Citation Baby Steps

This is the syllabus for one of a series of classes taught by Robert Raymond and represents his private opinions. Suggestions for changes should be made on this page's Talk page.

= Baby Steps =

= Level 1: Entry Level =

Entry level genealogists often see no purpose to record citations.

Citations serve two main purposes. The first is to help us find the original source. If we are using an online copy of a record, we need to also indicate the citation of the offline original. This isn’t as hard as it may sound. Reputable websites like Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org provide both citations for you.

The second purpose of citations is to help us quickly judge the strength of a source without having to find and look at it. In particular, we indicate if the source is an index only, images, or both index and images.

= Level 2: Emerging =

Emerging genealogists understand that they need to cite their sources. Incidentally, to aid understanding we should use the words source and citation correctly. A source is the record or person from which we obtain information. The text that describes the source is not a source, it is a citation.

Emerging genealogists often lack the experience to know how much information should be included in a citation. For example, it is a bad practice to specify just a URL (web address) or an identification number like a batch number, film number, or call number.

URLs change, and they do so quickly. URLs for census images on Ancestry.com changed when they switched viewers. Those for FamilySearch Record Search no longer work. Those for the classic FamilySearch website will soon stop working. Batch numbers almost went away on the latest FamilySearch.org. Did you know that the Family History Library changed film numbers many years ago? Robert has a family group sheet with an old film number and it is very difficult to figure out the current film number. Many libraries switched away from the Dewey Decimal call numbers.

Citations for published sources are pretty easy, so emerging genealogists often create them. The basic information is title, author, page numbers, and publication year. The two we sometimes forget are publisher and place of publication. Some books have different authors for each chapter and so the citation includes the name of the chapter and its author.

You don’t have to remember these elements or the order because genealogy programs have templates. You merely fill in the blanks and the program formulates the citation according to the Chicago Manual of Style, the certified genealogists’ standard.

= Level 3: Practicing =

The practicing genealogist increasingly captures the necessary information for non-published—manuscript—sources. This is also easy if you have the latest and greatest genealogy programs. Again, you fill in the blanks.

= Level 4: Proficient =

The proficient genealogist uses Mills Style to create good citations even when using a program like Word or Excel that doesn’t have templates for genealogy sources. Mills Style is described in Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace. Evidence Explained contains easy to use templates and the information necessary to adapt the templates to other situations.

Manually citing online record collections is straightforward. Webpages and online collections or databases are cited like chapters in a book. “S.o.s.” stands for “source of the source” and is the source of the collection as specified by the website. Item type is “database,” “database and digital images,” or just “digital images.”



For example, here’s a citation to the death certificate for Lyndon Baines Johnson, the 36th president of the United States:


 * 1. “Texas Deaths, 1890-1976,” database and images, FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 12 August 2010), search for Lyndon Baines Johnson, died 1973; citing “Texas Bureau of Vital Statistics. Digital images of originals housed at the State Registrar Office in Austin, Texas.”

= Level 5: Stellar =

The stellar genealogist understands all citation principles and can produce the highest of quality citations for the most extreme of circumstances. Consider this citation produced by the proficient genealogist:


 * 2. “Denmark Baptisms, 1618-1923,” database, FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 27 September 2011), Emanuel Trepka Bloch, 1873; citing “Index includes the IGI, digital copies of original records, and compiled records. FHL digital and microfilm copies. Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah”; FHL microfilm 300,491.

The stellar genealogist’s version is:


 * 3. “Denmark Baptisms, 1618-1923,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.2/9CB7-PX3/p2 : accessed 27 September 2011), Emanuel Trepka Bloch, 1873; from Den Danske Folkekirke (København Helligånds sogn) [Danish National Church (Copenhagen, Denmark)], “Helligaands Kirkes Daabsprotokol [Holy Church Baptisms], 1872-1880,” p. 27, entry 76, Michael Trepka Bloch and twin Emanuel Trepka Bloch, 29 January 1873, Landsarkivet for Sjælland, København [Provincial Archives of Zealand, Copenhagen]; FHL microfilm 300,491.

= Summary =

Citations have two purposes: First, make it possible to locate the original source, and if online, the online copy. Second, characterize the strength of the source to make it possible to make a quick judgment about the strength of the source.

Using the table at the start of this handout, and using what you learned in class today, set a small, baby step improvement goal. See Genealogical Maturity for more information.

= Continuing Education =

Advancing from level to level requires continuing education. Avail yourself of these resources:

= Notes =