4.2 Citations

When creating source citations, consider the following: 1) Would someone else be able to find the source if all they had to work with was this citation? 2) Are the citations consistent throughout the project? Ideas about how to accomplish these two things vary, but there are resources to assist in crafting and formatting effective source citations.

CitationA source reference that uses a standard format to describe the source. is defined by the Board for Certifications of Genealogists (BCG) as “a source reference that uses a standard format to describe the source,”1 thus reinforcing the importance of the carefully formatted citation leading researchers to the source. Professional Genealogy teaches citations in a section titled “Defining Professionalism,” which deals with ethics, honesty, and integrity and explains that not citing a source is a type of dishonesty in research.2 Citations allow family historians to show evidence that their discoveries and data are as close to the truth as possible. Citations also help with collaboration and communication. Much of family history research is finding a collection of sources that paint an accurate picture of a person’s life. Without citations, the writing, reports, names, places, and dates may as well be fiction.

Historian and author Mary Lynn Rampolla tells students that, in order to answer historical questions, they must gain skills which help them “evaluate, organize, and interpret a wide variety of sources.”3 Source citations improve organization, as well as increase accuracy in analyzing or communicating research results. Solid citations give credibility to research by presenting findings with professionalism and clearly communicating in an organized, academic manner. The University of California Libraries’ guide emphasizes the need for comprehensible communication: “Citations are for transparency and access. Academic papers are conversations between multiple authors.”4 One researcher may find the best documentation available at that time and present research that another genealogist will find and later expand by adding newly discovered information.

Besides creating citations for documents and records tied to the research subject, Certified Genealogist® Debbie Parker Wayne explains that other materials used in analyzing and interpreting evidence must also be properly cited:

Researchers create citations in the research log and then copy those citations into genealogy software or on the family group record to prove each fact or event tied to an individual. Nothing should be printed on the family group record or entered into genealogy software without a source citation. Ideas and explorations belong in the research log; only sourced information makes it to the software and family group record. Later, when writing reports, the genealogist uses the citations as footnotes or endnotes and creates a bibliography of sources that follows the final report.