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I've been working on a citation to a certified photocopy of a delayed birth certificate which I hold in my files. Using the QuickCheck Model on EE page 430 and multiple examples of layered citations I came up with the following:
Alabama, State Board of Health, Delayed Certificate of Birth (CERT. DATE), ID OF PERSON, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Montgomery; certified copy, Alabama State Registrar of Vital Statistics; privately held by MY NAME [address for private use] CITY, Alabama, 2016
Note: There is no CERT. NO. on the photocopy. That box on the form is blank.
First, I would appreciate any feedback on the above. Second, and my main question concerns the proper form for a short note and source list entry given the above layered citation. Here's what I have.
Short note:
Alabama Delayed Certificate of Birth (CERT. DATE), ID OF PERSON
Source list entry:
Alabama. State Board of Health. Delayed Certificate of Birth. Bureau of Vital Statistics.
Should the short note or source list entry contain anything from the "certified copy" or "privately held" layers of the full reference note as shown above?
mddixon, let me answer your
mddixon, let me answer your questions with more questions:
1. Did you order the delayed birth certificate yourself (in which case you cite the agency where you or anyone else could order the record; not yourself) or this is an artifact held by the family (in which case, yes, you'd cite where this otherwise unobtainable copy is held)?
2. Is there a reason why you have chosen to split the agency/creator field into two parts, divided by a description of the document?
3. Aside from the fact that you see no number on the certificate, is there a reason why you don't feel that the QuickCheck Model on p. 430 works for you?
Editor, following are my
Editor, following are my answers to your questions:
1. No, I did not order the copy I hold. It was ordered some time ago and was amoung papers in my father's estate (his birth certificate). However, another copy can be ordered from Alabama Center for Health Statistics (previously called Bureau for Vital Statistics) so I think I'm making this citation more complicated than required.
2. Following the QuickCheck model on p. 430, I assumed the AGENCY/CREATOR to be the State Board of Health and the REPOSITORY to be the Bureau of Vital Statistics where the original birth certificate is held.
3. Since I am citing the actual copy that I hold, I didn't think the p. 430 QuickCheck model alone was adequate so I added a description of the actual document that I hold and the fact that I hold it. I understood this to be a layered citation which lead to my question about how to construct the source list entry and short note for a layered citation.
I am definitely in a learning mode here and greatly appreciated your guidance.
mddixon, you're right. You're
mddixon, you're right. You're trying to make it more complicated than it actually is. If your immediate family ordered the certificate to settle your father's estate, and you know where it was ordered from, just cite it to the agency. Researchers obtain many records. We don't have to cite every one of those to our personal possession.
I did misunderstand you about the purpose of the second of the three references to the agency. When you crossed out Certificate Date and ID of Person, I thought you meant that you would not be including that data, in which case the agency reference would follow the description. But, on reflection, I'm assuming that you crossed through those just to indicate that you would not be putting the actual names online.
Bottom line: Make it easy on yourself and just use p.430.