Don’t get me wrong – I love the big genealogy sites. Ancestry, FamilySearch, MyHeritage, Findmypast – just to name a few. These sites have given us easy access to an enormous volume of sources.
Their collections are invaluable and they are constantly expanding their collections and introducing tools to help us use the collections. However, this ease of access and tools can also work against us as good genealogists.
Easy source citations
Take source citations, for example. To save us time and help us out, the big sites provide suggested source citations. If we have an online tree on that site, we copy the information across. A source citation is automatically added without us having to do anything much at all.
If we prefer to store the information on our own computer, we either type the information into our family tree or download an extract of the source (or both). We can then cut and paste the suggested source citation and add that to the information on our computer.
It is great that they help us in this way, because it reduces the likelihood of family trees without source citations.
However, the problem is that this assistance can stop us from examining the sources for ourselves. When we create a source citation, we have to take time and think about what the source really is. We also consider who created it and when. And we analyse the features which help us determine the reliability of the source. Creating a source citation for ourselves helps us analyse the source, the information and the evidence.
Dig deeper
Sources on the big sites are gathered into collections and given a generic name, without all the subtle details of information that tells us more about the features of the source which affect their reliability. Some of us may read the explanatory notes, or use the information provided to track down and examine the original sources. But I suspect that many don’t.
Slow down and do it manually
So … slow down and resist the urge to let websites do all your research for you.
For more of my articles about research methods for family history, go to the Research Methods page.
Post last updated 5 June 2024
