Citing family history sources

Citing family history sources is one of the most important elements of family history research, so you need to learn how to do it well. This article explains why you need to cite your sources and how your research will benefit. It provides instructions for citing family history sources and links to other resources so that you can explore the topic further.

Last updated 21 June 2025

There is no single way to cite sources. Each discipline does it slightly differently and even within disciplines, such as family history, there are variations.

What is a family history source?

Sources are anything that you extract information from. They are the source of your information.

Most family history sources are documentary sources. They can be either published or unpublished documents. And they can be in a digital or physical format.

Is an index a source?

An index typically provides identifying information such as a surname and information which you can use to track down a source. If you do track down the source and obtain information from it, you cite that source. In such cases, the index is a finding aid, not a source.

However, sometimes the sources are not accessible or you may not look at them straight away. In these circumstances, if you use information from the index in your family history, then the index is a source. Citing the index identifies where you got the information, helps you find the index again and helps you track down the sources at a later date.

Learn more about types of family history sources in my article, What type of family history source is it?

Why is citing family history sources important?

The purpose of source citations is a useful thing to think about, because their purpose tells us what information needs to be included in a citation.

Citing sources helps you find them again

A source citation makes it easier for you to find the source again so that you can take another look at it.

This could be important for a number of reasons:

• You may have missed information, copied information inaccurately or misinterpreted the source. Looking at it again can help you correct these mistakes.
• You may have taken a copy of the source which is incomplete or without sufficient context. Looking at the source again allows you to gather more of the source or learn more about it.
• You always examine a source based on the research questions that you have at that time. You may need to examine the source again when you have different research questions or need information about different family members.

Citing family history sources also makes it easier for other researchers to look at the sources that you used.

If they are good researchers they will do so, because:

• they will want to check the information to see if they agree with your conclusions
• they may have different questions, or be interested in different pieces of information in the sources you used.

Citing sources helps your analysis

One of the most important and often overlooked reasons to cite family history sources is that doing so helps you analyse the source.

When creating a source citation you have to examine the source closely and gather information about the nature of the source, who created it and why.

This process helps you understand the source and the information it contains. This understanding helps you interpret the source accurately, which will improve the quality of your research and the accuracy of your family history.

Citing sources demonstrates the quality of your research

Family history source citations show where you found your information and identify the sources that provide evidence to support your conclusions. They are an indicator of whether you have conducted a reasonably exhaustive search and whether your conclusions are supported by sufficient evidence. These are fundamental principles of good quality family history research.

The quality of your research is indicated by the quantity of sources and the types of sources that you cite for each conclusion.

Read Family History Source Citations That Support Your Conclusions for more about this topic.

Citing sources distinguishes between your work and others

Citing your sources can help you avoid plagiarism, if you publish your work or are writing up your family history for a university or other educational institution.

For more information about why you should cite genealogy sources, check out 4 good reasons to cite your sources.

Citation formats and styles for family history sources

Which citation style should you use?

The format of a citation is dictated firstly by the citation style. The purpose of the style is to provide consistency in the way that the components of a citation are set out. This help readers understand and use the information in the citation.

Different disciplines tend to stick with a particular citation style. Family historians use the Chicago A citation style.

The Chicago A citation style has two key components:

• citations are included at the bottom of the page as footnotes, or at the end of a document or section of a document as endnotes, and
• a list of all sources is provided at the end of a document in a bibliography.

How does the format differ within this citation style?

Within each style there are different formats for citations depending on the type of source. This is because each source type requires different information to achieve the purposes of a citation, which are discussed above.

For example, a citation for a published book does not need information about the repository because there are multiple copies and you can find the book by searching a library catalogue.

However, a citation for an unpublished photograph does need information about the repository because there are a limited number of copies. You need to state where at least one is held to help people find it. The citation also needs information about how the photograph is catalogued by that repository, such as a file or reference number, because cataloguing systems for unpublished sources are not standardised.

How strictly do you need to apply the citation style and format?

There is some flexibility within the citation style and format, which is why you will see slight differences in how people cite particular types of sources.

How strictly you apply the citation style and format should depend on the product and your audience. If you are writing an essay or thesis, for example, it is important to use the format that the educational organisation specifies and comply strictly with their requirements. Similarly, if you are writing for a publication, you should follow the format requirements of the publisher. In all other cases, you just need to ensure that your citations achieve the purposes of citations discussed above.

For more information about format and style, plus examples, read my article Family history source citations: styles and format or the Chicago A style guide.

What needs a source citation in genealogy?

You should add a source citation to anything that is not general knowledge.

This includes:

• conclusions, such as when a family member was born and where
• ideas or the work of others, such as quotations, data, images and other media.

Sometimes it may also be necessary to provide a citation when you reference your own work, if it appeared in another product. For example, this post quotes and cites parts of my book, The Good Genealogist.

Exceptions to the rule

Source citations are not required on family tree charts. This is probably because they would clutter up the charts and make them difficult to read. Charts are usually presented in the context of other research material that provides detail, context and source citations. If not, then it is probably a good idea to include information on the chart that directs the user to where that information is available.

How to cite family history sources

I believe that it is important to learn how to create family history source citations manually. This will improve your skills in source analysis, which will benefit your research. You can then use that knowledge to utilise citation tools and apply those tools more effectively.

Apply the Six Question Model

Cite your sources manually by applying the Six Question Model. This is a technique that uses a series of prompt questions to help you generate information to include in a family history source citation. The order of the questions guides the general order of the information in the citation.

The model works for all types of family history sources. You’ll find examples in my articles, Citing photographs and objects and Citing an archival source.

Consult a citation guide

Citation guides can help you create your source citation.

Many repositories of family history sources provide either a specific suggested citation for the source or a guide to citing their sources. This is useful because they have greater knowledge of the sources that they hold and the details required to find those sources within their collections.

This is particularly important for unpublished sources, which is why archives tend to have guides to citing the material in their collections. Look for guides on their websites.

Examples of archive citation guides:

National Archives of Australia, Citing Archival Records – Fact Sheet 7

NSW State Archives, Publishing and Citing State Archives (Australia)

National Archives UK, Citing Records in The National Archives

Other resources:

Noeline Kyle, Citing Historical Sources: A Manual for Family Historians, Unlock the Past, South Australia, 2013.

Elizabeth Shown Mills, Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace, Genealogical Pub. Co., Baltimore, Md., 2007.

Use source citation tools

Family history software contains tools and templates to help you cite your sources. If you use software, it is a good idea to learn how to use the source citation features.

There are many online source citation generation tools, but you ideally you should use one created for family history. Cite-Builder, for example, is provided by Australian genealogist, Jenny Joyce.

If the source has been published, you can look for it in a library catalogue and use their citation generator tool to create a source citation. If the citation generator does not include Chicago A (and many do not), use the Turabian style instead.

Example software citation guide:

Legacy 101 – Source citations

Essential tips for citing family history sources

• Learn more about the source, so that you understand the information that has to go into each part of the source citation.
• Create sample citations for frequently used sources to save you time and help you be more consistent.
• Keep a master list of your citations, to use in further research or for publishing material based on your research.
• Create your source citation before you start taking notes or adding information to your family tree. Do not leave it until later, as you may forget to do it.
• If you take a copy of a source or make an extract from a source, add a source citation to that copy or extract immediately.
• Test your citation against the purpose of source citations. Is it clear and does it have enough information for you to find the source again?
• Always cite the source that you used. Do not just cite the original, if you used a derivative source such as a transcription. However, if you do use a derivative source, it is best practice to include information about the original source at the end of the source citation. This helps you or another researcher to find that original source, or at least understand where the origins of the information.

Note: An original source is the first version of a source. A derivative source is created based on information from other sources, which may be original sources or other derivative sources.

Related posts:

What type of family history source is it?

5 tips to make citing sources easier

Citing your sources builds better quality family history

Clear, consistent citations do more than just record where you got the information from. They help you analyse your sources and create a more accurate family history.

Start systematically, by adding source citations to each generation. Keep exploring the related posts linked throughout this article for tools, templates, and examples that make citations easier. Or take a look at my book, The Good Genealogist, pp 131-145.