When you embark on a research project, you need to be persistent. Well, you need to decide on a goal, in academia that's an hypothesis or thesis. Then you need to look around and determine the types of tools, databases, books, and resources will help you reach that goal. Next you need to actually look for and find information that sends you along that path. You'll find some paths are dead ends, some take you to an unknown place which may or may not be relevant, and others will take you to some nugget of information, some clue that sends you looking and searching some more. Eventually, you'll have enough clues, enough information to work with your hypothesis and come to a conclusion.
In genealogy, the path is long, circuitous, and, well, addictive. Eventually, maybe, you'll find all the family members you seek. Persistence is the key.
In our course, we'll be compiling short biographical sketches of people and places. You'll learn about research tools that will help you find nuggets of information, those savory clues that whet your appetite for more. Since the course is finite, you'll need to find what information you can. In your quest for family information, the quest may be decades long with one more clue to find, one more stone to uncover.
Here's the latest post (8/10/2014) from Mocavo entitled "Five Things Star Trek Taught Me About Genealogy." http://blog.mocavo.com/2014/08/five-things-star-trek-taught-genealogy You'll have to let me know if it applies to your journey.
Enjoy the quest and take heart. Half the fun is in the journey.
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