Help:Research guides

Frequently asked questions

A research guide is an article that helps genealogists learn about doing research in unfamiliar places or with unfamiliar sources.
Research guides are group projects written collaboratively by WeRelate users and administrators for use by the entire community.
WeRelate has asked its users to contribute in an attempt to write research guides for each US state and the foreign nations of genealogical interest.

You can search for a Research Guide by clicking the Search link in the blue bar at the top of screen and selecting "Articles"
Enter the information you have in the boxes in the search window and click "Search"
Alternatively, you can Browse the listings by clicking the "Browse" link under the "Search Articles" heading in the upper left corner of the screen

Search for the research guide for your state (or country) of residence and any other states (or countries) in which you have research experience
If the guides have already been created, add any additional information you might have to the article
If it has not yet been created, go ahead and create it
- Even if you think you don't have enough information, enter what you do know, and let other users add the rest

Click on the Add link in the blue bar at the top of the screen and select "Articles"
- Read "How to Title Articles" below the Title box (Also see Titles for research guides, below)
- In the Title box, enter the desired title of the research guide
  - Include the words "research guide" in the title (i.e. Colorado research guide)
- When you are finished, click on "Add Page"
When the new page comes up, click "Edit" at the top of the screen
- Fill in the appropriate Surnames, Places and Year Range in the boxes provided
- The Text box is where you enter your information
  - You can also write an article on your own word processor and paste it into the text box
    - You may need to change some of the formatting to make it look right on the finished WeRelate page
  - Please add this category link at the end of your article: [[Category:Research guides]]
    - This will help researchers find your article

We aren't really concerned about that right now
For now, just write what you know, doing your best to follow typical WeRelate conventions
The most important thing is making the information available
As the research guides grow over time, a standard format will be applied

Because of copyright concerns, your best bet, if the other site does not require registration, would be to insert a link to that research guide on the WeRelate research guide
WeRelate users could easily have access to that guide and we wouldn't have to worry about copyright violations
Please do not post copyrighted material on WeRelate

Research Guides are articles, and therefore, do not belong to a namespace
Instead, they are identified solely by a unique page name
A Research Guide title should be brief and specific, containing the words "research guide"
A state or country Research Gguide should be simply the place name, followed by research guide
- Example: Colorado research guide
For more information, see Help:Page titles.