Did you know? Genealogy is the study of family history in which genealogists make genograms on the basis of oral interviews, historical events and backgrounds, and genetic analysis to gather information on the family in order to have a deep understanding of the family history!

Shapes: Since a square represents a male, we will start by clicking on the insert tab. Then click on the button 'shapes'. Drag the rectangle icon onto the page, to draw the first male of your family which will be at the highest position. Text box: Now again on the insert tab, you will find a button 'text box'. Drag it above the square to create a text box to write all the data you have collected on him, like his accomplishments, his birth and death dates, etc. Now repeat the same procedure, only this time drag the text box below the square, to write his name. Once you are done with the first male ancestor of your family, find a circle in 'shapes' from the 1st step, to insert your first female ancestor (his wife), since circles represent females. Lines: Now to expand the family tree, make use of lines from the 'shapes' gallery. Click below the male ancestor and drag a straight line down. Repeat the same with the female ancestor. Join these two short vertical lines by one horizontal line, from where their progeny will be drawn. From the center of the horizontal line, draw one short vertical line, and where it ends, a big horizontal line across the page. Draw short vertical lines from the horizontal one, to denote the number of children your first ancestors had. Then you can repeat previous steps, making squares or circles for male or female children. This would be called the first generation of your family. You can make other generations too in the same way, continuing with lines, squares, circles and text-boxes on your genogram. Voila! Your genogram is ready! We've got a template for you as an example that will show you what a genogram in Microsoft Word looks like. This is a simple genogram template, wherein you can add your own details for each member of the family.