Issue 41.12
Final part
Sources help you evaluate conflicting information. When you find conflicting information, such as two different birth dates for the same person, you can use your sources to determine which one is the most likely to contain the correct information. Plus sources acknowledge work done by others.
Before you can attach a source to a person or relationship, that source must be in your sources box. When you enter your own sources into your source box, you enter important information about that source. This information helps you and others understand what the source is, where to find it, and how to understand its reliability. A source can either link to an online record or simply be a citation that tells you where to find a copy of the record.
Once the source is saved it asks for a reason why you added that source. Enter a reason that indicates what this source proves and why it is being attached, such as this is Clarence A Jones on the 1940 census showing his wife as Madeline and his family is living in Overton, Clark, Nevada. Focus your reason on the facts that the source proves. Be polite and factual. This field is not the place for lengthy discussions or debates. If the facts require debate or discussion, use the discussion feature instead.
If you are attaching the source to a person and want to tag the source as pertaining to the person’s name, gender, birth, christening, death, or burial. When you find a record on FamilySearch.org, you can add it to your source box and then attach it to people and relationships in Family Tree.
Citing records from FamilySearch.org has some important advantages because when you add a source from FamilySearch.org; FamilySearch.org does all of the hard work for you. It creates the source title, URL, and citation. All you have to do is enter any notes that you want. If FamilySearch.org improves any of the information about this source, it makes the changes in Family Tree for you. On FamilySearch.org, the URL will persist. The URLs found on other websites often change or become unavailable. So even though you can find the census records in many places, if you link those found at FamilySearch.org to the Family Tree as sources, they will be permanent.
For more information, contact Shanna Jones at shannasjones@msn.com or 435-628-4900.