• Search on spelling variations of your ancestor's name.

• Experiment with entering the last name first, first name last, with and without the middle name, with nickname, first initial plus last name, etc.

• Use quotation marks around the name (as in "fred flintstone") to eliminate pages that show the first and last names far apart.
  

• Add a place your ancestor lived to narrow results.
  

• Adding the unusual name of your ancestor's spouse or child also can narrow your results.

• Are matches on a famous figure with your ancestor’s surname clogging up your results? Use a – (minus sign) to eliminate a word associated with the celebrity, for example, “fred flintstone” -bedrock.
  

• Try other Web search engines, such as Ask.com and Dogpile.
  

• Try a genealogical search engine or tool, such as GenSource's I Found It or Genealogy Search Help for Google.

• Start by clicking the Search tab at the top of the page. Then look in the blue bar under “Search”:
  
  

• Now, for an alphabetical index to the FHL’s research outlines, letter-writing guides, word lists, beginners’ guides, census worksheets and more, click Research Helps. This index is sorted by place, but you can use the links on the left to sort it by title, subject or document type.
  

Click a document title to access the guide’s content online. Or, click PDF to download a PDF with the information, or click the item number (in the right-hand column) to order a copy mailed to you. Not all the guides have all three options.

• To get steps for finding the FHL’s microfilmed birth, marriage and death information by place and year, click Research Guidance, then click on a place.
  
  

On the next page, choose a tab for historical background, advice for beginners, and research strategies for various records. This information is drawn from the above-mentioned research guides.

• For in-depth, full-color PDF guides to a selection of ancestries, look on the home page under "Get Started With Family History" and click the word guides. From here, you also can follow links to separate directories of the word lists, letter-writing guides, forms and more.
  
  

If you go to the New York Times site, you can enter your search terms in the bar near the top of the page and select whether you want to search articles since 1981 or before 1981. Once you have your results, you can select the Advanced option to limit your search to specific dates. The stories are downloadable as PDF documents. (If you happen across articles that aren't in the free years, they're $4.95 each, or you can get a monthly pass for $7.95 that allows 100 story downloads.)

I went hog wild and found a lot of fascinating articles. You don't have to have New York City roots to find good material. None of my ancestors' names turned up in the search, but I found great articles about the ships my ancestors came over from Europe on. (For example, two months before my great-grandfather arrived, an emergency appendectomy was performed on the S.S. Uranium with the E string from a violin.)

You should also try searching for your hometown, just for fun. I discovered an article about a Wellington, Ohio, dairy magnate's campaign against oleomargarine and "filled cheese" in 1894. After his impassioned speech, he raised $150 for the cause in just a few minutes.

Give the search a try, and leave me a comment about your own good finds!