| HOW TO CITE YOUR SOURCES AND WHY IT IS SO IMPORTANT |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Learning how to properly cite the sources you use is a very important step to your research. Most importantly it shows you are a responsible researcher and writer by giving credit to those whose research you used or ideas you quoted. For beginning researchers it can be confusing to know how to blend your own ideas with others and when it is appropriate to footnote a source. See Plagiarism: What It is and How to Recognize and Avoid It for more details.
Another reason for footnoting your text is to share your findings with other future researchers. Do not be selfish by keeping resources to yourself. By giving another person hints into your research process makes your piece of work much more user-friendly and credible. Just think how much easier it is to know what page of a book a fact is on, rather than skimming through the entire book; or knowing a family's page and line in a census record, instead of rolling through half a reel of microfilm. Be considerate of your fellow researchers and provide them an information trail. It is highly beneficial for you as well by keeping you from frustrating duplicate research if you need to revisit a book or document. If you are writing an article, sometimes the format of the publication does not allow for footnotes. If that is the case, try to at least provide a “For Further Reading” list of the key book, articles, and primary sources you used. Finally, respect the historical field by using the appropriate bibliographic style. Different fields use different citation methods, and for history it is the Chicago Manual of Style. Below are a few basic formats for both notes and bibliographic entries. See Chicago Manual of Style Citation Guide for additional formats, or check your local bookstore for a reference book with even more detailed variations. An excellent book showing citations for a wide variety of primary sources is Evidence! Citation & Analysis for the Family Historian. This book covers how to cite census records, letters, deeds, probate records, and much more.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
