FamilySearch Wiki:Source Citation Formats

The FamilySearch Research Wiki encourages the use of source citations in all of its articles to help individuals find places to look for further research and to show the strength of the source materials. To cite your sources:


 * 1) Include a citation reference showing where information came from. Any widely-accepted style is acceptable, but the style should remain consistent throughout the article.
 * 2) If you do not know a specific citation style, simply add all of the information you can about the source and place punctuation between the different parts of the source. The important thing is to get the information down. A source citation consists of:
 * 3) *Author
 * 4) *Title
 * 5) *Publication Information
 * 6) *Date (if a website, the date the information was accessed)
 * 7) *Page Number
 * 8) Keep the citation style consistent within an article. The first contributor to add a reference to an article sets the style for that article.

Additional help for creating citations:

The Elizabeth Shown Mills style is preferred by genealogists in the United States because it is a genealogically-targeted adaptation of the popular Chicago and Turabian styles. It is also endorsed as the preferred style of the Board for Certification of Genealogists.

CitationsThe following sites have tools that assist in the automatic creation of source citations:


 * BibMe.org
 * Worldcat
 * Zotero