Ask Questions

There's always a chance that someone else in your family has already started doing research, in which case, a lot of the background work might be done for you! At any rate, it will free you up to explore branches of the family not yet written up.

Make a big list of the relatives you know and ask them if they know if anyone's done research. Family holiday parties and weddings are a good time to ask since relatives tend to be around.

Search eight different family tree sites at once