Candace 0 Report post Posted June 10, 2015 I am a new user and am confused about how to best cite census records accessed on Ancestry. Below is the citation information provided by Ancestry for a particular record. Is this the accepted format now? If so, how are the citation sentences structured? I'm confused about which elements must go in the first citation, versus which only need to be included in the bibliography. Source Citation Year: 1800; Census Place: Thurman, Washington, New York; Series: M32; Roll: 26; Page: 204; Image: 200; Family History Library Film: 193714 Source Information Ancestry.com. 1800 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: Second Census of the United States, 1800. NARA microfilm publication M32 (52 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Michael Hannah 0 Report post Posted June 10, 2015 Hi Candace,How one cites sources is directly dependent upon how you wish the source information to be output in your reports. In TMG this also gets into whether one wants to "lump" many citations into one TMG source record using differing Citation Details, or "split" citations to each have their own TMG source record with a minimal Citation Detail.For ideas, I highly suggest you begin by a review Terry Reigel's Tips web pages, especially his page about Census Information. His Tips are designed to help the new user. I think most people will chose to cite a census record with the source being the NARA film itself, and then indicate (often using a TMG Repository Link) that they "viewed" the NARA record on Ancestry.If you want to peruse some advanced and very customized concepts, you could look at the "Census Source Data Entry" chapter of my on-line book. The details of the custom Census Source Type which I have created for my use is described in the Source Templates chapter here. Welcome to TMG, and hope this gives you ideas, Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Candace 0 Report post Posted June 11, 2015 Thank you, Michael! This has been VERY helpful. (And to think I thought the census would an easy citation on which to learn!) Part of my confusion came from looking at the 1997 and 2010 Evidence! citation formats, coupled with the 2007 Evidence Explained format, and comparing these with the citation information Ancestry provided. For example, Mills includes the date the census was accessed, but Ancestry doesn't include it in its citation information. Are the citation data elements provided by Ancestry the new standard? If I exclude the date accessed, will the Proper Citation gods banish me from the kingdom? Perhaps the just-released third edition of Evidence Explained will clarify..... I think I am a "splitter," but the readings you suggested showed me I have a wee bit more to consider before I start structuring sentences and filling in data fields! Thank you for the warm welcome! I'm sure there will be more questions as I wade further into the TMG waters..... Candace Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Michael Hannah 0 Report post Posted June 12, 2015 You are most welcome, Candace. There really are no "standards" for these citations. It is really up to the publisher. If you self publish then you only have to satisfy yourself that you have been complete enough for your reader to find your citation. If you publish in a journal then they set the "standard". Even Ms Mills herself calls her books guidelines. Feel free to post more questions, either here or on TMG-L. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
