The following book is a good beginners' book in doing genealogy:
How to Do Everything Genealogy (2nd edition), by George G. Morgan, published in 2009 by McGraw-Hill. This book is available online to USF patrons in the EBSCOhost eBook collection. (The 3rd edition was published in early 2012 but the ebook is not yet available to USF patrons.)
Once the researcher has understood the basic process, additional books that cover how to do research for specific ethnic groups (such as English, Scottish, Irish, German, Italian, Hispanic, Scandinavian, Jewish, African American, or Native American) will be useful.