citing census substitutes Ireland

By Anonymous on Fri, 11/06/2015 - 14:25

Forums

I'm working on a citiation for a census subsitute in Ireland.  As part of the old age pension system in Ireland in the early 20th century people were required to prove their age.  Without adequate civil or church records, petitioners could request a transcript of their entry in the 1841 and 1851 censuses.  The search forms are now available at the National Archives of Ireland's website.  I wasn't sure which template to use, so I tried the Archived Documents: Digitized.  

Here is what I have for the source entry:

"1841/1851 Census Search Forms." Images and transcriptions. National Archives of Ireland. National Archives. www.censussearchforms.nationalarchives.ie: 2015. 

Full entry:

"1841/1851 Census Search Forms," National Archives of Ireland, National Archives, (www.censussearchforms.nationalarchives.ie: accesed 5 November 2015), image, "Extract From Census Return of 1851," Timothy Curtin, Abbeyfeale, application number 9162235.

Short entry:

"1841/1851 Census Search Forms," National Archives, "Extract from Census Return of 1851," Timothy Curtin.

 

How does this look?  Is it the appropriate template to use?

Submitted byEEon Fri, 11/06/2015 - 20:10

LenihanLimerick,

Interesting document. Your template choice is good. EE would tweak just a bit.

"1841/1851 Census Search Forms," database with images, National Archives of Ireland , (www.censussearchforms.nationalarchives.ie: accessed 5 November 2015), image, "Extract From Census Return of 18__," application number 9162235, 23 March 1916, request for Timothy Curtin, Abbeyfeale, 1851, son of Wm. and Margaret Curtin.

I'll divide up the explanation into two parts:

Before the parentheses:

  1. After we cite the item at the website, and before we cite the website itself, we need to indicate what kind of website item it is (i.e., a database, an article, a video, etc.)
  2. Above, I've dropped the field for the author/creator of the website and used the full title of the website, which is also the agency name. We don't need to give the same information twice for an eponymously named site.
  3. After the website title and before the open parentheses, let's drop the superfluous comma. When a parenthetical statement appears, its purpose is to further explain what has just come before it. The parentheses tells us "I'm saying something more about what I've just identified." We want those two items to stay attached. A comma, however, is meant to separate  things.

After the parentheses:

  1. The actual form whose title is in quotation marks does not end in 1851. It ends in 18__.
  2. After we identify the form, the application number is the next largest element to be identified.
  3. After citing the name and number of the document, the next expected thing for a document is its date.  In this case, the date of the application is critical to understanding what it is you are citing. Otherwise, someone reading your citation—who knows nothing about this set of records—would see "database" and "Extract from Census Return" and assume you are referencing a modern document.
  4. After you identify the document you are citing, the number of that document, and its date, then you are ready to cite the specific data on the form: It's a request for to look up Timothy Curtin of Abbeyfeale, Co. Limerick, on the 1851 census. Because there could very well be multiple Timothy Curtins in Abbeyfeale that year, you might also want to add the parental names that appear on the form.