From WeRelate
Recommended titles for various kinds of sources.
General Information
The general rule of thumb is to title Source pages as Author. Title with the following special cases:
- If the author is unknown, we omit it and use the title only.
- Authors of websites or online collections are often unknown or difficult to determine, so we always omit authors of websites or online collections.
- The title of a website is the the title of the web page (shown in the blue bar at the top of the browser) unless it is a very poor title (like "Census" or "Title goes here"). In that case it is the main heading on the page.
- For records created/maintained by a government agency or church organization, we use the place covered by the records for the author part of the title; e.g., "United States, Minnesota, Ramsey. Death Registers" or "United States, Minnesota, Ramsey, Shoreview. Incarnation Lutheran Church Marriage Registers". The agency/organization should still be listed in the author field on the Source page, but omitting it from the title keeps the title from becoming too long.
- We also use place for the author part of the title of cemetery or other geographically-oriented records; e.g., "United States, Minnesota, Ramsey, St. Paul. Cavalry Cemetery"
- If two sources end up with the same title under these rules, you can add disambiguating information in parentheses to the end of the title.
Entering places
Many times in the examples below, it will be suggested to enter the PLACE in a title in reverse order. If you use the ADD command (located in the blue menu bar at the top of a page), the place will automatically be reversed for you. So when instructed in the form to enter the place for a source, simply enter the city, county, state and/or country in the correct order.
There may be times, however, when you've created a LINK for a source that doesn't exist. Clicking on the link will then give you the opportunity to create a page for that source. In this case, because you have by-passed the ADD command and the page-creation form, it will then be necessary to enter the PLACE in reverse order.
Examples:
- Using the ADD command (in the blue menu bar at the top of a page), enter the place as: United States, North Carolina, Cumberland. The drop-down box will appear if you type slow enough and pause at each comma.
- By-passing the ADD command and entering a link on a page, enter the title as: [[Source:United States, North Carolina, Cumberland. 1860 U.S. Census Population Schedule]]
Census Records - United States
The suggested title for United States census records is:
- Country level: United States. XXXX U.S. Census Population Schedule
- County level: United States, state name, county name. XXXX U.S. Census Population Schedule
- In the "Places covered by the record group" field, enter: county name, state name, United States (For example: Lawrence, Ohio, United States)
- In the "Title" field, enter: XXXX U.S. Census Population Schedule
- In the notes field, enter "[[Category:XXXX State census]]"
Newspapers
The recommended suggested format for creating a title for a newspaper is: Published place of the newspaper (in reverse order). Name of the newspaper.
Examples:
- United States, West Virginia, Kanawha, Charleston. The Charleston Gazette
- United States, Ohio, Lorain, Elyria. Chronicle Telegram
- Canada, Manitoba, Winnipeg. Winnipeg Free Press
Vital Records
Use the place (in reverse order) and the dataset name.
Examples:
- United States, California. Deaths 1900-1997
- United States, Connecticut, Hartford, Windsor. Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1638-1925.
Offline Sources
The suggested title for new offline sources such as books or CD's, is the author (in surname, given name format, primary author only) followed by the title.
Examples:
- Milner, Paul. A Genealogist's Guide to Discovering Your English Ancestors
- Smith, Dean Crawford. The Ancestry of Eva Belle Kempton 1878-1908
- Brown, Robert C. The History of Madison County, Ohio
Websites
Most websites contain transcriptions of offline sources. In these cases, please create a Source page for the offline source, and enter the website in the "Text / transcription location" field of the source citation on the Person or Family page.
A few websites contain original content or content that has been highly edited/compiled. An example is Jay County, Indiana Cemeteries. In this case if the website is expected to be long-lasting where others can reference it in the future, you can create a Source page for it.
If the website contains geographically-oriented records (e.g., government, church, or cemetery records), the title of the Source wiki page is the place covered by the records followed by the title of the website; for example, "United States, Indiana, Jay. Jay County, Indiana Cemeteries". For other websites, the title of the Source wiki page is the title of the website. The title of the website usually appears in the bar at the very top of your browser.
Errata
If you aren't sure you have the title right, don't worry about it. Just go ahead and add the source. We can change the title later if necessary.
If you are interested, please participate in the discussion of how to properly title genealogical sources on the on the talk page.
