How to Cite Genealogies, County Gazetteers, and OCR Text

Enable readers to return to the same volume and the same original image.

Guide to organization methods. The examples are fictional demonstrations, not historical cases; conclusions involving people, dates, and lineages should be checked against original materials.

Are You Citing the Original Image or Machine-Generated Text?

OCR is a retrieval aid. When names, dates, place names, or kinship relationships appear, the original image should be checked. If it has not yet been verified, explicitly write “machine-recognized result, pending verification.” Do not remove the uncertainty and then restate it as historical fact.

Record a Reproducible Location

At a minimum, save the book title, edition information, the collection identifier on this site, volume number, image page number, link, and access date. The original book’s folio numbers may differ from the image page numbers; when both are visible, record them separately.

Keep Excerpts and Interpretation Separate

First provide a sufficiently brief excerpt of the original text, then explain your interpretation. Difficult characters may be marked in square brackets as pending identification; do not insert supplied characters into the original text without saying so. Modern punctuation and conversion to simplified characters should also be distinguished from the original forms.

Keep a Record of Corrections

When a clearer original image or a different edition is later found, retain the earlier interpretation and the reason for the revision. On public pages, indicate the date of the most recent verification so that others can tell which version of the edited result is being cited.

Reusable record sheet

书名：
版本或年代（已核 / 待核）：
本站馆藏编号：
第几册 / 原书叶码 / 影像页码：
原文摘录：
整理者解释：
链接与访问日期：
不确定字及说明：

Download blank record sheet