23 November 2014 An EE user once described her task that day as: "Editing my editor's edit. I'm sure it has a name, but I don't know what it is." "Editorial negotiations" is a good way to describe it. As researchers and writers, we write what we intend. We think it's clear. The editor disagrees and attempts a rewrite--and we're aghast ...

20 November 2014 Mark Twain famously feuded with his editors over punctuation. But, of course, eccentricity was his stock-in-trade. Does punctuation really matter to all us common folk who are reporting history rather than creating it? Yes, no, and not necessarily. Let’s consider some options ...

17 November 2014 The online world is still a wooly marketplace of conflicting acquisition and distribution systems. For simple sites, citing the URL will suffice. However, higher-quality content is often available only through suppliers whose sheer size and proprietary systems often complicate our citations and leave users wondering exactly what identification schemes need to be included. ...

14 November 2014 Academic historians and family historians till the same soil. Yet, all too often, they work in separate worlds with little exposure to or discussions about the standards of each discipline. For academics uncertain of the standards by which genealogical work should be judged, here's a quick tutorial ...

11 November 2014 No EE reader would ever utter the words "I saw it on the Interweb." But when we find online historical accounts that relate to our subject, are we appropriately critical? Or do we yield to the temptation to use the material, cite the site, and let our readers make their own judgments? At websites, our critical analysis should start with these four questions ...

8 November 2014 Wits and sages across the ages have admonished us to "Say what you mean and mean what you say." It's a wonderful habit to be in. If we think in this groove, it doesn't mean we're a word-nerd. It means we're careful researchers and writers. When we identify our sources, we do need to ...

30 October 2014 When is a marriage not a marriage? Most researchers are well familiar with the term common-law marriage (which did become a marriage, with longevity, in most societies), but historical records yield other delightful terms that can undermine our conclusions if we are not familiar with the practices involved. Today, we examine three of those. ...

27 October 2014 Newer researchers think of “source identification” in terms of How do I cite this? The underlying issue, however, is not how to cite. It is, instead, how to ...