- Hardcover: 124 pages
- Publisher: Genealogical Publishing Co Inc.,U.S. (Oct 1997)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0806315431
- ISBN-13: 978-0806315430
- Product Dimensions: 23.7 x 16 x 1.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 546,791 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I was not sure about buying this book because it is based on USA genealogical research. However it is the basis of the source and citation system in Family Tree Maker 2009 so I took a chance and bought it.
This is not a 'How to do family research' book. It is a specialised, advanced guide on two subjects - citation and analysis. Very relevant if you want to publish your work either on-line or in book form for others to use reliably.
The principle behind most of the guidance in this book is that analysis (i.e. working out why people behaved in a particular way; the real reason for family research) is based on well documented sources. After all, somebody else might want to do the further analysis.
The book is in two broad parts, guidelines on documenting sources and guidelines on analysis.
The book describes and defines advanced guidelines that are mostly universal, they apply just as well to UK family historians. The examples are US based but the principles they describe can easily be understood and applied here. There are a few guidelines to US sources which, in my case, are not relevant simply because I have no family in the USA, but they may be useful to others.
The book is readable in parts, in others it is a reference manual. Advanced terms and concepts are not explained, the author assumes you know these or can find them out for yourself. It is concise, no wasted waffle, no payment by the number of pages in your block buster.
Two items on the downside and therefore only four stars.
First, the book only makes passing comments to family tree and word processing/publishing software all of which is becoming very advanced and helpful. A bit more on these would have been useful.
Second it is very expensive. To be fair this is a text book and they don't come cheap.
This is not a 'How to do family research' book. It is a specialised, advanced guide on two subjects - citation and analysis. Very relevant if you want to publish your work either on-line or in book form for others to use reliably.
The principle behind most of the guidance in this book is that analysis (i.e. working out why people behaved in a particular way; the real reason for family research) is based on well documented sources. After all, somebody else might want to do the further analysis.
The book is in two broad parts, guidelines on documenting sources and guidelines on analysis.
The book describes and defines advanced guidelines that are mostly universal, they apply just as well to UK family historians. The examples are US based but the principles they describe can easily be understood and applied here. There are a few guidelines to US sources which, in my case, are not relevant simply because I have no family in the USA, but they may be useful to others.
The book is readable in parts, in others it is a reference manual. Advanced terms and concepts are not explained, the author assumes you know these or can find them out for yourself. It is concise, no wasted waffle, no payment by the number of pages in your block buster.
Two items on the downside and therefore only four stars.
First, the book only makes passing comments to family tree and word processing/publishing software all of which is becoming very advanced and helpful. A bit more on these would have been useful.
Second it is very expensive. To be fair this is a text book and they don't come cheap.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
28 reviews
97 of 98 people found the following review helpful
Absolutely essential for any genealogist
23 July 2002
Format:Hardcover
Every serious family researcher should be not only aware of, but thoroughly familiar with, the late Richard Lackey's _Cite Your Sources,_ which, on its publication in 1981, quickly became the Bible of genealogical source citation. Many, however, are not aware that Lackey was inspired by an article published more than two decades ago by Elizabeth Mills -- another name that all genealogists should be familiar with. Ms. Mills, one of our field's most popular and influential conference speakers, and for the past fourteen years the very capable editor of the _National Genealogical Society Quarterly,_ has steadily promoted the cause not only of improved genealogical writing but of the rigorous and systematic analysis of material that must precede good writing. This relatively brief and very accessible volume distills and codifies her advice in three main areas: the principles behind source citation, the formats in which citation should be cast, and the fundamentals of evidentiary analysis itself. "Effective citation is an art," she says, but it's an art that anyone may learn who makes the effort to understand the motivation for careful citation and the factors underlying the carefully thought-out formats she recommends. And whatever the source of information -- courthouse land records, family Bibles, cemetery markers, microfilmed census registers, unpublished manuscripts, electronic e-mail, or a videotaped family reunion -- you will find multiple examples of each in this book. Even more important, to my mind, are her thirteen concisely explained points of genealogical analysis, from the distinction between direct and indirect evidence and between quality and quantity, to the importance of custodial history and her reminder that "the case is never closed on a genealogical conclusion." For all these reasons, this book is a must-have for every genealogist (and historian, librarian, and archivist).
72 of 73 people found the following review helpful
Herculean task superbly done--careful and copious examples
1 Feb 1999
Format:Hardcover
In this book, one of America's foremost genealogical scholars has taken on a Herculean task and accomplished it superbly. Every scholarly discipline has its own basic standards for the nitty-gritty of citational form--the sort of thing that we all hoped we had escaped after our term-paper days were over. In 1980, before genealogy was faced with the computer revolution, the late Richard S. Lackey, FASG, published Cite Your Sources, the first comprehensive guide to "Documenting Family Histories and Genealogical Records." Since Lackey's untimely death in 1983, the few attempts to update his recommendations have been Quixotic and (fortunately) unsuccessful, until the current work by Elizabeth Shown Mills, the editor of the National Genealogical Society Quarterly. Elizabeth Mills takes on more than citations. She recognizes that citations and critical analysis are closely related. We have all seen genealogies that are promoted as thoroughly documented, but when we investigate the sources cited, we find that the author was unable to evaluate them or to draw sound conclusions from them. Citations by themselves do not guarantee the quality of a published work, but they are essential so that the evidence can be judged and, if necessary, the research can be repeated. The discussion of genealogical analysis in this work is among the finest we have seen; studying it carefully will not only reward genealogists but also scholars in related fields. Evidence! provides careful and copious examples of each type of citation that the careful genealogist is likely to encounter, with charts indicating the first citation to the work, document (etc.), subsequent citations to it, and its entry in a separate bibliography. This is not to suggest that everyone will agree with all of Elizabeth Mills's recommendations. While all of the major journals have gone to footnote citations, each has developed its own quirks, and the editors of each are grateful when contributors try to match their journal's form. In addition, Evidence! recommends that more information be included in a citation than others might consider necessary. At least for me, information on the current location of standard county archives (especially probate and land records) is better provided in such works as Ancestry's Red Book than it is in citations. Whether one is in total agreement with every recommendation, Elizabeth Mills has provided the best single source for genealogical documentation and a seminal discussion of genealogical analysis. This is a book that every genealogist should be required to own. --David L. Greene, Ph.D., CG, FASG; Editor, The American Genealogist; July 1998, 73:233
49 of 49 people found the following review helpful
Every family historian should own this one!
25 May 2001
Format:Hardcover
Elizabeth Mills's Evidence! is the best single source for genealogical documentation. Every genealogist should be required to own it.
Information technology has made the exhange of family "research" so much easier in recent years. Everyone wants to be a family historian! Unfortunately, way too many are clueless when it comes to documenting their work. It is all but impossible to go behind the majority of today's internet genealogists and review the proof of their research. In most cases, you may as well start completely over, you can't locate a thing based upon the sources they provide. :(
This is an EXCELLENT, EXCELLENT little book and everyone tracing their family history ought to keep one on their desk - and refer to it again and again. I found Mill's book concise, easy to follow, and invaluable for documenting correctly all those tricky sources particular to family history. Buy one!
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