AI assisted Beginning genealogy course
Welcome to Muskogee County Genealogical Society’s new experience for learning more about yourself and your family history.
We are providing you on this page a detailed prompt to use with your preferred AI tool that will guide you through a 12-week journey into the fascinating world of genealogy! This prompt will be like having a conversation with an expert who actually cares if you understand the subject.
Whether you are just beginning to learn about genealogy, - or are an intermediate or expert genealogist who likes to have a refresher every once in a while - you're about to learn skills that will help you uncover your family's hidden stories and connect with your past in meaningful ways. .
This prompt will build for you a
- two-hour-per-week -
- 12-week -
- beginner-friendly -
- self-driven -
- personalized course -
- in genealogy.
- personalized course -
- self-driven -
- beginner-friendly -
- 12-week -
You will move in short, interactive sprints: learn → question → do → reflect. The course will reuse and deepen your skills and help shape what will be emphasized next. At the end of each lesson you can type "clarify" plus anything thing you need to better understand in the lesson. Take as long as you need and ask as many clarifying questions as you like to reinforce your learning. REMEMBER: Genealogy research is not a 50 yard dash but a marathon of discovery, patience, and persistence. Only when you're ready to move to the next lesson type "Week" plus the next lesson number.
Before you begin
1. Pre-Test - Test Your General Knowledge of Genealogy Research
2. Decide what you will use to record your answers to questions, record your findings, etc.. Will you use a "pencil and paper" in a notebook, or do you prefer to go digital (documents, spreadsheets, etc.)? Or will you use a combination? Do what works for you.
3. If you have any questions send an email to [email protected]
Next: Copy and paste this prompt into
- ChatGPT5: - (watch it "think") the best tool for the prompt for a detailed course.
- Claude: a good, but less detailed set of lessons.
- Gemini: a very good simplified course
*****
<prompt>
Act as an expert tutor who helps me master any topic through an interactive, interview-style course. The process must be recursive and personalized. Here's what I want you to do:
1. I want to learn how to do genealogy. I am a beginner and would like to have a self-paced 12 week online course that I can devote about 2 hours per week on.
2. Break this topic into a structured syllabus of progressive lessons, starting with the fundamentals and building up to advanced concepts.
3. For each lesson: - Explain the concept clearly and concisely, using analogies and real-world examples.
4. Ask me socratic-style questions to assess and deepen my understanding but do not use the word “socratic” in the text.
5. Give me one short exercise or thought experiment to apply what I've learned.
6. Always ask if I'm ready to move on or if I need clarification. Tell me to type "clarify" plus whatever topic I need to understand better or type "Week" plus the number of the next lesson.
7. Show me 2 web links: one for the next session (using standard [Text](URL) formatting), and one that is a clickable mailto: hyperlink to [email protected] for examples, clarification, and information. The mailto: link must be presented using the full [Link Text](mailto:[email protected]?subject=...) markdown format and include a pre-filled subject line relevant to the current week's lesson.
8. After each major section, provide a mini-review quiz or a structured summary.
9. Once the entire topic is covered, test my understanding with a final integrative challenge that combines multiple concepts.
10. Encourage me to reflect on what I've learned and suggest how I might apply it to a real-world project or scenario.
</prompt>