IIGS^™ Newsletter - March 1999

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IIGS™ is always searching for ways in which it can tap the rich resources of its talented members, many of them experienced researchers. Our latest effort culminated in the debut of a new help channel on IRC.

The channels are irregularly scheduled special sessions which will be held at various times so that genealogists around the globe will have an opportunity to participate, if not at every session, then at least occasionally. Logs of these sessions also will be archived so that people who could not attend a session can benefit from the information provided and from the dialogue.

The first session was hosted by IIGS™ member Paula Wiegand on Feb. 24, 1999. Paula, an experienced researcher and accomplished historian, provided valuable tips on determining the validity of published sources. What follows is Paula's presentation. The session also included a question and answer portion which is not included here.

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Often the beginning genealogist is so thrilled at finding their family name in a published source that they fail to question the accuracy of the information.

With experience the researcher learns that published sources, whether secondary or tertiary, should be treated with a healthy skepticism.

But how can the researcher determine which of these sources are generally reliable and which require further investigation or which should be withdrawn from circulation?

There are seven main points to consider:

1. The Author
2. Citations
3. The Publisher
4. Editing and Errors
5. Indexing
6. Numbering System (if used)
7. Proven or Provable Facts

These are not necessarily in order, but all should be considered together.

1. The Author:

   Is the published source from an author of note? If one has a book written by a well known genealogist, we are more likely to trust that source although they should still pass the other tests.

2. Citations:

   Can you tell from the reference given where the information came from and can you use this information to retrace the research? If the answer is yes, then you probably wouldn't need to redo this research. But all too often the perfect source does not exist.

   Every genealogist, at any level of experience, should own a copy of Richard Lackey's "Cite Your Sources" or Elizabeth Shown Mills' "Evidence." Becoming familiar with accepted citation methods will allow you to judge the standards or citation in any publication. If a book has no sources, can you trust the information?

   Not as it stands, but if you are able to contact the publisher or author and they provide you with the full citation, then the book becomes as reliable as a fully sourced one.
   

3. Publisher:

   Some publishers automatically set off warning alarms. Halberts of Bath comes to mind, but there are many vanity presses who publish the so-called mug books. These too are less than reliable.

4. Editing and Errors:

   We all make typos, but a good editor should have corrected these before the publication reaches you. If typing errors are not caught, then how trustworthy are the dates? names?

5. Indexing:

   Always test the index! It may not seem important to the information at hand, but it goes with the editing. Every author wants to present their work in the best possible way, a good index is one of those ways.

   It is also useful in cross checking facts. Without a good index, it is very hard to see if the John on page 2 is the same as the john C. on page 678.

6. Numbering System:

   Not all published sources use numbering systems, but when they do, it should be a recognizable system and done properly. A good numbering system allows the reader to trace a line (so much better for noticing missed generations) and shows that the author has studied up on genealogical methods, hopefully learning good research techniques at the same time.

7. Proven or Provable Facts:

   If you have a published source that definitively states something that you can prove is incorrect, this does not necessarily lessen the quality of the entire work. But you should consider how difficult it was for you to prove.

   For example, if you were able to find the birth record in the first court house you checked, then perhaps the author was less than thorough. Another point is the introduction. Always, always read the introduction fully. In a good publication this will explain which records were used, the difficulties encountered, explain the numbering system and generally help you to interpret the data.

   Without an introduction, it is sometimes impossible to tell what sources were used even in a compiled records type publication. In some instances, and the marriage books by Kethley and Vogt come to mind, the introduction does not fully explain how the data is arranged. But a quick note to the publisher does get the answer.

Useful web sites for citation formats:

http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/cmosfaq.html

http://www.mla.org/main_stl.htm

http://www.library.fullerton.edu/cybercites.htm

http://www.geocities.com/ResearchTriangle/1221/citation.htm

http://www.wilpaterson.edu/wpcpages/library/citing.htm

http://www.h-net.msu.edu/~africa/citation.html

Publications

Elizabeth Shown Mills, "Evidence! Citation & Analysis for the Family Historian"
(Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, c 1997), 124pp, stranger1: indexed, hardcover, ISBN 0-8063-1543-1 (list price $16.95).

"The Chicago Manual of Style" (University of Chicago Press).

Richard S. Lackey, "Cite Your Sources"
(University Press of Mississippi, 1980), $11.95.

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