PAF 4: Citing Sources

Why cite sources?

When a researcher records anything new in his database, he should also record the source from which the information was gleaned.  This saves time later.   Often, a researcher finds conflicting pieces of information on an ancestor, like multiple birth dates or fathers.  When this happens, he must refer to his evidence -- the photocopies of old documents which bore the information -- to figure out which of the conflicting "facts" he'll trust.  If each piece of information in his database is not attached to a source citation, this hunt for photocopies could take hours.   Save yourself lots of time.  Record sources!

PAF 4: Better source citation than PAF 3

PAF 3 can attach sources to standard events like birth, marriage, and death, but cannot attach them to other events like adoption, census, immigration, military service, LDS ordinances, occupation, residence, or a will.  One of PAF 4's greatest improvements is that it can now attach sources to such "other" events.   Since these "other" events are often used to find an ancestor's standard events, the ability to cite sources for these "other" events is extremely valuable.

Two ways to attach sources

Sources can be attached to either a family or to an event in an individual's life.  Some sources are very easy to cite consistently.  For instance, if a family history says that your great grandfather was a farmer, it seems logical to simply add an Occupation event to his individual record, and attach the source information to that event.

Other sources, however, take some thinking to cite consistently.  If, for example, a census record lists an entire family, the researcher has some choices to make.  Will he attach the census source to a new Census event for each individual, for only the parents, or for only the head of household?  Or will he merely attach the source to the marriage, and thereby cite it for the entire family?

Be consistent

However you decide to handle sources, do it consistently.  Don't attach some census sources to families and some to individuals.  If you do, your database and printouts will be a mess, and you'll be unable to quickly locate a family's source information.

Sources for an individual

The most accurate way to cite sources is to attach them to individuals rather than families.  As previously stated, sources can be added to standard events or to "other" events.

Adding sources to standard events

1. From the Family View, double click the individual to whom you want to add a source.
2. From the Edit Individual screen, click the "s" beside the event whose source you want to cite.
3. From the Select Source for... screen, click New.
4. At the Edit Source screen, type in the source's bibliographical information.  Here are some tips:
   • Title:  Choose a title which you'll be able to locate easily within a long list of other titles.  For instance, Barbara Myers to Michael Ritchey e-mail, 11 Nov 1999 and E-mail from Barbara Myers to Michael Ritchey, 11 Nov 1999 are both good, descriptive titles.  However, if some of the e-mails in your source list begin with a name and others start with the word "e-mail," you'll have to search through many titles to find the right source in the source list.
     • Experiment with file exports before you decide to use the Print Title in Italics option.   I've found that this really messes up exports to other mainstream programs!
   • Author:  Use lastname, firstname format or firstname, lastname format, but do it consistently!
   • Publication Information:  Proper format is City: Publisher, year.
     • Like the Print Title in Italics option, the Print [publication information] in Parentheses option can really mess up exports to other popular programs.
   • Call Number:  The good news is that sources now have a Call Number field.  The bad news is that call numbers do not print on reports!
   • Actual Text:  This is where you might include a quote from the source, like an entire will.  On printouts, the contents of this field will appear within quotation marks.
   • Comments:  This is an appropriate field to place your own research notes, which are often comments on a source itself.  Comments may include "Most pages torn and incomplete," or "The reliability of Grandma's memory at the time of this interview can best be illustrated by her assertion that she played quarterback for the Green Bay Packers."  Important:  When printing reports, you can suppress this field.
5. At the Select Source for... screen, with the new source highlighted, click Select.
6. At the Sources for... screen, add Citation Details.
   • Film/Volume/Page Number:  For multipage or multivolume sources, type the page or volume where the event appears.  Since film numbers can also be attached to the source, they may not be needed here.  However, if the source is a multi-film source like the census -- a source which may yield family members on several films -- you should skip the Source's main Call Number field and instead type film numbers in the Film/Volume/Page Number field for each event you cite.
   • Date of Entry:  This field is for the date the record was created, not the date you recorded the information.
   • Comments:  This field is for research notes that pertain only to the single event you're citing. 
   • Actual Text:  This field is for quotable text pertaining to this single event.
   • Image:  This button attaches an image to the source citation.  For instance, you could link a scanned image of a military pension to its source citation.
7. When finished with the Citation Details, click OK.

Adding sources to "other" events

1. From the Family View screen, double click on the individual to whom you want to add a source.
2. From the Edit Individual screen, create an "other" event.
   • Click the Options button, then New Event/Attribute.
   • From the Select Event for... screen, double click the desired event type.
   • At the Edit Individual screen, type in the date and place of the event.  Then press the Tab key to move the cursor to the "s" (source) field.  Press Enter.
3. At the Select Source for... screen, select or add a source just as you did in steps three to seven above.

Adding sources to a marriage or family

The process of adding sources to marriages and families is a bit different:

1. From the Family View, double click on the Marriage field.
2. From the Marriage screen, click the Source button.

3. At the Select Source for... screen, follow steps three to seven above.

Careful, consistent source citation will save you countless hours of needless searching and re-searching!  Start citing sources today!