Citing and Organizing Sources:
Methods and techniques to keep track of where you found all those great
records
Nick
Cimino
The best way to judge the quality of a family group sheet
or an online family tree is to evaluate the source citations. Family trees at
both Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org have methods for attaching sources. Both
sites offer excellent source citations from their databases. Methods for
gleaning source citations from these two sites will be discussed. Additional
techniques for adding source information from books, computer databases, and internet
sites will be
discussed.
Why is citing sources
important? Elizabeth Shown Mills
sees citation as more of an art than a science.
Learning certain basic rules helps to guide the process. “Historians use
words to paint our interpretations of past societies.” What kind of artist do you want to be? We have a choice to express our art as either
realistic or impressionistic but you do not want to be a blank canvas.
Purpose of citing
sources- (see Mills “Evidence Explained” p. 43). It is helpful for the future reference of
ourselves and those reviewing our work to record the specific location of each
piece of data we find. This should
include the author, title, publisher, volume and page number, and the date of
the book or media. It should also
include the name and address of the repository and the date the source was accessed. We should make note of any record details
that affect the use or evaluation of that data.
We want to enable others to retrace our steps and take it further.
Family Trees in
Cyberspace- Are They Reliable? Many
online trees can be considered “Junk Genealogy” because they contain no
sources. Always look first at the online
trees with attached sources, documents and images. This is a sign of a genealogist who is
thorough and meticulous in their approach to their genealogy. Do not attach trees without sources to your
tree.
Chicago Manual of
Style- Humanities Style- This is Ms. Mills preferred method for composing genealogical
articles and books. She recommends that we use full citations in footnotes or
end notes. She likes this method because
it gives the author freedom to add unlimited comments relevant to the source.
Nick Cimino Style-
I started my genealogy research in 1989 using Personal Ancestral File as my
main tool for organizing. I found the
Guidelines of the Silicon Valley PAF Users Group at an early stage and have
used that method for over 20 years. The
notes field in PAF served as my Research Log where I would note my research
goals, and the documents searched. This
is where I wrote my analysis of the results found. Since converting to an online tree at
Ancestry.com, I have created Research Logs and Timelines as documents attached
to the ancestor profiles. Especially now when genealogical material is readily
available online, it is essential to keep a research log for each ancestor. One of my tricks is to copy and paste
material source citations found on the web into Notepad and then transfer it to
a Word file containing the Research Log. Another trick that one of attendees at my session shared is after you copy information from a web page paste by using Ctrl-Shift-V. This will strip out the HTML and the formatting.
How to Cite Internet
Sources- Since I use Ancestry.com
and FamilySearch.org almost daily, I have come to rely on the citations that
both of these sites provide for their records.
The citations from Ancestry.com are synchronized into my Family Tree
Maker software and can also be viewed in online trees that I prepare for myself
and my clients. I use the Family Tree
at FamilySearch.org as my backup online tree.
I have started to duplicate the sourcing using the new Record Attachment
tool at Family Search. I have also started
adding my ancestor profiles at Ancestry.com as sources to attach to my backup
tree. My talk will demonstrate my
technique for copy and paste of source text from these two sites into research
logs.
For specific advice on how to cite online sources beyond
Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org see Ms. Mills book Evidence
Explained.
Some of the other
sites that I visit online include federal, state and local archives, libraries,
historical societies, Wikipedia, state online historical encyclopedias, US
Genweb and US Genweb Archives, etc, etc, etc.
If you look carefully on these sites you will usually see guidance on
how to cite the online article or record.
One example that I like is the Handbook of Texas Online. It gives very specific guidance on how to
cite their articles.
How to Cite Hard Copy
Sources- One of my standard
procedures when I visit a genealogical library is to copy title, publisher and
content pages and staple them together before I leave the library. Some libraries allow you to scan to a USB
device. I have also started using my camera phone to
accomplish the same thing. I assemble
the images into a PDF document that can be uploaded to ancestor profiles at Ancestry
and Family Search. I use the same
procedure with microfilm. I scan my
handwritten notes pages and attach them to the saved images. Citations can be gleaned from library
catalogs too.
Organizing Your
Sources- The best vehicle I have found for organizing my sources is to
include them in digital Research Logs for each individual ancestor. There are lots of paper forms that you can
use, but I prefer the freedom of a Word document or a text file. I do not use spreadsheets very often but I
have on occasion. I often use chronologies or timelines referencing facts from
the source documents to help to evaluate what I know about my ancestors and
their families. This helps me to see the
gaps in the chronology and to identify additional records to search. I have recently been reviewing the Beta
version of the New Ancestor Profiles on Ancestry.com. This new view will put your ancestor in the
context of a story. It is very similar
to the current “Story View”. This is a
very useful way of viewing the chronology of an ancestor’s life.
Sourcing in Genealogy
Software – Many genealogy software programs provide a data entry tool for
entering sources. Choosing software that
is compatible with either Family Search or Ancestry.com will save a lot of
unnecessary double entry.
Check out the following websites for several examples
of ways to maximize your productivity while citing and organizing sources.
Useful Links for Citing Sources
Family Search Wiki
Other Links
The following sites have tools that assist in the automatic
creation of source citations:
See also the links in the bibliography below.
Bibliography
Mills, Elizabeth Shown. Evidence Explained: Citing
History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace.Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 2007.
Mills, Elizabeth Shown. QuickSheet: Citing Online Historical Resources: Evidence! Style*,2nd rev. ed.
Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 2007.
Silicon Valley PAF Users Group: Family History Documentation
Guidelines,
2nd ed. San Jose,
Calif.: SVPUG, 2000-2003.
University of ChicagoPress. The Chicago Manual of Style, 14th ed.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993.
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