Have you ever found another researcher’s family tree online that filled in gaps on your own family tree? It’s exciting. But how do you know if the research is accurate?

Unless the researcher provided sources for their facts, it’s impossible to know whether or not those facts are accurate. It’s also impossible for you to retrace their steps.

YUCK—DO I REALLY HAVE TO?
No one likes citing their sources; it’s like high school English all over again. But fortunately Ancestry makes the process as painless as possible.

If you attach an Ancestry record to your tree, a citation is automatically created for you.

A citation created by Ancestry.

And, a fill-in-the-blank form allows you to easily cite sources that you add from other places.

VIEWING AND CREATING CITATIONS
To view the citations for an individual in your tree, click on that individual. A person page for him or her will appear. Scroll to the bottom of the page. On the right-hand side, you will see a link titled, “View all source citations.” Click the link to see the citations that Ancestry has already created for you, plus any that you may have added.

To create a new citation, click “Add a source citation.”

WHAT IS A SOURCE?
When you click the “Add a source citation” link, a form pops up to take you through the citation process step by step. Step 1 asks which fact or event the citation should be attached to—birth, marriage, death, etc.

Step 2 asks you to either select a source for the citation or to add a new source.

What is a source?

A source is any document, book, person, etc. from which you gathered your information. For example, census records are sources.

Once you have created a source you can use it over and over again for different citations. For example, you may want to create a citation for multiple people on a particular census record. If you create a source for the census records, you can select it as the source each time you create a new citation, rather than retyping the information.

FOR EXAMPLE
I recently made a trip to the Salt Lake City Family History Library to do some research on my Jones family from Scranton, Pennsylvania.

I found a possible death certificate for David A. Jones, my third great-grandfather, on a microfilm of death certificates for Scranton created by the city bureau of health.

When I returned home I scanned the photocopy of the certificate I made at the Family History Library and attached it to David A. Jones on my tree. Then I added a citation.

The source for the death certificate was a microfilm titled “Records of deaths, 1878–1905, in the city of Scranton, Pennsylvania.” I filled out the source information as follows:

Make sure to write down titles, authors, publishers, and other important information about a source when you locate it; I recorded all this information at the Family History Library. Also, notice this form prompts you to put a repository. A repository is the location where you found your source, such as a library, historical society, or website. You can add a repository and use it over and over, just as you can with a source.

I filled out the actual citation as follows:

Once I chose the event I wanted to cite (Step 1) and added the record source (Step 2), I had to fill out information for the individual citation (Step 3). If your citation comes from a website, make sure to add the URL.

LEAVING PROOF
See—citing your sources isn’t that difficult! It only takes a few seconds, and it leaves a legacy that isn’t only interesting, but credible.

Jana Lloyd is editor of the Ancestry Monthly newsletter. She can be reached at AMUeditor@ancestry.com but cannot assist with personal research questions.