Starting Research - Newbies Help etc

• Try a search in Google It is an amazing search engine - you can even have it on browser toolbar
• I have many sites here that I have found useful but always check for more by looking at  Google
• I searched for "ron lankshear" and found my old school site with a complete list of my year of entry.
• Join a Rootsweb list - there are special ones for Newbies and for the counties etc of your interest
• Also join the special lists or message boards for your surnames
• such as GENFORUM & ROOTSWEB

Barry Ruck has great help at  http://homepage.ntlworld.com/barry.ruck/
Barry covers IGI, Census, Civil Registration (BMD certificates etc) It is written for newsgroup users but will help anyone.

Roy Stockdill has Newbies' Guide to Genealogy & Family History:- www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.htm
Covers similar ground but a different viewpoint is excellent - including Civil registration 

Also Starting Research at Genuki covers a lot of ground and has detail on places in UK and search functions

Births Marriages and Deaths (Ron's quick intro) for more see my page UK BMD Certificates
Civil registration in England and Wales started in 1837 - prior to then it is parish registers PRs. ( see Ron's Intro to Parish Registers (PRs)) Civil registration means a certificate for Birth Death or Marriage - hence BC DC and MC. Certificates have to be purchased from UK Government. The GRO is the index to the certificates. The index used to be available at St Catherine's House and many places call the GRO St Cath's.
In Australia the full index including recent years can be found at places like State Libraries and Society of Australian Genealogists. Also at LDS church Family History Centres FHC - check the IGI web site for local addresses. (In Australia BMD is usually BDM.)