The importance of sources in genealogy: why should we quote them?
Sources are documents or sites that provide evidence regarding the life events of your ancestors.
Why should you quote your sources in genealogy?
Sources play a very important role in genealogical research, for several reasons:
- They guarantee the reliability Data and constitute a solid basis for your research.
- They provide tangible evidence On the life events of your ancestors (dates, places, relationships, etc.).
- They allow Check and corroborate The information you find, you can even compare it.
- They help you establish a precise chronology of the life of your ancestors.
- They allow you toidentify properly your ancestors and to avoid confusion between homonyms.
- They offer a Historical and cultural context To better understand the life of your ancestors.
By citing your genealogical sources, you ensure a certain form of Transparency and credibility to your research. In addition, you will allow other genealogists of reproduce your research, check them and validate them, while avoiding errors and confusion. Finally, quote sources respect copyright and intellectual property rights Associated with the documents you use, if applicable.
How to quote your sources in genealogy?
The most important thing when you want to quote your sources is to provide To allow other people to locate the original source.
Often, a source quote must include the name of the source, the author, the date, the place, the details of the reference (page number, registry number, etc.).
Example: Cite a departmental archive website
- Indiquer les archives départementales : « AD49 »
- Indiquer la commune : « Angers »
- Indiquer le type de registre : « EC » pour Etat civil ou « BMS » pour les registres paroissiaux par exemple
- Indiquer la côte du registre : « 165E/01 »
- Indiquer le numéro de l’image : « 5/165 »
- Ajouter un lien pérenne ou le lien « .ark » que la plupart des sites d’archives mettent à votre disposition. Il est important de conserver un lien pérenne plutôt qu’un lien classique vers le registre car ceux-ci peuvent être modifiés plus souvent et vous risquez de ne pas retrouver la page source.
Add sources to your tree on geneafinder
Our sources management tool allows you to add a lot of information on the source to mention. You can also include a lasting link to the source in question.
This tool is available for free and limitless.