Creating a Source Template

As you follow this procedure, keep in mind my TMG mantra: There is no one right way to use TMG. I'm constantly changing things in the program as I get new ideas from other users, as TMG versions improve, and as I encounter new research problems.

Be aware that a few thousand sources generate a great deal of inertia. My present source definitions are a compromise between earlier TMG limitations and what can be done with the program now. What I'm presenting here is the method I use to create (or edit) a source template to match, to the best of my ability, the citation formats presented by Elizabeth Shown Mills in Evidence Explained.

There are three ways to produce footnotes and bibliographic entries in TMG:
• Use the TMG Source Category template;
  This method provides flexibility. Anytime you want to change the format of a footnote, simply change the Source Category template. All footnotes for sources in that category will be changed automatically, assuming you have not overriden the template (see below).
• Override the Source Category Template by changing the Source Elements or word constants;
  This method may be necessary on a case-by-case basis. If you find yourself doing this frequently, consider editing the source template.
• Simply type in the full footnote, short footnote, and bibliographic entry directly on the Source Output page.
  This method allows you to enter a footnote, short footnote, and bibliographic entry in the output screen exactly as you want it to appear in your report. If you decide to change your format, however, you will need to edit every source in your database!

TMG provides three Source Category template options set by your choice in "Preferences":
• Wholly Genes' interpretation of Evidence: Citation and Analysis for the Family Historian, by Elizabeth Shown Mills [Mills templates];
• Wholly Genes' interpretation of Cite Your Sources, by Richard Lackey [Lackey templates];
• Custom templates.
  This option begins with the Mills templates and allows you to edit them to your satisfaction. It's this option that is discussed here.

Creating a Source Template for Online Census Images

• Step One: Examine the Mills format for the Source Type in question. Most of our online census images come from sources such as Ancestry, Heritage Quest, Footnote, or FamilySearch Labs. Mills provides a QuickCheck Model on p. 240 and discusses each federal census year on pages 265-283 (Evidence Explained, 2007).
• Step Two: Analyze the bibliographic entry for source elements: state, county, date, record type, etc. The bibliographic entry also helps me determine what my basic source unit should be: a census microfilm roll or a census household; one vital record or a vital record series; one deed or a deed book or a series of deeds; etc. These elements must all appear in your source category template.
• Step Three: Analyze the full footnote entry. Determine what additional elements are needed for the full footnote. Determine what additional elements should be part of the citation detail rather than the source category template.
• Step Four: Analyze the short footnote entry to determine if a "Short Title" would be helpful.
• Step Five: Identify any word constants.
• Step Six: Do you need to create any new Source Elements?

When it comes to sources, some TMG users are "lumpers," some are "splitters," and some are "splumpers." I'm a "splumper." I lump many source types, I split others. My basic census source unit is the microfilm roll. Why I chose that unit is explained in "Census Documentation". I enter a new source for each census microfilm roll, or online equivalent, and I add that information to my Bibliography template. This illustration, though, corresponds to Mills. I compared the desired source elements with those available in TMG and picked what I thought were reasonable equivalents. I didn't want to create too many new elements.

Analyzing Source Elements in the Bibliography

Source elements are the individual fields that make up a source definition. I create new source elements that help me remember what information should be recorded and where that information will appear. There must be some basic standard, however, to allow users to share their data. In TMG, each source element must be part of a source element group. You can create new source elements, but you cannot create new source element groups. Only one element from each source element group can appear in any one source definition. To see these thirty source element groups and TMG's standard source elements, select F1 (or Help) --> Index --> Source Element Groups. Because I've created many new source elements, it's hard for me to state which I created and which came with TMG. Terry Reigel provides an excellent reference on source elements: TMG Source Elements.

• Step Six: Create new source elements.
  • In TMG, select Tools --> Source Elements --> Add
  • Enter your element name and assign the element to a logical element group that will not be used for any other element in this source definition. This may be easier said than done.
  • [STATE] was assigned to the [LOCATION] element group.
  • [COUNTY] was assigned to the [SECOND LOCATION] element group.
  • [FORMAT] was assigned to the [EDITION] element group.
  • [WEBSITE] was assigned to the [SUBTITLE] group.

** Possible options to consider:
• Mills specifies several online formats, among them digital images, database, and database and images. If the template will be used for information always presented in the same format, consider converting this to a word constant. I use the word constant, Digital images, for this field.
• In keeping with the idea that a repository is where one found the source, I created a Repository for online sources, such as Ancestry.com, Footnote, and FamilySearch, which contain many and varied databases.
• If you use [REPOSITORY] instead of [WEBSITE] in this template, enter the URL in the Repository address, and replace [URL] in this template with [REPOSITORY ADDRESS].
• Do not abbreviate the word County in the data entry. If you're not doing any research in Louisiana, where Parish is the word of choice, consider entering County as a word constant in the template.

Analyzing Source Elements in the Full Footnote

** Possible options to consider:
• The civil division used to be included in the Short Footnote as well as the Full Footnote. My personal template still does that. My [CD2] includes the civil division, p., dw., fa., etc. [CD3] is used for my access date; I have no [CD4] in this template.
• If the template will be used for information always presented in the same format, consider converting this to a word constant. I use the word constant, digital image, for this field.
• I use [REPOSITORY] and [REPOSITORY ADDRESS] instead of [WEBSITE] and [URL] in this template.
• National Archives, rather than NARA, was used more frequently in Mills' earlier Evidence!. Consider replacing this with a word constant. That would make future changes in style easier to make.
• The words "citing", "microfilm publication" and "roll" are included in the template as word constants. This allows for future changes in style.

Analyzing Source Elements in the Short Footnote

** Possible options to consider:
• DO NOT USE the postal abbreviations for the state. Use the standard abbreviations.
• I include the [CENSUS YEAR] as part of the [SHORT TITLE]. Some foreign censuses change this document designation in the subsequent footnotes.
• Mills abbreviates page as p. in both Full and Short Footnotes. She writes out dwelling and family in the Full Footnote, but abbreviates them as dwell. and fam. in the Short Footnote. Achieving this in TMG is cumbersome and not worth the effort, as far as I'm concerned. I abbreviate in both Full and Short Footnotes, and I use Mills' earlier abbreviations: dw. and fa.

• Step Seven: Create the new template.
  • In TMG, select Tools --> Source Types --> Add (or Copy, then Edit.) This template is closest to the Census, Federal (filmed) template.
  • Enter your source elements, with appropriate punctuation and word constants, in the proper order for the Full footnote, the Short footnote, and the Bibliography.
  • Don't forget angle brackets for those elements that may not always appear! I use lots of angle brackets.
  • Be very liberal when adding comments to the Reminder. I include the pages in Evidence Explained that my template is designed to replicate, as well as examples for each data field.
  • Click Okay and you're done.

This online census template, as well as templates for other census media, appears in Census Citations, TMG, and Evidence Explained. The final results are compared to the Mills citations in this table. Note that I my abbreviation style differs from Mills, but if necessary, the "Find and Replace" feature in a word processor can be used to quickly convert these abbreviations.

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This page copyright January 2005 by Susan Goss Johnston; updated April 2009.
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