist

Forums

 * Genealogists world-wide are working together to help find our ancestors! Imagine a place where you can ask a question about anything related to family history. Then imagine community members all over the world with their collective knowledge answering these questions. Post your questions by starting a new thread. Post answers to questions from other researchers. Registering with the FamilySearch Forums will provide the option for automatic notifications on any thread of interest. Two languages are currently available:


 * English Forums
 * Spanish Forums

Live Community Meetings

 * Some community members prefer receiving live help on a conference call with fellow community members. If this is your preference, join one or more Community Meetings that are held live online.