Managing sources

To specify a source means that you make a note where you found information about a person, family or facts. Examples of sources are birth certificates, census records, church records, gravestones, family records and pedigree charts.

Advantages of sources

• They allow you to evaluate how reliable your information is. For example, a original record made near the time when an event occurred is probably more reliable than a biography written after the event. Knowing the source can help you get the information you want to verify with other types of records.
• They provide an overview of the sources you have examined. You can then focus your research on sources that have not yet been used.
• They help you evaluate conflicting information. When you find contradictory information, such as two different birth dates for the same person, you can use your source to determine the most likely to have the right information.
• They tell other genealogists were you find your information.

A source can be divided into three parts

• The source describing the source as a whole. It may for example be a book. Once you have written it once, you only need to select it from a list to cite it in another location.
• The repository that is connected to the source and contain the name, address and telephone number of the place, such as a library or archive where you found the source.
• The citation that is connected to the source and contain information needed to find a particular information in the source. It might include a page number in a book or a link to a web page. Citations are linked to a person, family or event.

How do I add a source?

We assume that we will add a information we found on page 123 of the book Hernösands stifts herdaminne del 1 which is written by Leonard Bygdén and published 1923 in Uppsala.

1. In Biography select the area you want to add a source.
2. Press  or Ctrl+K below Sources for xxx to add a new row (new source) in the table.
   
3. In source you write for example Hernösands herdaminne del 1 or what you prefer. What you enter here will be added as the abbreviation of the source. The box has an auto-fill feature that indicates the sources that already exist in the family register.
4. In Where within source you write for example p.123
5. Fill if necessary in date, credibility, text, comment, and/or media. This information belongs to the citation.

How do I add the complete source data (for the ambitious user)?

We use the information in our previous example.

1. Repeat steps 1-3 above.
2. Press Enter to exit edit mode and press Ctrl+Shift+R to edit the source.
3. In Title write Hernösands stifts herdaminne del 1
4. In Author write Leonard Bygdén
5. In Publication write Uppsala:1923
6. Fill if necessary in repository, text, comment, and/or media.
7. Press OK to save.
8. Continue with step 4 and 5 in the example above.

See also

• Sources and citations

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