How to add sources.

Question

what does sources mean and how do you add it to your profile please

Comments

Herbert added good information, but if you need an example:

https://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Durbin-704&public=1

That is my grandfather. He has sources to support the facts in his biography. Census, marriage, death (though not a primary source in his death/birth cases).

I added a source to one of your profiles:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Bevins-265

It was found by searching at familysearch.org

---

Jane, there is actually a very simple answer:

A source is how you know something is true.

​After that, it can get a little complicated.  Some sources are better than others.  For example, if you say someone was born on a certain date, a copy of the birth registration record is more reliable than "her g-g-g-grandson's wife's sister said so".  The link Herbert gave you will help explain how we put value on different sources.  We always strive to use official records, but if all we have is a family story or (heaven forbid) an online tree, then we use it and plan to think of it as a clue to help us find a better source.

Answer 1

Hi Jane,

That's a huge question.  I don't think you can get a complete answer here at G2G.  Instead, start here:  https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Sources

Comments

Haha, or as Herbert says when I was debating the best way to put it simply ;-)

---

Darn good effort, Lizzie!  :D

---

Thanks for the star, Pip!

Answer 2

Hi Jane,

It took me a while to get to grips with it all!

Simple sources are proof of the person. Birth, marriage or death records and census records are the basic ones. But pictures, newspapers, books can also be sources!

For your basic sources I find the easiest way is when you are on the profile you want to source click on the drop down menu (top right) with their wiki-id. one of the options will be research. Click this and you'll have to sign into rootsearch and in turn this will sign you into familysearch when you select it. This is all free!

 Familysearch will bring up a list of possible sources for your profile; when you find the right one scroll right to the bottom of the source and there is a down arrow that will show you a source citation, simply copy and paste this to your profile and you can access the source whenever you want! All you have to do is click on it!

It sounds a bit complicated but it does become second nature, happy to help if you need me to in anyway!

Checkout some of the tutorials on help pages to they helped me massively!

Lizzie