EXPLANATIONS!

Fully Documented - Cite the source of your information and the place where you found it.

• If is a document (Birth, Marriage,Death Certificate or Family Bible) you found in your family's possession, state that fact and who owns it.
  
• If is a document from a Civil Source (ie. County Courthouse, National Archives, Social Security, etc.) cite the particular court (ie, County, Probate, etc) or agency, the book number and page number.
  
• If it is from a published source, cite the title of the publication, the author, publisher, published date, and the call number for the particular institution where you found it and the page number.
  
• If it is a microfilm, list the Microfilm number and the reel number if there are more than one reels of film (for instance, the 1900 census records are T623, then each county within each state has a reel number (the Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory is #1847). This particular record would be listed as T623 #1847.
  
• IF IT IS FROM SOMETHING PUBLISHED ON THE INTERNET cite the URL, the author, and note whether they have documented the information as to their source.

When I take notes I have a format I use at the top of a page that looks like this:

DOCUMENT FILE #:
REPOSITORY:
SOURCE:
CALL #:
DATE OF SEARCH:

If my notes take more than one page I add a notation in right margin beside Document File stating that this "Page 1 of (x number) of pages." The second page would have only an abbreviated Source title and notation of "Page 2 of (x number) of pages."

You can work out a format that is to your liking BUT BE CONSISTANT.

Document every page of notes you take!

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INTERNET SOURCES

There is a lot of information available on the internet but CAUTION is urged when using this information.

• If it is a person's family information, STATE THAT FACT, and list that individual as the SOURCE. To confirm any information of this type, contact the person and find out where they got their information. This type of information is always a "Secondary" source and MUST be checked for authenticity.
• If it is a web page with transcriptions of official records (ie., census records, rolls, cemetery recrods, etc.) CHECK to see if the SOURCE of the information is listed. If you will note on my pages for the the Chapman Roll I list the microfilm that I used in transcribing that information.
                  Keep in mind that a typescript CAN CONTAIN ERRORS
                  and is open to the interpretation of the transcriber as far
                  as reading the writing of the original document.
• If it is from an email message that you received, cite it as a "letter" with the sender's name and email address as the "author" and LIST IT AS A SECONDARY SOURCE until you discover where they obtained the information.

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This page created 31 August 1998 by Jerry Wright Jordan .

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