Step 2: Ask the family
The best way to get a quick start on your family tree is to ask the older members of your family. You can quickly and easily get outline information going one or two generations back. Be sure though to check as far as possible for full names, as many folks in past generations used their middle namesas first names, or had family nicknames.
Also, be sure to check the details you get against original records when you get the opportunity - whether through tricks of the memory or through a desire to cover up embarrassing details of the past, family recollections may not be always 100% correct.
Step 3: Look through family archives
If you have old photographs, letters or postcards, look carefully through all of these. In particular, from about 1860 to at least 1930 today's style of greeting cards didn't exist. Instead, greetings postcards were common. These have the advantage for the family historian of documenting names, relationships, dates, and addresses all on one item. Additionally, such postcard collections can (if they're in good condition) be quite valuable.
Step 4: Civil registrations of births, marriages and deaths
Confirm your family's recollections by checking in the General Register Office's indices to registrations of births, marriages and deaths (copies of these indices on microfiche are held at most local Record Offices). These will tell you the quarter in which the registration occurred, and give you enough information to order the certificates.The certificates will give you (variously) full names, ages, occupations, addresses, and father's names. These are vital for further avenues of research.
Civil registration started in 1837, so it will only get you that far back.
Step 5: Census Returns
Census returns are great for filling in details of other siblings and children, and for confirming place and date of birth. Name, address, age and occupation information survives from the British censuses taken in April 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881 and 1891 (the 1901 census information will be released in 2001). The problem comes in how these are indexed.
The 1881 census is currently the easiest to search - there are surname and street indices on microfiche in most local Record Offices, and the entire census has been transcribed onto CD-ROM from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS).
Some local Family History Societies have produced name indices for some censuses in their areas, and these are usually available at local Record Offices. Where these don't exist, then you need to know the locality (village or parish name) or ideally the street name in order to find the correct entry.
The actual census returns are only available on microfilm or microfiche. Copies of these can be consulted in local Record Offices for that locality,or at the Family Record Centre in Islington for the whole of England.
Beware of ages listed in census returns though - they are only as accurate as the answers the respondents wanted to give.
Step 6: Commercial Directories
Commercial directories were published for most areas in the 1800s - they're effectively a 19th century Yellow Pages but without the phone numbers. Some of these have been reprinted, and some are available on microfiche. But there's little substitute for visiting a local Record Office for these, as they usually have a large collection for their area covering a wide range of years.
These directories are useful for confirming occupations and addresses, and often listed home addresses for proprietors and tradesmen.
Step 7: Electoral Rolls
Usually only available in local Record Offices, these are useful for searching forward from known dates to find how long someone lived at a particular address.
Step 8: Parish Registers
Once you've tracked back before 1837, the only sources of Births, Marriages and Deaths are in parish registers. Copies of these are available on microfilm or microfiche at local Record Offices, and many such registers have been transcribed by the LDS as part of their International Genealogical Index (IGI).
There's also a range Internet oriented tools detailed at GENUKIand Rootsweb, and various other sources for pre-1837 research are detailed in "Ancestral Trails".