Discovering Your Roots

An Introduction to Genealogy

By: John Philip Colletta, The Great Courses

Narrated by: John Philip Colletta

Length: 7 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

Genealogy is a journey of self-discovery that can teach you as much about yourself as about those who came before you. But there's an obstacle that holds many of us back from unearthing our family history: uncertainty about how to go about it. With Dr. Colletta's 15 lectures, you'll learn the same skills and methodologies the experts use to solve genealogical mysteries, to create compelling nonfiction narratives, and to uncover information from the long-forgotten past in the most effective ways possible.

These lectures provide you with smart and savvy ways to find-and use-the most helpful online and print resources available today, including U.S. population censuses, the Periodical Source Index (PERSI), and the National Archives and Records Administration. You'll also learn tools of the trade for working with these and other sources, as well as countless tips for making your own research more useful.

You'll also discover how to write engaging historical narratives that can inform and entertain family members or general audiences. You'll explore seven steps for personalizing biographical facts; specific ways to construct and narrate the timeline of an ancestor from birth to death; four fundamental questions you need answers to before you start writing about your ancestors; and more.

So grab that old photograph, sit down with an elderly relative, comb through old records, and prepare to embark on a personal adventure that can dramatically reshape how you think about your past - and yourself.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2014 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2014 The Great Courses

Entertaining and Tip-Filled Geneaolgy Course

Loved this course. It was hard to imagine no matter how much experience you have had with family history that you would not come away from these lectures with new ideas for how to approach your unsolved family mysteries.

something for almost any level of researcher

I didn't think I would get much out of this since I have been doing genealogy research off and on for more than 30 years . However , I was pleasantly surprised to actually learn something. The list of websites in the pdf more than paid for the price of the audible book.

Colletta's At The Top of His Game!

I have been busily working on my family tree for several years now, but after listening to this audio-book, I realized just how much information I have yet to tap. It was very encouraging to me as I have learned much from Professor Colletta's book. At first I was fretting, as he seemed to cover a great deal of new information rapidly, and I wasn't able to take notes as I was listening. Then, I looked closer at the book description and saw that this book comes with a pdf. Hallelujah and much thanks to Audible for including a much needed addition to the book. (Quite often, this is NOT included in The Great Courses books.)

The Professor has a great deal of enthusiasm for his subject and does a fine job of narrating his book. If you are doing your family tree or getting ready to begin, this is a great introduction to where to begin or where to go further in your research. It seems, the possibilities are almost endless!

Highly recommended!

Learn good genealogy research methods through great stories

I was pleasantly surprised by this Great Course on genealogy. I was looking to learn better research methods and expected a “dry” research audiobook. However, John Philip Colletta does an excellent job of balancing strong research methods and ideas with personal examples through storytelling. Discovering Your Roots is both effective genealogy teaching and entertaining. Colletta’s stories draw the listener into the stories, which makes learning fun. His humbleness makes the research tasks manageable. Highly recommend to beginner and intermediate genealogists/family historians.

Inspiring

I took the course to help make my journey of recording my geneology more informative and robust. I have learned of so many great resources and techniques to guide me along. I am so inspired to continue my work after listening to this course.

As Expected

I have heard Dr. Colletta speak on several occasions and, as expected, he delivered insightful, informative and entertaining information for the beginning Geneologist or Family Historian. I hope that he follows this introductory session with a more advanced course.

Excellent overview

Concise clear overview of the whole genealogical purpose and process. Presented with enthusiasm and expertise by an expert genealogist and professor; couldn't ask for more thoroughly professional introduction.

Loved it

I am very pleased with the course: taking notes on the bus ride to work, I finished in a week. I had dabbled a little in family research before listening to this course, I now feel very directed, clear on how to use resources that I had looked over before. I highly recommend this course.

Fun and informative!

I listened to this on a long drive and after I had already done extensive work on Ancestry as well as LDS’ FamilySearch. I wasn’t sure that I would learn anything new and worried that the information might be out of date. I found it very informative, however! I am definitely inspired to take my genealogy work to the next level.

Great course!

Loved it! Thought it would be too basic after 14 years of researching but learned so much!