Citation formatting

By Anonymous on Thu, 10/16/2014 - 10:44

Forums

I was looking at Page 626 in Evidence Explained and have a question. I am just mentioning this specific Reference Note, but it may  apply to others.

Here is the Name in my Database

Cheryl Ann Jacobs
 
Here is the Name on the Record
Cheryl A Jacobs
 
I have and know her middle name from other documents. So, my question would be, how should her name be represented in the Reference Note:
 
Option 1 - Name as reflected from Record
 
Social Security Administration, "Social Security Death Index", database, Ancestry.com,(www.ancestry.com : accessed 16 Oct 2014), entry for Cheryl A Jacobs, 1965-66, SS no. [ no SS Number ]
 
Option 2 - Name as reflected from Record with User additional information
 
Social Security Administration, "Social Security Death Index", database, Ancestry.com,(www.ancestry.com : accessed 16 Oct 2014), entry for Cheryl A[nn] Jacobs, 1965-66, SS no. [ no SS Number ]
 
Option 3 - Name from database
 
Social Security Administration, "Social Security Death Index", database, Ancestry.com,(www.ancestry.com : accessed 16 Oct 2014), entry for Cheryl Ann Jacobs, 1965-66, SS no. [ no SS Number ]
 
My limitation may be within my genealogy database management software, but was interested in now to record the difference in the Name. The citition is Linked to the Cheryl A Jacobs name, not to the full name in my file. If I look at the Citation(s) for Cheryl A Jacobs, I will be taken to one of the above Reference Notes and trying to determine which one to use.
 
I should mention that the record did not include the SS#. Had the record included the SS#, it would have been included.
 
I certainly understand "none of the above", but trying to understand the proper way for format the Reference Note.
 
I am and will be consistent, but want to get it right.
 
Thank you,
 
Russ
 
 

Submitted byEEon Sat, 10/18/2014 - 19:04

Russ, a citation to a document should cite the name exactly as it appears in the document. A citation to a database entry should cite the name exactly as it appears in the database entry. Your Option 2 would also work fine, given that you put editorial brackets around the part of the name that you added. As for how to handle possibilities in your own software, EE will let you hash that out in your software's forum.

Incidentally, in your suggested citations above, EE would eliminate the comma splice between the website's title and the open parens. Parentheses around the publication data says, "this is extra data about the element that it's attached to." But when you put a comma before the parenthetical data then you've cut the two apart. And, of course, EE would use standard English abbreviation principles, which means (a) putting a period after your abbreviation of October and (b) putting a period after Cheryl's initial. (You'll also note that Ancestry's database actuall identifies her as Cheryl A. Jacob, rather than Cheryl A Jacob.)

Submitted byrworthingtonon Sat, 10/18/2014 - 19:10

Dear Editor,

 

Thank you so much for your reply and clarification.

I am still working on the punctuation and I appreciate your comments there as well.

Working with my vendor as well.

Thanks again,

 

Russ

Submitted byrworthingtonon Sun, 10/19/2014 - 09:39

Dear Editor,

I cleaned up my act. One item I can fix, the other, not. I looked at and understand the [publisher].(URL) issue. That "." is from the software. I am submitting an enhancement request. In doing so, I have seen a couple of other places where we are getting a "." that probably we won't see a resolution to. That is a battle I am not sure that I would win.

As I was cleaning up my act and looking are your QuickSheets' from the Genealogical Publishing Co. I noticed something else. So, I have another question.

Should the Month of the accessed date be spelled out. I know that I have been inconsistent, so when I do my next round of clean up. I can fix that as well.

Thank you

Russ

Submitted byEEon Sun, 10/19/2014 - 17:59

Russ, in reference notes, we're generally allowed leeway as to whether or not we use abbreviations for both dates and place names. The one consistent rule across all style guides and grammar guides is that abbreviated words should carry a period as an indicator that it is an abbreviated word. Software engineers ignored that rule in the era of 64K computers when every space counted. In todays gigabyte and terrabyte world, using an extra space to follow the cannons of grammar and punctuation should be no big deal!

Submitted byvanasdcon Mon, 10/20/2014 - 15:58

Russ,

It appears that you've followed Ancestry's source format and included the social security number issue date. When I look at the EE example (page 626) you reference in your first post, and follow that example back to the actual source, it is clear that the date included in the citation is year of death, rather than the date the SSN was issued.

I prefer to use the year of death in the citation because it makes it much easier to track back to the source. It is also more likely that an online search box will include the death year rather than the SSN issue date. When I tried to track back to your Cheryl A. Jacobs, I had to go through several Cheryl A. Jacobs to find the right one. Had the death year been included in the citation, I would have been able to zero right in on the correct Cheryl A. Jacobs, even without the SSN.

According to Ancestry's site, they do not include the SSN if the individual has been deceased for fewer than 10 years. I struggled, at first, with what to do about that. I considered indicating "not given" or "not provided", before deciding to make the SSN field a conditional field in my SSDI template that when left blank will simply not reference the SSN. Following the 10 year period, when I have access to the actual number, I can include it in my source and it will show correctly in the citation.

I too have run into situations where my software provides a source templace that doesn't quite fit the bill. Fortunately, the software I use allows me to create custom templates. When I need to, I can create a new template based on an existing provided template, or create an entirely new template from scratch to get what I need. If your software allows you to create custom source templates, you might want to explore that option. I have found the software forums to be treasure trove of custom templates and how to create them.

You asked also about abbreviating the month in the citation. I encourage you to always spell out the month. I know we're talking about something typed or printed here, but how many times have you looked at something and wondwred if it was Jan or Jun, or maybe Mar or May? By consistently spelling out the entire month, there is never any confusion, in my mind at least, about whether it was meant to be January or June, or March or May.

One final item. I would encourage you to include "U.S." (without the quote marks, of course) in front of the words "Social Security Death Index" just to be clear that you are referencing the United Sates Social Security Death Index.

Below is my recomended citation for this source based on the online databases example in EE (page 626):

Social Security Administration, "U.S. Social Security Death Index," database, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 16 October 2014), entry for Cheryl A. Jacobs, 2006.

And, of course, had the SSN been provided:

Social Security Administration, "U.S. Social Security Death Index," database, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 16 October 2014), entry for Cheryl A. Jacobs, 2006, SS no. 123-45-6789.

Chuck V.

Submitted byrworthingtonon Mon, 10/20/2014 - 17:43

Chuck V.,

Based on The Editor's comments earlier, I have changed my date format, accessed date, to spell out the month. Spent a couple of hour doing that as well as going forward.

The probem I have with the Web Site name, URL and Accessed information is my software. I can manually but that date there, but IF I update the Citation in any way, I have to re-do that.

I have made a number of requests to the company to get this issue looked into. Not holding my breath.

I undersand that Date of Death vs the Date of Issue in the citation. I can certain change, BUT, when I see the Citation, I SEE the Death Date on my screen, be cause that Citation is linked to the Death Date. What ISN'T linked is the Date that the Social Security Number was issued. That Isssue Date and Place is helpful to me, to put taht person in that place at that time in a time line. Yes, the Pre-1951 Issue date isn't helpful, but it's a good hint in a timeline.

I will re-look at that issue, however.Good Point.

And, thanks for the hint from Ancestry.com. I hadn't looked, nor could I find a pattern. So thank you,

 

Russ

Submitted byrworthingtonon Mon, 10/20/2014 - 17:50

Chuck V,

To follow up on the "U.S." issue. The Template in my Software will NOT allow me to add that. I don't have control. The Template Feature is most important for me. I will put in an enhancement request.

Thank you,

Russ

Submitted byrworthingtonon Mon, 10/20/2014 - 18:29

One final comment

I have updated my 105 SSDI entries. It all makes sence AND have put two Enhancement Requests to the Developers.

Thank you,

Russ

Submitted byrworthingtonon Tue, 10/21/2014 - 15:39

Dear Editor,

I just updated 111 Citations with all of your suggestions, actually Page 626, after I looked at it carefully and the QuickSheet on citing Ancestry.com.

I clearly didn't understand the punctuation or use the punctuation correctly. A work in progress.

I have another question, but will start another thread as it's a different topic: When to and how to Cite the Source of the Source.

I will be trying to craft a Requirement for the Template feature in my genealogy database management program. Right now, I have to manually Copy and Paste it for each Citation. Gotta be a better way.

Thank you,

 

Russ

Submitted byrworthingtonon Thu, 11/06/2014 - 15:54

Dear Editor,

Wow was I suprised today.

I did a Web Merge, a Family Tree Maker 2014 feature, with the updated Ancestry.com records, and to my surprise was the attached image.

In the feed from Ancestry was 

Ancestry.com, (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed )

The bold was mine. The new hand off reminded me to put in the date. I am glad I was sitting down. 

I have attached in image from within FTM2014. I entered and hi-lited the date.

This is the free form Citation from Ancestry. I then move it to the Template format. 

Only showing that they HAVE added the " : accessed )" in the hand off.

Russ

 

Submitted byrworthingtonon Sat, 11/08/2014 - 08:43

Dear Editor,

It may still be rolling out, but I was very surprised.

Hope that you have been able to resolve those technical issues you have had recently.

All the best to you.

Russ

Submitted byEEon Mon, 11/10/2014 - 08:55

Would that all problems could be solved so easily, Russ. It was just a driver on a piece of "outside" hardware that messed up my registry amid a sync. As with our history research, it all boiled down to identifying the problem, systematically pursuing all the options, documenting what I did at each step so I could make valid judgments and plan what to do do next, until eventually all the issues had been reconciled. :)

 

 

Submitted byrworthingtonon Mon, 11/10/2014 - 09:05

Dear Editor,

Understand that. Been doing a lot of that myself these past couple of days.

Glad it's resolved.

All the Best

Russ