Using the Online Research Helps in the FamilySearch Website

Sharing our Links to the Past
by Wally and Frances Gray

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FAMILY HISTORY TIDBITS
By Wally Gray

Using the Online Research Helps in the FamilySearch Website

Another helpful tool in the www.familysearch.org website is “Research Helps.”

“Research Helps” is just what the title indicates. It helps you in your research tasks. It takes you to items sorted by Place, Title, Subject and Document Types. The Research Helps screen brings together in one listing all of the research helps documents in the database such as Research Guides, forms, maps, etc. that match the Search Strategy listing you selected (place, title, subject or document type.)

How to Access: Go to www.familysearch.org. Click on Search for Ancestors, then click on the link at the top Research Helps.

Searching by Place: This is the first section you see. Select the appropriate letter of the alphabet bar for the research help you want to view. For example, click W to view the documents pertaining to Wyoming.

Searching by Title: Select the title selection in the upper left hand listing. If you call for Accelerated Indexing Systems (second listing) and click on it you can find a description of this important tool which is used to locate census records.

Searching by Subject: Select the subject selection in the upper left hand listing. On the page that comes up you can see research outlines. Subjects would include almanac, gazetteers, land and property, minorities, etc.

Search for Document Type. Select the Document Type selection in the upper left hand listing. Here you have an opportunity to get forms. This section includes letter-writing guides, a listing of maps available, research outlines and guides, reference documents, step-by-step guides and word lists. The word lists will assist you in reading films in foreign languages.

Printing. If you see PDF and click on that you will be asked to download the printable version. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer, you will be given the opportunity to download it. PDF files print better copies. You can also save the file to a disk and it will be retrieved as needed. (You select the file to save it to.)

In all cases, click on the title to view the document, click on PDF to view or print in high quality Adobe Acrobat format, and click on the item number to order paper copies.

To find out more about this tool, go to Help in www.familysearch.org and go to Research Helps.