In this celebratory episode of the Research Like a Pro podcast, Diana and Nicole highlight the incredible impact the RLP process has had on their listeners by sharing several inspiring success stories. They read comments from researchers, one of whom explains how the RLP workflows help them conquer imposter syndrome, and another who shares a journey from feeling overwhelmed as a beginner to pursuing accreditation. Multiple individuals note that the RLP method turned them from...
At RootsTech, someone I spoke with mentioned choosing a theme ahead of time to help narrow down classes and Expo hall experiences — what a great idea! Her focus was DNA and AI. Looking back, mine was clearly AI Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR) tools, which happened to be the topic of the class I taught in person and the common thread running through all the booths I visited. (Last year, in 2025, I taught about this...
I’m excited to share that we have updated our Research Like a Pro with AI genealogy workbook! This second edition has all the latest updates in how artificial intelligence can be used for genealogical research and writing. What took the longest to update was understanding ALL the new features released by OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and Perplexity in the last year. The pace this technology is advancing is astonishing. Comparison Report: Research Like a Pro with...
Diana and Nicole speak with Jan Joyce, AG, CG, CGL, who developed and coordinates the new virtual institute course, “Merging & Separating Identities: Strategies and Tactics to Solve.” Jan explains that the most common mistake genealogists make is failing to recognize they have a “same-name problem” and assuming multiple records belong to a single person. She notes that the challenge of merging and separating identity cases (M/S) is accelerating because of more digitized records, the...
It’s been an exciting past few weeks for DNA users at 23andMe. They quietly rolled out a clustering feature (for all users) and recently brought back the chromosome browser (for premium users). This is definitely a step in the right direction! Some people might complain that the chromosome browser is only for premium subscribers now, whereas before it was for everyone. I can see how that is disappointing. But with the company’s recent bankruptcy, I...
When I encountered David Lynn Dewitt in my family, I had a straightforward research question: who was his father? David was born in Maryland in 1801, married Sarah Headley in Holmes County, Ohio in 1827, had seven children, and lived his entire adult life in Richland Township, Holmes County. Simple enough, right? Then I discovered dozens of Dewitts all of whom had Ohio connections. In the 1820s-1840s, central Ohio—specifically Holmes and Knox Counties—was crawling with...
This episode features Virginia Pratt, who brings decades of expertise to the discussion, including five years on the FamilySearch Research Wiki Team and a bachelor’s degree in Family History from BYU. Virginia joins Nicole and Diana to discuss the essential, free online genealogical resource: the FamilySearch Research Wiki. Nicole asks Virginia to explain the Wiki’s purpose, access methods, and how to navigate the main page, noting that it should be used for finding information on...
Claude.ai has been one of my favorite apps for genealogical writing for the past couple years. When I first started experimenting with Claude, I was curious if it could transform my spreadsheet research log into a research report. The process proved more challenging than I expected, requiring numerous chain-of-thought prompts and a good deal of fine-tuning. In April of 2024, I tested this task with a research log I created several years ago about Baldy...
How many John Smiths [insert your ancestor’s name here!] lived in your ancestor’s county? How do you know which William Jones married your great-great-grandmother? When two or more people share the same name, live in the same place, and appear in records during the same time period, how do you prove they’re different people—or the same person using different names? If you’ve ever asked these questions, and I know you have, you’re facing one of...
The episode opens with Diana and Nicole catching up on their latest work, focusing on testing AI models for accuracy in handwritten-text transcription tasks. The hosts then discuss the novel TransAtlantic by Irish author Colum McCann and what family historians can learn from its structure to write better family narratives. Diana explains that the novel views the immigration story from the Irish perspective, following the fictional character Lily Duggan and three subsequent generations, with the...
