Go Ahead, Join the Club, Cite Me!

What's that in the road, a head?
Do we use our iPhone to find the Coroner or GoogleMaps?

FootnoteMaven has tossed the ball back into the game and WE'RE TALKING PROPER CITATIONS ON THE BLOGS AGAIN! Thank you, fM, for the heavenly angel badge. (Yes, do see Amy's Genealogy, Etc. Blog for I Don't Care Where You Put the Comma).

Ouch! I LOVE commas. ADORE periods. AM TANTALIZED by semi-colons. My background is journalism and literature, and I've taught both subjects. My favorite books are dictionaries, style guides, and thesauri.

I've probably read (and graded) more English papers than I have names in my family tree. Only a few students truly grasped the concept of correct MLA citation style; many more submitted creative alternatives ranging from 4th grade Bibliography style to APA to very personal renditions of a Works Cited page.

I have a litte theory about this, and it may even have some bearing on citations in genealogy --

Genealogists aren't all that different from high school English students.To be honest, most of us would rather hunt for ancestors than craft citations.

There's not much FUN in fundamental citations.

Citation standards can become "counterproductive" to actual research, I agree. It's hard to keep the train moving when we keep stopping to analyze source citation format as well as source information. But, what would happen if we stopped thinking about our genealogy databases as citation machines a la EasyBib and just considered our databases as a kind of Working Notebook.

I never required students to write a proper MLA citation on their research notecards or notes; it would slow down their research. All they had to do was get enough information to put together a correct MLA citation at a later time. If the student knew enough about MLA to get the author, title, publishing information, etc. they could usually construct the Works Cited page. Some students, however, got a little lazy and only included the journal name, not the article title, or missed the journal volume and number. They were up the proverbial creek without a paddle.

Any genealogy database that helps us obtain all the information needed for a correct citation -- whatever format that might be -- can only help the genealogy researcher. IF I choose to use Evidence Explained style citations, I will need a full data trail for the census I am viewing on Ancestry.com. I appreciate programs like Legacy7 and RootsMagic4 that offer source templates to remind me to include this full source trail. When I use software that only prompts me for Title, Author, Publishing Information, I may forget to include the source of Ancestry's database. Later, when I go to write a correctly formatted citation for my about-to-be-published article, I find I am missing a crucial piece of the citation puzzle and have to retrace my work. Much better to have all the pieces ready for me to assemble into the full picture.

So, sorry Amy, I do care where you put the comma -- in your final paper. But you are so right, genealogy can be a whole lot funner!

Go ahead, cite me! 

Tech Tuesday: On Deciphering Genealogy Software Citation Templates

In the spirit of continuing Dialogue... I'd like offer a few comments sparked by Randy's Seaver's recent post at GeneaMusings, "Which census source citation should I use in RootsMagic 4?"

It's always nice to know you're not alone when faced with frustration or confusion. Like Randy, I sometimes puzzle over which citation template to use (in Legacy 7 , for me). I often spend more time figuring out the appropriate template than in actually inputting the information to my genealogy software program. It's not that I am a total novice at sourcing citations; I taught high schoolers the fine art of MLA style for years. They would probably love to know that NOW, I feel their pain.

Question of the week: How do you cite photocopies of Henry M. Winsor's military records sent to me by my mom who got them from a cousin, who got them. . . "where???" They look pretty official. Copies in spidery 19th century handwriting enumerating Muster-in and out dates, information about an injury on the "Casualty Sheet." But, what the heck are these? Compiled Service Records? Personal Correspondence? Family Artifacts? Junk Science?

I know what my students would have done; they would create a citation style ALL THEIR OWN. It would

1. suit the time available for homework (as little as possible)
2. use only internet research, no library time or printed books
3. be based on either what their parents did in 8th grade, or what their 23-year-old brother did for his State Bird Report
4. be creative in the use of fonts, style, and color

Some of my favorite renditions included a combination MLA, Chicago, and APA. I particularly enjoyed the blending of numerical notes with parenthetical in-text citations, when presented in magenta ink in 14-point Gothic type.

I like the comments from Tina and ProGenealogists under Randy's article; they have designed their own RootsMagic templates using EE as a guide. They must be the Smart Kids! My problem is deeper, though. I can't even figure out what form to use from EE. Do you think my students would find out if I made my own template and label it "UFO"?

On the Subject of Citing Sources

FootnoteMaven recently posted an article on Working With Citations in which she shares her own method for organizing citations and using them in her writing. Fans of fM's blogs know that she is conscientious and meticulous when it comes to citations, so it should be no surprise that she is an advocate of the citation-guru, Elizabeth Shown Mills, and most of all, an advocate of standardizing sources.

As an English teacher using MLA citation standards, I regularly encountered citation-psychosis diagnosed from symptoms exhibited in the classroom and on various assignments. Most notably, students suffering from this malady exhibited few outward signs. When the announcement was made for research papers requiring citations, these students accepted the assignment without comment. In contrast to those free of the disease, students who were later diagnosed with citation-related psychosis rarely asked questions or expressed confusion about the assignment. Unfortunately, this made it particularly difficult to determine those persons afflicted until it was too late. When the papers were submitted, one quick glance revealed students suffering in all stages of the disease. Instructors are quick to blame themselves – perhaps the lessons were too fast, too slow, the proximity to reference materials too far, too close. . .

In Stage One, students exhibited minor errors such as misplaced punctuation or incorrect spacing and indenting. These were correctable with regular therapy.

In Stage Two, papers were presented with multiple errors. Often the wrong format for the type of source was used, in addition to missing information. These problems were more severe and required remedial therapy and grade modification.

In Stage Three, students exhibited listless and lack of emotion over the diagnosis. There were many many indicators of the disease. At times, the Works Cited page would be mislabeled as Bibliography, sources would be numbered rather than presented alphabetically, or sources would be incomplete missing major components. These students were often the most creative in presentation of the disease, but the least interested in recovery. Unfortunately, grade modification and therapy were rarely successful in reversing the illness, and parental intervention was often indicated.

If a student fails to follow clear instructions for citing sources, it is usually due to plain old laziness. Online citation guides such as NoodleBib and EasyBib require some knowledge of source forms and considerable Thinking; often students just start guessing and even these "wonder sites" turn out a Works Cited that is incorrect. They can only be as accurate as the information they are given. Students have given many reasons for incorrect citations and Works Cited, some of my favorites:

"This is how my mom/dad/brother/sister said to do it. They learned it that way in school and it is RIGHT." [when? What year?]

"I couldn't find the format guide/MLA book/handout/library…" [hmmmm]

"I remembered how to do it." [Right. It's wrong.]

"Oh."

"Too much work."

Unfortunately, citation-related psychosis is found in the RW (Real World) as well. When I returned to graduate school in 1997, I learned that MLA had changed quite a bit in the years since I had first learned its rigors. I would have nothing to gain except ridicule if I insisted on using out-dated protocol.

As difficult as it may be to "learn new tricks," I think that genealogists and family history writers too have much to gain by accepting a standard format for citing sources. Since Elizabeth Shown Mills seems to have taken up the banner for proper citations, I am glad to follow along using her guidelines. I am not as careful as I should be with citing sources in blog posts, but I like to think that my family history writing is carefully and correctly documented.

Thank you fM for starting this conversation. Maybe we can all jump on the bandwagon and help fight for consistent citations!