Nicole Elder Dyer

About Nicole Elder Dyer

Nicole Dyer is a professional genealogist specializing in Southern United States research and genetic genealogy. She is the creator of FamilyLocket.com and the Research Like a Pro Genealogy Podcast. She co-authored Research Like a Pro: A Genealogist's Guide and Research Like a Pro with DNA and is an instructor for the study groups of the same name. She lectures at conferences and institutes and previously served as the secretary and publicity chair of the Pima County Genealogy Society. Nicole holds a bachelor's degree from Brigham Young University in History Teaching. At Family Locket Genealogists, Nicole is a project manager, editor, and researcher.

RLP 104: Research Reports – Certification Preparation

Jul 6, 2020

Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about portfolio element four: the research report prepared for another person. To apply to the Board for Certification of Genealogists you must submit a research report that meets standards. You cannot submit a report that focuses on your own ancestors. Listen in as we discuss the requirements, best practices for reports, and the rubrics for grading this portfolio element. Transcript Nicole (1s): This is Research Like a...

RLP 103: Creating Layered Source Citations

Jun 29, 2020

Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about creating layered citations for images found on the four major genealogy websites: Ancestry, FamilySearch, MyHeritage, and Findmypast. We discuss how to separate the digital layer from the physical layer, and the five elements of a source citation. We discuss what element to lead with and how to find the details you need to include. Transcript Nicole (1s): This is Research Like a Pro episode 103: Creating...

RLP 102: Mary French Case Study

Jun 22, 2020

Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about a case study Diana wrote about the father of Mary French. Determining the maiden name and parents of a woman born in the late 1700s is one of the most difficult genealogical undertakings. Because women were not mentioned in many of the records of the era, few sources exist to prove their parentage. Combine that with record loss and the task becomes even more difficult. Descendants...

RLP 101: Proof Arguments – Certification Preparation

Jun 15, 2020

Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about proof arguments. We discuss different types of proofs, including proof statements, proof summaries, and proof arguments. Then we discuss the requirements for the case study element of the portfolio for certification and go over the rubric indicators that show if a case study has met the standards. We talk about resources for helping you with proofs and logical arguments. We also discuss various methods for organizing...

RLP 100: Top Ten Tips to Research Like a Pro

Jun 8, 2020

Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is a celebration of our 100th episode! We are excited to share our top ten tips about how to research like a pro. We put the list together based on the questions we are most commonly asked in study groups and in our Facebook group. Listen in to find out more about objectives, timelines, locality guides, hypotheses, researching in phases, layered citations, multiple pages in a research log,...

RLP 99: Writing a Narrative Family History – Certification Preparation

Jun 1, 2020

Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about the Kinship Determination Project (KDP), the narrative family history work sample portfolio element submitted to the Board for Certification of Genealogists. The KDP element shows your ability to prove parent-child links as well as tell the story of a family in their unique place and time. There are three formats of narrative family histories – narrative genealogy, narrative lineage, and narrative pedigree. We discuss these terms...

RLP 98: Discovering the FAN Club in Archives with Melissa Barker

May 25, 2020

Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about finding records for the friends, associates, and neighbors of your ancestors in archives. Melissa Barker, the Archive Lady, teaches us all about archives. Tune in to learn more about different types and levels of archives, what you might find there, and best practices for using them. Transcript Nicole (1s): This is Research Like a Pro episode 98, Discovering the FAN Club in Archives with Melissa Barker....

RLP 97: RLP with DNA – What’s Next?

May 18, 2020

Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about what to do after you have finished all the RLP with DNA steps. Robin Wirthlin, genetic genealogist, joins our discussion. If you haven’t reached a proven conclusion, you’ll want to start on the next phase of our research. Choose a sub-objective to work on next – maybe you have a hypothesis to test and see if you can eliminate. We also discuss DNA blogs, podcasts, classes,...

Airtable Research Logs

May 14, 2020

Airtable is a hybrid spreadsheet and database. Most database tools are beyond the technological level of typical users, so most people don’t use database tools. Yet, databases are highly useful. Luckily for us, Airtable is a database tool that doesn’t require that you know how to code. If you are familiar with spreadsheets, you’ll pick it up right away. Each database is called “base.” Think of it as a spreadsheet with multiple sheets/tabs. Each sheet...

RLP 96: How to Track and Organize the FAN Club

May 11, 2020

Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about organizing and keeping track of the names you find on records that don’t fit into your family tree. The friends, associates, and neighbors of your ancestors are important to know and research, but where do you record your findings? Can you add them to your family tree software? We discuss this question and more. Tune in to hear how you can organize your ancestor’s FAN club...