Tracing your family history on the Internet : a guide for family historians

The internet is revolutionizing family history research. Every day new records and resources are placed online and new methods of sharing research and communicating across cyberspace become available. Never before has it been so easy to research family history and to gain a better understanding of who we are and from where we came. But, as Chris Paton demonstrates in this straightforward practical guide, while the internet is an enormous asset, it is also something to be wary of. Researchers need to take a cautious approach to the internet information they acquire. They need to ask, where did the original material come from and has it been accurately reproduced, why was it put online, what has been left out and what is still to come? As he leads the researcher through the multitude of resources that are now accessible online, Chris Paton helps to answer these questions. He shows what the internet can and cannot do, and he warns against the various traps researchers can fall into along the way. AUTHOR: Chris Paton is a genealogist and writer based in Ayrshire. He runs the Scotland's Greatest Story research service at www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk. Formerly he was a television documentary maker and worked on history series such as War Walks, Secret History, Time Flyers and Meet the Ancestors. He is a regular writer for several British genealogy magazines and is currently completing a beginner's guide to Scottish family history research. He also runs a Scottish genealogy news blog at www.ScottishAncestry.blogspot.com and gives regular talks to local family history societies. SELLING POINTS: *A practical guide to the dos and don'ts of internet family history research *Chapters on internet research in England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and the islands of the British Isles *Covers internet research using national archives and sources *Includes a basic introduction to getting started in family history research *Shows how internet research can be integrated with a broader programme of study ILLUSTRATIONS: 40 illustrations