How do I search the FamilySearch Research Wiki?

Article Id: 1111
August 27, 2025
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Use the Research Wiki to help you in your research. The Wiki is a genealogical guide that gives information about record types, search strategies, records collections, and genealogical resources on FamilySearch, other online sites, and offline sites.

For guided research:

This is helpful to find birth, marriage, and death information. Not all countries are available for this feature.

  1. Sign in to FamilySearch.org
  2. In the upper-left corner, click Search.
  3. From the drop-down menu, click Research Wiki.
  4. Click Guided Research. This option is located toward the top of the gray panel on the left side of the page, as well as in the "Jump-start your research" box on the right side of the page.
  5. From the Guided Research page, select a country from the Countries Available list.
  6. Then, choose Birth, Marriage, or Death.
  7. Follow the guided research suggested collections to search for records.

Search by location:

Genealogy pages on the Research Wiki offer a wide variety of resources. For many locations, there are step-by-step instructions, research strategies, tools, maps, and other resources. Help with beginning your research, record types, location background, cultural groups, and local research resources are located on the right side of the page under Wiki Topics.

  1. Sign in to FamilySearch.org
  2. In the upper-left corner, click Search.
  3. From the drop-down menu, click Research Wiki.
  4. Choose one of the options below to search by location:
    1. Click in the search bar and enter a location. As you type, articles and pages matching your search terms will display in a list below the search box. If you see an option in the drop-down list that interests you, click it to open it in a new page. To begin a new search, use the search box at the top left of the page.
    2. Click on an area of the world map shown on the Research Wiki homepage. A pop-up window will appear with location pages available in the area you selected. Click on the location to open it in a new page.

Search by topic:

  1. Sign in to FamilySearch.org
  2. In the upper-left corner, click Search.
  3. From the drop-down menu, click Research Wiki.
  4. Click in the search bar and enter a topic. As you type, articles and pages matching your search terms will display in a list below the search box.
    1. If you see an option in the drop-down list that interests you, click it to open it in a new page. To begin a new search, use the search box at the top left of the page.
    2. If you do not see what you are looking for or would like to search more extensively, click the Search for pages containing [your search terms] at the bottom of the dropdown list. This opens the search results in a new page. Select an article on this page to view it. Below the search box on the Search results page, use the Advanced search and the Search in drop-down menus to refine the search. Click on one of the search results to open it.

What is the FamilySearch research wiki?
How does the FamilySearch Research Wiki help me find my ancestors?

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