Citing an online digital archive

Question

I want to cite the Norwegian Digital Archives (Digitalarkivet) in several ancestors' profiles. DA isn't super helpful in that it doesn't provide a source citation one can copy. How do I go about properly citing this source?

For an example, here is a page for one of my husband's ancestors. I have no idea how to cite this:https://www.digitalarkivet.no/en/view/387/pc00000001352210
Thanks!

Comments

You should probably get answers from Norwegians if you included a tag for Norway.

Answer 1

According to the Complete source information, this is an extract made by Folkehelseinstituttet (the Norwegian Institute of Public Health), implicitly from the databases of Folkeregisteret (the National Population Register of Norway), and thus as authoritative as it gets.

I'd cite it with two urls: one to the source description, and another to the actual record, perhaps something like this:

[https://www.digitalarkivet.no/en/source/108008 Deaths 1951-2014], online database at the Norwegian Digital Archive. Death of [https://www.digitalarkivet.no/en/view/387/pc00000001352210 Alfred Aannestad], February 1953 (day is missing).

Comments

Thank you so much! (Tusen takk!) That's super helpful. Now I have a sort-of template I can use to see how to order things. I very much appreciate your kindness in showing me how it should look.

Answer 2

Google "Evidence Explained Quick Checks Digital Online Archive"

Comments

Thank you, I'll check that out!

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I'm sorry -- I'm more confused than ever. That website makes my brain explode. (Maybe it's my ADHD?) I know we want to be sure we're careful about what we cite and how, but surely there is a simple answer for how to cite this death record? It's not a church/parish book, it's just from "Deaths, 1921-2015" and lists the Norwegian Institute of Public Health as the "contributor."

(And it's entirely possible that the answer was sitting in front of me and I missed it, but I couldn't find anything other than how to cite the kirkeboker (church books), and even then the answer was confusing.

Here's the link to the page for "Deaths 1921-2015": https://www.digitalarkivet.no/en/source/108008

I don't know what format to put this in, or how to connect it with the page of Alfred Aannestad's death record that I linked to in my original comment. It's a great record because I did not have his death date until I went hunting at the Norwegian Digital Archives, but since they don't provide a citation for each record, I just don't have a clue how to cite it.

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I felt that way too, but after purchasing the book and reading it through I think it's a useful structure on which to hang citations. Takes a minute to get used to, but ensures that others will find their way to what you did, in almost any situation.

Are all my citations that good? No, definitely not, I am mostly copy/pasting from the provided citations on places like familysearch and findAGrave, or using the Ancestry Citer app. But as I'm eating this elephant (i.e. my families' profiles) one of the steps I will take someday will be to revisit and revise to match Evidence Explained format as much as possible.

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I like your last paragraph there -- I tend to be super perfectionistic about everything and worried to death that I'm doing something "wrong", thus the distress over not being able to find the "one right way" to do it, or to figure it out. But I like that you can say, "I'm doing the best I can and later when I learn more I can fix it." That's what I need to tell myself! I appreciate your encouragement to read the book and also to just do my best. ^_^

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Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good! I would love to complete each profile fully before moving to the next, but I lose motivation when I try to do that. Breaking things up into simple steps is really helping me keep momentum over time, and not get burned out/bogged down when I can't find things.