Citation for Naturalization Record from Ancestry

By Anonymous on Sun, 01/17/2016 - 00:19

Forums

I would appreciate feedback from this forum and EE on my crafting of the citation.  I have read EE and hope I have done this correctly.  My source is a naturalization record from Ancestry for an individual Hyman Tolinsky, file 134167.  Here is what I have created.

"Selected U.S. Naturalization Records - Original Documents, 1790-1974," database with images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed Jan 2016), Hyman Tolinsky aka Tolin petition for naturalization, declaration of intention no. 147953, naturalization file no. 134167 (28 Dec 1922), Eastern District of New York; NARA series: M1879, roll 583.

I haven't posted here before so I am unsure if I am supposed to provide a link to the actual record.  I tried but was unsuccessful. 

Thanks in advance for your insight.

 

Submitted byjarnspigeron Sun, 01/17/2016 - 10:42

Thought about this last night while trying to get to sleep.  I think it needs to be revised as follows:

Selected U. S. Naturalization Records - Original Documents, 1790-1974," database with images,  Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed Jan 2016), Hyman Tolinsky aka Tolin petition for naturalization, declaration of intention no. 147953 (28 Dec 1922), naturalization file no. 134167 (1926), Eastern District of New York; citing NARA series: M1879, roll 583.  

 

Submitted byEEon Sun, 01/17/2016 - 13:15

Jo, one basic question: Are you citing Ancestry's database entry/abstract/estract or an image of the record itself?

 

Submitted byEEon Sun, 01/17/2016 - 21:02

Jo, if you're citing an image of the original, you may want to start your citation with that record, rather than the database. Have you discovered EE 11.49? This is a citation to the same set of records you are citing: naturalization files from the Eastern District of New York, RG 21: Records of District Courts of the United States; National Archives–Northeast Region, New York City.

This approach would create a 3-layer citation:

Layer 1: The citation shown at 11.49, for which you'd substitute your specific detail;

Layer 2: put a semicolon after Layer 1, say something such as "imaged in ...." and then proceed to cite the Ancestry database, with the exact URL;

Layer 3: put a semicolon after Layer 2 and add your "citing ..." information.

Submitted byjarnspigeron Sun, 01/17/2016 - 23:42

EE,

Yes I did find EE 11.49 however I was confused how to incorporate the reference to Ancestry and then to NARA.  Thank you for the suggestions.  Here is my next attempt. I am unsure about the Source List Entry.  Seems like it should reference NARA but from what I can tell I can use the Publications style and reference the website or the NARA style which would reference the original but since NARA is the 2nd layer in my reference note it seems to me I should choose the Publications style and reference Ancestry.

Source List Entry:

Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.. Selected U.S. Naturalization Records-Original Documents, 1790-1974. http://www.ancestry.com : 2016.

First Reference Note:

Hyman Tolinsky aka Tolin, declaration of intention for naturalization no. 147953 (28 Dec 1922), petition for naturalization file no. 134167 (1926), certificate of naturalization (29 Dec 1929) no. 310221; imaged in Selected U.S. Naturalization Records - Original Documents, 1790-1974, database and images, Ancestry.com (url : accessed Jan 2016); citing NARA Petitions for Naturalization of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, 1865-1937,  RG 21, publication no. M1879, roll 583.

Look forward to your additional insights.  Please allow me to say Thank You for taking the time to answer these questions for me and all the others trying to be better.

 

Submitted byEEon Mon, 01/18/2016 - 09:46

Jo, you're just about there.  There's one basic point that needs to kick in, here. It’s a two-part point:

  • We cite websites the same way we cite books, journals, published film, and other "standalone" publications.  The title is italicized.
  • When we cite a chapter within a book, an article within a journal, or a database or article at a website, then the title of that chapter, article, or database goes in quotation marks—not italics.  Italics are used only for standalone publications. 

With this in mind, EE would tweak your First Reference Note this way:

Hyman Tolinsky aka Tolin, declaration of intention for naturalization no. 147953 (28 Dec. 1922), petition for naturalization file no. 134167 (1926), certificate of naturalization (29 Dec. 1929) no. 310221; imaged in "Selected U.S. Naturalization Records - Original Documents, 1790-1974," database and images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed Jan. 2016); citing Petitions for Naturalization of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, 1865-1937; National Archives microfilm publication M1879, roll 583.

A couple of other issues need mentioning also:

  • The title of the website is now just Ancestry. The .com has been dropped from the name.
  • The URL to your exact link is horrifically long, so it’s best to just cite the website’s homepage, with the essential data to relocate the record.
  • The italics used for the title of the microfilm is correct, because it is the title of a publication.
  • After Ancestry gives us the title of the microfilm, the rest of its data is misleading and you’ve taken the effort to correct it. What Ancestry tells us is “NARA Series: M1879; Reference: (Roll 583).”  However, at NARA, the term “series” refers to a subgroup of the Record Group. What M1879 actually is, is the catalog ID of a microfilm publication named Petitions for Naturalization of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, 1865-1937.  In the example above, you’ll notice that we do not italicize the M number and the roll number, because that’s not part of the title.  (The comparable analogy to a book citation here is Title of Book, vol. 2: p. 583.  We don’t italicize the volume number or the page number.)

With regard to the Source List Entry,

  • if you were citing data that Ancestry itself created as part of its database abstract, then the Source List should cite Ancestry’s database—with quotation marks around the database title and the inclusion of the Website Name in Italics. However, you are citing the original record. Therefore, your citation should be to the original record.  That’s demonstrated at EE 11.49.
  • When we do cite Ancestry or any other publisher, "Inc." and similar descriptors that identify the publisher's legal status is not a standard part of the citation in any citation style.  EE addresses this at 12.1 (the first passage of the chapter on citing publications).

PUBLISHER ...................... Names of commercial firms are usually spelled out, except for the word Company, which may be abbreviated as Co. Suffixes that denote the kind of company, such as Inc. and Ltd., are commonly dropped.