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Genealogy Do Over Week 5: Research & Citations

 
This week’s prompt is building a research toolbox, and citing sources. I have to admit my toolbox looks like I just threw stuff in there, which is actually pretty much what I did. One of my “to do” items is to clean up my resources, as well as my image folders.

Research toolbox

My research toolbox consists of bookmarked pages. I have started to organize them, as you can see in the image. I have folders in folders! In the folder titled “PA Resources”, there is a folder for various counties.  

Suggested resources:

Ancestry.com – http://home.ancestry.com.  

Civil War Soldiers and Sailors Database - http://www.nps.gov/civilwar/soldiers-and-sailors-database.htm. 

Find My Past - http://www.findmypast.com.au/articles/world-records/full-list-of-united-kingdom-records?sourceID=13.  

Jewish Gen - http://www.jewishgen.org/. 

London Lives 1690 to 1800 - http://www.londonlives.org/.  

Polish Roots - http://polishroots.org/Research/letters_polish/tabid/294/Default.aspx.  

World Was 2 POW Archive - http://www.ww2pow.info/.  

Citing Sources

I have always noted where I found something. Perhaps it was because I was still in high school when I got interested in documenting everything so I was already used to the idea of citing sources. Perhaps it was so I could keep everyone’s family stories straight. I was reporting for a local weekly by senior year so again I was always keeping track of and appreciating sources. So for genealogy it really did just come easy. 

Ancestry.com makes citing sources easy as well. When a document is found, you have the option to save or cancel. The example here shows the New York Passenger List for seven year old “Apalina Morrell.” Upon viewing the actual document, I confirmed her name is Apolina Morrill. The citation information is provided below.  

When working in FTM, the program allows you to enter sources but I also write them within my “Research Notes.” Within those notes though, since I already write out the full citation elsewhere, I may leave it at “as per the 1920 Census” or something similar. The idea there is that I never want to leave my notes to go re-track a source. 

Next week:
Next week’s topics are evaluating evidence and reviewing online education options. 

Looking back:
Week 3 -  tracking research and conducting research
Week 2 - set research goals, self interviews, and family interviews
Week 1  

 

Genealogy Do-Over is a 13 week challenge from Thomas MacEntee, of GeneaBloggers.  
© Jeanne Ruczhak-Eckman, 2015
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