How much detail is necessary?

Everett, Massachusetts, "BIRTHS REGISTERED IN THE Town of Everett, Mass.," 1870, p. 163 (penned), no. 7, Mary Amelia Hickok, 13 May 1870, Everett; digital images, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, "Massachusetts, Births, 1841-1915," FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 6 Nov 2012); FHL microfilm 1,428,073.

The image of the town register shows just one page of births for all of 1870.  One should be able to find the record without knowing the page number, based on the year at the top of the register, and it is not difficult to scan through the short number of births to find Mary Amelia Hickok without knowing the line/birth number.

Is it overkill/unnecessary to include the page number and/or (line/birth) no. in the citation?  Is there anything that would argue against including this additional information if the compiler prefers to do so?

Dennis

Submitted byEEon Thu, 11/15/2012 - 14:44

Dennis,

Coincidentally, the aswer to this seems to be covered in today's "tip" at EE's Facebook page (which was actually written for a "scheduled posting" last week). That tip begins this way:

"In our working citations we can include anything we think would help us or a user of our work at a later date. At publication, an editor or publisher would likely eliminate that kind of explanation. Meanwhile, let's consider the issue from a different standpoint: Why do you feel it is necessary for the citation to make this explanation? This one question can guide us in making case-by-case decisions. . . ."

If you aren't yet an EE friend on FB, just go to the page and click "Like. The daily tips will go to your FB wall.