Help:Sources

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A source is the identification of where you obtained information.

Sources are critically important for genealogy. It's been said that "genealogy without sources is mythology".[1] See Getting Started With Genealogy: Source, Source, Source.

You must include your sources when you add information to WikiTree. It's in our Honor Code. See Help:Sources FAQ.

Here is how to record sources on WikiTree.

Contents

How to Add Sources to Profiles

There are two ways to add your sources.

List them at the bottom

Near the bottom of the text of every profile (when viewed in Edit mode) there should be a section like this:

== Sources ==
<references />
See also:
* "US Census, 1900", database online. Home Township, Small Town, Washington, USA; pg. 100, family 10, dwelling 15, lines 150-157; June 1, 1900; National Archives Microfilm M-10, Roll 100.

Add your source here. The asterisk (*) creates a bibliography-style bulleted list item.

Embed them as references (footnotes)

As you become more experienced and start to collaborate with other WikiTreers you will need to learn how to create references, also known as footnotes or citations.

Directly after stating a fact in the biography for which you have a source, surround the reference with these tags:

<ref>  ...  </ref>

This button on the edit toolbar will automatically create them: cite-source.png

References will automatically appear in place of the <references /> tag, which should be directly below the == Sources == headline.

Here's an example:

Some even say that "genealogy without sources is mythology".<ref>Schulze, Lorine McGinnis."[http://www.olivetreegenealogy.com/articles/myth.shtml Genealogy without Sources is Mythology]." Article on Olivetree. Accessed 03 Aug 2023.</ref>

You can see the footnote this produces at the bottom of this page.

Click here for an example on a profile's edit page.

See the Sources Style Guide if you need more info on the technical elements or styling of the Sources section.

Examples of Complete Source Citations

A good source citation enables others to:

  1. judge the accuracy of the information found on the profile, and
  2. independently verify the information by finding the source themselves.

A complete source citation includes:

  • who made the record,
  • what the record is,
  • when the record was made, and
  • where the record is/was found.

The ideal citation format on WikiTree is Chicago Manual of Style (CMoS), generally following Elizabeth Shown Mills' Evidence Explained.[2] Some members use the Citation Machine to format sources. However, we don't get hung up on creating perfect source citations, especially on modern profiles.

Book

Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995), vol. 1, p. 122-127.

If you found the book online, including the full URL will make it easier for other researchers to find it.

Periodical

D. L. Thomas and N. E. Evans, "John Shakespeare in The Exchequer," Shakespeare Quarterly, vol. 35, no. 3 (1984), p. 315-318. [[Example-6|John Example]] has a copy of it and will scan the pages on request.

For newspaper and magazine articles be sure to include the title of the article as well as the title of the publication. Publishers are only necessary if the issue might not be easy to locate.

If it's a rare book or periodical you might also include where it can be found, such as in the collection of a certain person or library.

Web page

Wikipedia contributors. "[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington George Washington]." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Accessed 1 Jan 2016.

When citing a web page it's very important to include the full URL. In most web browsers this will appear in the address bar at the very top of your screen.

Surrounding the URL with [brackets] makes it a link. For more about links on WikiTree, see Adding Links.

Some web sites include source citations that you can copy-and-paste, e.g.:

  • FamilySearch.org has a "Show citation" in the lower left corner that will generate a fine citation.
  • If you're an Ancestry.com subscriber, looking at the image of a source, you can type "s", though these typically need editing as they contain too much information.
  • Wikipedia has a "cite this page" link in the left column. Choose "Chicago style".

Note that links to free websites that anyone can access, such as FamilySearch, are better than links to sources on paid websites. See Commercial Web Sites as Sources.

Family bible

Mary (Lorman) Whitten, [[Space:Whitten Family Bible|Family Bible]], 1880-1944, The Holy Bible (New York: American Bible Society, 1873); privately held by [[Example-6|John Example]], California, 2023.

If the source is a unique family heirloom or clipping, consider uploading a photo of it or create a free-space profile (more info).

Cemetery headstone

Evergreen Cemetery (New York, New York, USA). Joe and Jane Schmoe's headstone, row 27C, personally photographed by [[Example-6|John Example]], 2015.

Be sure to include the location of the cemetery, who visited it, and when.

If you have a photo of a headstone upload it to the individual's profile page. Do not upload a photo you found on another website without express permission from the photographer.

Census

"1880 United States Census," database, [https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/ FamilySearch] (accessed August 28, 2023), entry for Hannah Rose (age 50), District 2, page 27, Brooklyn, Kings, New York; citing NARA microfilm publication T9.

Church record

First Congregational Church (Natick, Massachusetts), Church Records 1802-1833, p. 123, Martin Morris, baptism, 2 May 1806; Congregational Library & Archives, Boston, Massachusetts.

This is a source citation for an original church record.

For church records indexed or digitized online, it's important to include the name of the website and ideally a link to the record, like this:

St Mary's Church (Kirkdale, Liverpool, England). "Marriages, 1895-1898", p. 21, Andrew Scott and Clara Thompson, 15 December 1895. digital images, [https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G96B-T3MD FamilySearch] (accessed June 30, 2023).

Passenger list

"New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1891", database with images, [https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVPJ-P238 FamilySearch] (accessed 2 July 2020), entry for Barbara Braun, aged 52, arrived New York, 1867, aboard the Columbus.

Probate record

John Jackson, Will, 1792; Middlesex County Probate file no. 12433; Massachusetts State Archives, Boston, Massachusetts.

Second-hand information

Schmoe, Joe. Personal recollection, 3 Jun 2011, as told to [[Example-6|John Example]] via the phone. Notes in the possession of John Example.

Often genealogical information is provided by other family members.

It's a good idea to include who said certain information, and if you remember, when and where they said it. You may also want to include a link to the person's WikiTree profile page.

First-hand information (yourself)

[[Example-6|Example, John]]. Personal recollection, 8 Sep 2023.



Advanced Sourcing

Repeated use of the same source in the same profile

Here's how to use the same source citation multiple times. The first time you use it, include a "name" inside the ref tag, like this:

<ref name="birth certificate">Birth Certificate of George Russell Beebe, Registration 398-5554-428 (1920), Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services - Bureau of Vital Records, Personal copy in the files of [[Beebe-655|Barbara Beebe]]</ref>

In all following references you can just use this:

<ref name="birth certificate" />

Done this way, all subsequent footnotes for this same source will point to the same footnote at the bottom of the page. Note that " in the "birth certificate" example above is a quotation mark, not two apostrophes.

(Other methods for using the same source multiple times have been variously proposed and used. All methods other than the above are not recommended. See Alternative Sourcing Methods for more on this.)

Repeated use of the same source in different profiles

If you are using the same source on multiple profiles, especially if you have more information about the source than can comfortably fit in a traditional citation — such as multiple websites or repositories where it might be found — or you may want to collaborate with others who are using that source, you may want to create a free-space profile of it. See Profiles of Sources.

(Note that "source templates" have been used by advanced members but are not recommended. External link templates have been approved. See Category:Source Templates and Alternative Sourcing Methods for more information.)



  1. Schulze, Lorine McGinnis. "Genealogy without Sources is Mythology." Article on Olivetree. Accessed 03 Aug 2023.
  2. Elizabeth Shown Mills, Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace, Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co.; 3rd edition (May 22, 2015). See also the author's blog by the same name: Evidence Explained.


This page was last modified 12:48, 26 October 2023. This page has been accessed 828,067 times.