|
Research Aids: Citation Help for the Internet Genealogist
Just the Basics by Tarver-Gen
Still fumbling for ways to cite your sources? What follows are some simple guidelines that I adapted (very loosely) from Kate Turabian's style guide. Most historians use the Turabian style guide for citing sources. A distinctive convention of Turabian style is the representation of italics for book and journal titles. I follow that convention for the name of Internet Web sites.
The whole point (besides giving credit where due) is to be able to relocate the information when I need it, so I try to be as accurate as possible, and give as much detail as I'll need to retrace my original steps.
Please remember to cite Tarver-Gen when you extract details from this Web site. Read the copyright info at the bottom of each page.
Citing Electronic Genealogy Sources
World Wide Web (WWW), FTP (Gopher &Telnet)
The standard format for a Web citation is:
Author's Last Name, First Name <author's email address>. "Title of Document" or "title line of message," Web site name. Date document created. [online]: URL (Accessed date accessed).
Some examples
-
Branch, Jo. "Land Records: Isaac Frances Marion Skinner deeds, Winn Parish, LA," Rootsweb. Nov 1999. [online]: ftp://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/la/winn/land/skinifm.txt (Accessed 16 Apr 2000).
-
Cirilo, Lotus <lotus@cirilo.net> "Cemeteries: Pinegrove Baptist Church Cemetery," Tarver-Gen. 23 May 2001. [online]: http://www.tarver-genealogy.net/cemeteries/ la/lasalle/pinegrove/ (Accessed 04 June 2001).
-
Matthews, William Allen Jr. <cicsos2@us.ibm.com> "John Garrett Matthews & Mary Agnes Hurley," Matthews Family. n.d. [online]: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~matthews/JGMatthews/ (Accessed 28 Dec 2000).
Basic guidelines
- Use the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) to identify the source of the material. Start with the prefix that identifies the type of Web site accessed, for example "http://", "ftp://", "gopher://", etc.
-
[online]: http://www.rootsweb.com/~lagenweb/
- [online]: http://www.tarver-genealogy.net/cemeteries/la/pinegrove/
- Give filenames as you first encountered them, including suffixes, such as "txt", "html", "ged", or "zip".
- Preserve case of letters (CAPITAL or small case) in online directories and filenames, as it is usually significant.
- Put the address on one line so that, if a hypertext link to that address is created, it can be easily and accurately read. If necessary, arrange for breaks to occur only at punctuation separators (such as @ . or /), and continue with letters on the next line.
- Include two dates. Unlike books, many documents on the Internet change rapidly. If the accessed document is dated, include that date in the citation. If there is no date given, make the notation "not dated" or "n.d.". Always include the date you accessed the document (prefixed by "Accessed" in parentheses, as shown above).
- Where available, give the authors email address. This is in case the Web page later disappears, you can contact the author for follow-up.
Digitized Images of Primary sources, displayed online
The standard format for citing a digital image is:
Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Document." Date document created. "Title of Web site exhibit," Web site name. [online]: URL (Accessed date accessed).
An example
In this case, the original author and title are cited, with the date the primary document was created. Afterwards cite the Web site document displaying your source, and the name of the site, followed by the URL and finally, the date you accessed the document. This more accurately reflects fact that your source is a primary document. It also helps you retrace your steps if you need to locate the document again. (All that, besides giving credit!)
Posted Queries
The standard format for a posted query is:
Author's Last Name, First Name <email address>. "subject" or "title line of query/message." [online]: URL, Date query posted. (Accessed date accessed).
Some examples
-
Bornette, Yvonne Tarver. <mawmawb@swbell.net> "BASS / RANDALL / TARVER" [online]: http://www.rootsweb.com/~msamite/query06.htm#Q156, 16 Sep 2000 (Accessed 07 Jan 2001).
-
Tarver, John <j.tarver@worldnet.att.net>, "TARVER: Jobe Tarver, 1870 MS-LA." [online]: http://genforum.genealogy.com/cgi-genforum/pageload.cgi?jobe::tarver::58.html, 06 Jan 1999 (Accessed 14 April 2000).
Basic guidelines
- The guidelines outlined above for Web sites work for posted queries.
- In the case of a crossposted query, cite only one posting (most suitably, the one you are actually citing).
E-mail Messages
The standard format for an email message is:
Author's Last Name, First Name <email address>. "subject" or "title line of message." Private email message to Your Name. Date message written.
Some examples
-
Tarver, Carroll C. <carroll@wtshouston.net> "Thomas Tarver" Private email message to Lotus Cirilo, 16 May 2000.
-
Cirilo, Lotus D. <lotus@cirilo.net>; "Welch / Matthews Genealogy" Private email message to Neely Pitre, 11 May 1998.
Basic guidelines
- Include all identifying information: author's name and email address, subject of email message and date written, and to whom it was addresses.
Rootsweb Mailing List Messages
The standard format for an mailing list message is:
Author's Last Name, First Name <email address>. "subject" or "title line of message." Mailing list message. Date message written. Archived [online]: Internet Address.
Some examples
-
Clarke, Karen A. <silverjz@mindspring.com> "[TARVER-L] Albert Tarver Clark - GA" Mailing list message, 2 May 2000. Archived [online]: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/TARVER/2000-05
-
Tarver, Carroll C. <carroll@wtshouston.net> "[TARVER-L] Jack T.Tarver" Mailing list message, 15 May 2001. Archived [online]: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/TARVER/2001-05
Basic guidelines
- Include all identifying information: author's name and email address, Mailing list, subject of message and date written, and where the message is archived (if known).
|
|
