Good good good good citations
I'm pickin' up good citations
Your giving me excitations
Good good good good citations [1]
Here is how I write family history articles and books using citations. This works the best for me and is meant only as a suggestion. When working with citations you must find the method that is the most productive for you.I develop a Word document (or a document in any text editing program) called my Master Citation File. When I purchase a book, find a document, census, etc. I cite it immediately (it only takes a moment and you never have to do it again). Exactly as Elizabeth Shown Mills has done in her QuickCheck Model in Evidence Explained, I create a Source List Entry (Bibliographic), a First (Full) Reference Note, and a Subsequent (Short) Note for each source. (
See below.)
Under the category Book it would look like this:Source List Entry – Bibliographic Citation:Ashenburg, Katherine.
The Dirt On Clean: An Unsanitized History. New York: North Point Press, 2007.
First (Full) Reference Note: 1. Katherine Ashenburg,
The Dirt On Clean: An Unsanitized History (New York: North Point Press, 2007), XX.
Subsequent (Short) Note.11. Ashenburg,
The Dirt On Clean, XX.
NOTE: Proofread to make sure the citations are correct. You only want to write a citation once.I use XX’s in place of numbers, as numbers will not always be the same.
Category:
-- Book
--------------------
Dirt On Clean
Ashenburg, Katherine. The Dirt On Clean: An Unsanitized History. New York: North Point Press, 2007.
X. Katherine Ashenburg, The Dirt On Clean: An Unsanitized History (New York: North Point Press, 2007), XX.
X. Ashenburg, The Dirt On Clean, XX.
--------------------
-- Census
-- Death Certificate
-- Magazine
-- Newspaper
-- Etc.
When I begin writing I open a new Word document and pull the sources I will be using from the main citation document and drop them in my new project document.
This cuts down on the number of sources I have to draw from.I keep this document open as I write. When I reach a point where I need to insert a citation I highlight the correct citation, copy, and paste in my project document as I write making sure to enter the correct page numbers.
I learned this the hard way. In one of my first projects I wrote my paper placing a red X in the spot where I needed a citation and continued writing until the document was finished. Then I had to go back and try to remember what the red X meant and create a footnote. Twenty pages into the paper I had to use one of the first citations again. I had to search the document for the original citation. It took three times as long to write the paper and I vowed I would never do this again. I developed this method and for me it works.What are the first and subsequent references and how do you use them:
First and subsequent references to a source:The first time you cite a source, the note should include publication information for that work as well as the page number on which the passage being cited can be found.
1. Katherine Ashenburg,
The Dirt On Clean: An Unsanitized History (New York: North Point Press, 2007), 85.
For subsequent references to a source you have already cited, give only the author's last name, a short form of the title, and the page or pages cited. A short form of the title of a book is italicized; a short form of the title of an article is put in quotation marks.
4. Ashenburg,
The Dirt On Clean, 188.
When you have two consecutive notes from the same source, you may use "Ibid." “Ibid.” is short for the Latin "Ibidem", meaning "the same". Use "Ibid." alone if the page number is the same. (When used, ibid. replaces as much of the immediately preceding citation as is identical with the current one.)
5. Ibid.
If the source is the same but the page number is different use “Ibid.” plus the page number.
6. Ibid., 61.
When an intervening source has been cited or more than two or three pages have elapsed, a short citation should be given. Then “Ibid.” may be used again.
6. Ashenburg,
The Dirt On Clean, 250.
7. Ibid., 64
How To correctly Use Block Quotes:Short QuotationsIf a quotation runs fewer than ten lines of typed text, does not involve more than one paragraph, and is not an epigraph or a quotation of verse or poetry, enclose the quotation in double quotation marks (“ Quote ”), but do not otherwise set the quotation off from the text.
Longer QuotationsIf a quotation runs more than ten lines of typed text, involves more than one paragraph, and is an epigraph or a quotation of verse or poetry, it is usually set off from the text.
A way of indicating this is to indent from the left, with either a justified or a ragged right margin, or to indent from both the left and right. The block of quote should be single-spaced. Do not use quotation marks at the beginning or end of the block quotation. Separate the block quote from the text below and above with a double space. (Chicago Manual of Style.)
Using Templates For Citations:Randy,
GeneaMusings, has written an interesting
article on citations and given links to citation templates. There is nothing wrong with using a citation template.
That said, there are several things to consider.
First, the most important thing is to always cite your sources and be consistent.
-- Being consistent makes creating citations much easier, even with templates.
-- Consistency can lead to learning how to write citations without the assistance of templates.
Secondly, not all templates are created equal.
-- Just because a template is offered online "for free" doesn't mean it is correct.
-- Check its output against
Evidence Explained by the Goddess of Citations, Elizabeth Shown Mills.
-- If it doesn't comply - adjust or don't use it.
As Family Historians we are trying to establish standards. Ms. Mills has set them, we should use them.
Below I show a comparison of the method used in the ProGenealogists' template and that used in
QuickSheet: Citing Online Historical Resources, Elizabeth Shown Mills. Please note the difference.
ProGenealogists Template:
Ancestry.com's 1880-1930 Census Images online, Population Schedules. The _underscore_ means that the phrase should be italicized.
[Year] U.S. Federal Census (Population Schedule), [City], [Twp.], [County], [State], ED xxx, Sheet xxx, Dwelling xxx, Family xxx, [Head] household, jpeg image, (Online: The Generations Network, Inc., 2007), subscription database, [Digital scan of original records in the National Archives, Washington, DC],
, accessed [month year].
QuickSheet - Elizabeth Shown Mills (My template):
"Year United States Federal Census," database, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed Day Month Year), entry for Name, [b.] Year, City, County, State.
Ancestry.com's 1880-1930 Census Images - All three:
Source List Entry:
"1880 United States Federal Census." Database. Ancestry.com. http://www.ancestry.com : 2007. [2]
Full Reference Note:
1. "1880 United States Federal Census," database, Ancestry.com (Http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 January 2007), entry for Leung Tung Wong, [b.] 1861/1862, holyoke, Hampden County Massachusetts. [3]
Short Reference Note
11. "1880 U.S. Federal Census," Ancestry.com database entry for Leung Tung Wong, [b.] 1861/1862, Holyoke, Hampden Co., Mass. [4]
You could just as easily create your own templates for the most common sources you use based on the Evidence Explained standard as I did above.
I adhere to the Evidence Explained Standards in my family histories and papers. I am not as cautious in my blogs and I should be, as more people read my blogs then my papers. So do as I recommend not as I do.
As Family Historians let's establish some standards and stick to them.
[1] Wilson, Brian, and Mike Love. “Good Vibrations.” Lyrics. Good Vibrations, Single. Brian Wilson, 1966. Copyright ©1966 & 1978, Brian Wilson and Mike Love. Lyrics Freak (http://www.lyricsfreak.com/b/beach+boys/good+vibrations_20013757.html : accessed 18 October 2007).
[2] Mills, Elizabeth Shown. QuickSheet: Citing Online Historical Resources. (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co. 2007), 2.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.