Robin; You have had some very nice responses. As a new researcher it may be hard for you to know now what type of end product you will want. After many years I am now struggling with the format I want for a book. I agree that Mills is the best citation reference for genealogy, but at times modification of her examples have served me better. The census is one such case. She starts her citation with the name of the head of house. Given my one name study and the number of people and census that I have used this would be impossible. I cite census to the year county state and have about 16 pages of census sources. I can't imagine how many pages it would be if I used all the head of houses, too many for publishing a book. This is becoming an issue since our computers can handle the detail type sources but books could have way more sources than information. For web pages I include the web address under publication information, it may not be quit right but it does work well.
Another consideration is the readability of your final report. A short article with footnotes reads fine but a book with hundreds of pages would become very choppy. I just tried a one generation report for my immigrant ancestor's family and came up with a 9 page report 4 of which were sources. The first person had 25 sources-equal to about 1 page of sources. If these were published as footnotes the number of pages the family would stretch across would make reading more difficult. Endnotes would help keep the reading pages closer together. And IMO most readers of family reports want the information not the sources. I think you need to use Mills as a guide, following it as much as possible but take into consideration your personal preference for your final report. Over time you may find it necessary to go back and change some of the information you have put into one of today's current genealogical programs. UGG! None of us want this but I have already been through the process because of technical changes - typewriter to computer, one computer program to another and I understand GEDCOM does not pick up all the wonderful fields some programs offer researcher which would mean you need to be careful how you input your data if you want it to be GECOM compatible. >One thing I would like to see are customizable sources, where I can build >my own "type" and create the text fields and surrounding source text. Have you tried adding you "type" to the choice of Types in the scroll down? This field can be customized. You also have text field in source detail that many put the census or type in an obituary. Like others I have asked for the ability to print a source citation report that would be a bibliography, without names and database information. Karen V. Sipe <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< LEGACY >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >In citing my sources, I would like to be able to include the web site >address as part of the "master source" in Legacy, and to include the >accessed date as part of the "citation detail." With Legacy, I cannot do >this and have it formatted as Mills' example above (combined within the >parentheses). From: "Robin D Sprague" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >I am new to genealogy; however, I want to start sourcing and documenting > correctly. Here are my concerns, questions, or misunderstandings. Can > anyone help me clarify things? > > 1. From what I am finding out, the "best" or recommended method for > creating > reports (publishing) is to use footnotes. > 1.a Footnotes are not currently available in Legacy V6.0 > 1.b I am so far away from publishing it isn't funny; however, I would > like > my data in the best, correct format for use in the future. > > 2. Evidence! Citation & Analysis for the Family Historian by Elizabeth > Shown > Mills offers three (3) citation suggested formats; Primary Citations > (Endnotes or Footnotes), Subsequent Citations (Endnotes or Footnotes), and > Bibliographic Entry. > 2.a The format for these options are all different. Thus creating an > automatic endnote or footnote from the current Legacy V6.0 database may be > quite difficult if the current database does not contain finite > information > or fields for all formats. > 2.b Depending on the citation type (interview, census, etc.) information > for "fields" are different and may be displayed differently for various > citations type (footnote vs. bibl.) > 2.c Are there enough specific, finite fields being used in Legacy to > convert our sourcing information into CORRECTLY formatted footnote format, > both long and short, once Legacy hopefully introduces true footnotes? > > 3. Before I purchased Legacy I downloaded and worked with a number of the > programs out there. After referrals and personal testing I broke my > decision down to The Master Genealogist and Legacy. Due to the incredible > user interface in Legacy, I went with it. > 3.a After finding out about sourcing and footnotes, lack thereof in > Legacy, > I am having questions on whether to proceed with this program or to try > and > learn TMG that offers better sourcing options. > > 4. There are helps on the Legacy website to enter sources in the > "correct" > format to follow the Mills standard. It just appears a bit of > manipulation > of the information has to be done to get it into the right format. This > potentially spells trouble when trying to convert data from one format to > another. > 4.a TMG has multiple tables to enter "Interviewer," "Interviewee," "Date > of > Interview," etc. for example. I just don't see this in Legacy and am very > concerned. > > Do any of you have these same concerns or challenges? > > I don't want to have to reenter hundreds of sources into a new program > years > down the road if Legacy isn't holding information optimally in its > database? > > Lastly I have not seen this, and so appreciate it, but please don't take > offense to my comments or flame me for this post. I love the software, > but > I'm thinking of the future and want to minimize headaches and potentially > endless data entry in the future. > > Your comments and suggestions regarding source/citation formatting (to the > "Mills" de facto standard) is greatly appreciated. I would rather eat the > cost of the software vs. getting tied down to a potential data entry > problem. > > Please steer me in the right direction. 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