As discussed in my recent series on “Why Form Matters,” many of
the issues that genealogists have in writing source citations
stem from the pressure to “get it right.” I described in that
series why the form of the citation is important, but that there
is a learning curve involved in creating accurate source
citations. As a means of trying to help any genealogists out
there who are struggling with “getting it right,” I will present
a series of articles discussing the basics of the source
citation format commonly accepted in genealogy. Hopefully, you
will find this useful. The most basic format to use is the
publication format. This is pretty easy to learn and actually
forms the basis of many of the citations that we create as
genealogists. This format contains several parts: - Publication
Place - Publication Date The format puts these elements in the
following order, for use in a “Source List” or “Bibliography”:
Author (last name first). Title. Publication Place: Publisher,
Publication Date. To give you an ex