prioritize four starting steps in genealogy research: getting organized, talking to family members, searching the U.S. census, and searching for vital records. Not every researcher will start with these steps; some may start with a wealth of information from other sources, whereas others will not be able to complete each of these steps. However, for the typical researcher, starting with these four basic steps makes the research process easier. This chapter describes the first two steps: getting organized and talking to family. The following chapters describe the third and fourth steps.