Mills, Elizabeth Shown. Evidence! Citation & Analysis for the Family Historian. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co, 1997.

This essential volume completely updates and replaces Lackey's Write It Right! and includes not only recommended citation styles for every conceivable type of source a genealogist is likely to encounter but also an excellent essay on the nature of "evidence."

Mills, Elizabeth Shown. Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co, 2007.

A revision and major expansion (885 pages!) of the title listed above. Because of the great level of detail, it will be an essential reference for professional genealogists and genealogical authors, but it does not replace the usefulness of the 1997 book for most researchers.

Mills, Elizabeth Shown (ed). Professional Genealogy: A Manual for Researchers, Writers, Editors, Lecturers, and Librarians. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co, 2001.

Board for Certification of Genealogists. The BCG Genealogical Standards Manual. Washington, DC: BCG, 2000.

The Chicago Manual of Style. 15th edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003. [or the 14th edition, 1993]

The standard resource for questions of style in the publishing industry generally, and for all varieties of source citations in particular.

Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. 6th edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996. [this is based on the CSM, but for a more general audience]

Based on the Chicago Manual of Style but greatly reduced in size and intended for a more general audience. Familiar to generations of college students.

Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 5th edition. NY: Modern Language Association, 1999.

Another standard writing and style resource of manageable size, intended for students and other writers in the humanities.

NOTE: Because they are a required purchase by high school and college students, used copies of Turabian and the MLA Handbook are available inexpensively in virtually every used bookstore.

Return to First Families Top Page

Postal correspondence should be sent to:
     Louisiana Genealogical & Historical Society
     ATTN: First Families of Louisiana Program
     PO Box 82060
     Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70884-2060

Copyright © 2004-2010 / Last updated: 24 Sept 2010