GPS Element #2 – Source Citations
This is part of my ongoing series on
Educational Preparation for BCG Certification. It is not limited to those
interested in certification, but provides ideas for any interested genealogist.
There are links to the other posts in the series at the bottom of this article.
To understand the
second element of the GPS, “complete, accurate citations to the source or
sources of each information item,” I recommend the following:
Informal Study Options
1. If you only do one
thing, it should be:
Read
chapter 2 on “Fundamentals of Citation” in Evidence
Explained: Citing History Sources
from Artifacts to Cyberspace by Elizabeth Shown Mills (Baltimore:
Genealogical Publishing Company, 2015).
This chapter explains that “citation is an
art, not a science.” It also provides the purpose, format and common practices
of creating citations for a wide variety of sources. It will help you understand
source citation, and make the practice of crafting citations easier.
This book is available from Genealogical Publishing Company or Amazon.
2. If you have finished #1 then you are ready
to move on.
Elizabeth Shown Mills has
provided many resources for helping us learn to craft citations. Now that you
have read chapter 2 in Evidence Explained:
Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace, you may as well browse
the rest of the book. Notice that there are not only QuickCheck Models for many
types of citations, but also background information on each type of source and
details on what you would need to include in the citation.
3. One of the best resources available online
is EvidenceExplained.com.
Elizabeth Shown Mills shares a
variety of resources on this website, including:
Evidence Explained Forums – a place for you to ask questions on
citation issues, evidence analysis issues, and record usage and interpretation.
You should read the archives for answers to many of your questions, or
questions you did not know you had.
Evidence Explained QuickLessons -
brief lessons on a variety of source, analysis and citation topics. Here
are a few that are relevant to studying source citation:
QuickTips – the blog at EvidenceExplained.com. Start
with these posts:
4. Read chapter 4 of Mastering Genealogical Proof by Thomas
W. Jones (Arlington, Virginia: National Genealogical Society, 2013). This
chapter on source citations gives a five-part model for creating citations, and
several figures with examples of citations created using the model. There are
also fifteen exercises to pick apart and create citations for practice.
5. Review chapter 2 on “Standards for Documenting” in Genealogy Standards: 50th
Anniversary Edition by the Board for Certification of Genealogists (Nashville:
Ancestry, 2014). This chapter contains eight standards for citations including purposes,
scope, elements, and format. Standard five provides an easy to remember model
of who, what, when, where and wherein as elements of a citation.
Formal
Learning Activities:
6. If you are an
auditory learner, you might like the following recorded presentations from the
2014 Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) national conference:
by Elizabeth Shown Mills
Why should citing sources cause angst or obsession? Learning a few basic rules lets us apply a
Why should citing sources cause angst or obsession? Learning a few basic rules lets us apply a
common-sense approach
that avoids both frustration and overkill.
by Thomas W. Jones
Learn how to document a family history, five characteristics of complete and accurate citations,
Learn how to document a family history, five characteristics of complete and accurate citations,
and a simplified format for
citing most sources, both physical and digital.
7. If you have completed all of the above, and still want more,
then you might like a full week of “Mastering the Art of
Genealogical Documentation” with Thomas W. Jones at the Genealogical
Research Institute of Pittsburgh in June 2016.
Note:
These are just ideas for you to add to your individual education plan as you choose. They are NOT meant to be a checklist where you have to read/study/participate in every option.
Previous posts in this series:
Educational Preparation for BCG Certification
Studying the Genealogical Proof Standard
Educational Preparation for BCG Certification
Studying the Genealogical Proof Standard
I just read "Understanding FamilySearch Citation Models" by Robert Raymond in the September 2015 issue of the Association of Professional Genealogists Quarterly and found it quite good. Another place for more education.
ReplyDeleteJamie, Thank you for recommending the article by Robert Raymond. I was hoping that people would add their recommendations to my list.
DeleteThanks for this list! I am currently taking a course through NGS by Michael Hait titled "American Genealogical Studies: Guide to Documentation and Source Citation." At first, I thought I was really grasping citations. But, now I'm to the quiz part and am really struggling! I think I'll take a break and go through some of your recommendations. I already did item #1 between last night and this morning as I TRIED to get a grasp on citations. I'll move on to item #2!
ReplyDelete