Citing your genealogical research is no different than citing your sources for high school or college papers - you must show where you got the information you are basing your family history on. It is important to show your source as you climb up your family tree. Here are some examples of items that I have found during my time as a genealogy librarian.
Books
Citation template for a printed book source:
Author. Main Title. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year.
Examples:
Dollarhide, William. Census Substitutes & State Census Records: An Annotated Bibliography of Published Name Lists for All 50 U.S. States and State Censuses for 37 States Vol. 1 & 2. Bountiful, Utah: Family Roots Pub. Co., 2008.
Hinckley, Kathleen W. Your Guide to the Federal Census for Genealogists, Researchers, and Family Historians. Cincinnati, Ohio: Betterway Books, 2002.
Articles
Articles in an online magazine
Citation template for an online magazine:
Author. "Article Title." Magazine title (original publication date). item type, Website title, URL: access year.
Examples:
Charpentier, A., & Gallic, E. "Using Collaborative Genealogy Data to Study Migration: A Research Note." History of the Family, 25(1), 1–21 (Mar 1, 2020). Electronic edition. MasterFile Premier, https://doi.org/10.1080/1081602X.2019.1641130: Accessed November 2, 2021.
Null DG. “Genealogy and Family History in the Academic Library.” Journal of Academic Librarianship. 11(1):29 (March 1985). Electronic Edition. MasterFile Premier, https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=7817035&site=ehost-live: Accessed November 6, 2021.
Articles in a print magazine
Citation template for a printed magazine:
Author. "Article title." Magazine, issue date, pages.
Examples:
Alzo, Lisa, “Endangered Sources,” Family Tree Magazine, August 2010, 22-27.
Derrough, Leslie Michele. “Searching for Florida Ancestors?” Internet Genealogy, June/July 2021, 20-22.
Census Databases
Citation template for an online census database:
City, county, state. schedule type. Digital images, Website. (URL: date accessed).
Example:
Gainesville, Alachua County, Florida. 1940 U.S. Census, population schedule. Digital images, Ancestry.com. (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2442/imag: 1 Nov 2021).
City Directories
Printed directory format
Citation template for a printed directory source:
Author. Main Title. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year, page number, entry for name of person.
Example:
Miller, Chas. W. Miller’s Gainesville City Directory, (Asheville, NC : Southern Directory Co, 1938), pg. 113, entry for Ida Bellamy.
Online image of a directory
Citation template for an online image of a directory:
Author. Title (place of publication: Publisher, original publication date); imaged in "Name of Collection," database with images, Name of Website (URL of website : date accessed), path [aka waypoints] leading to the exact image.
Example:
San Diego Directory Co. San Diego (California) City Directory 1941, (San Diego, CA: San Diego Directory Co., 1941); imaged in "U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995," database with images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com: 2021), > California > San Diego > 1941), image 663, with title page at image 75.
Newspapers
Citation template for a newspaper article:
"Title of article," Newspaper, Publication date. type of image. Name of Website: (URL: accessed date).
Example:
“Spanish Painting Discussed at Meeting of Gainesville Association of Fine Arts,” Gainesville (Florida) Sun, December 4, 1930. Digital Image. America's News – Historical and Current: (https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=AMNEWS&docref=im…- 1814F3E71F9FAC4B%401-1814F3E71F9FAC4B%40: accessed 27 Oct 2021).
Vital records
Citation template for an online vital record:
"Title of database," database with images, Website (URL: date accessed), type of vital record, > path [aka waypoints] leading to the exact image number.
Example (death certificate for a George Earl Scott in Texas):
"Texas Deaths, 1890-1976," database with images, FamilySearch.
(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GYB1-QSS9?cc=1983324&wc=9T… : 22 July 2014), Death certificates, > 1941 > Vol 071, certificates 035200-035500, Jul-Aug, Wise-Bexar counties > image 269 of 313.
Journals
Citation template for a printed journal:
Author. "Title of Article," Journal Title volume & number (publication date), starting page of article.
Example:
Mahon, John K. “Daniel Newnan: A Neglected Figure in Florida,” The Florida Historical Quarterly. Vol. LXXIV, No. 2 (Fall 1995), p. 148.
I hope these examples will help you with keeping your citations sorted. For this blog, I consulted Evidence! Citation and Analysis For the Family Historian by Elizabeth Shown Mills, as well as online citation guides from Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org. Just make sure you can replicate your way to the item you are referencing. Good luck, and happy researching!