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From: "David Kearney" <>
Subject: Re: [LDR] Website Attribution
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2006 07:31:40 -0500
References: <380-220061210114820427@earthlink.net>


Jim, Good advice to keep a copy of the cited webpage. I have been "fooled" more than once (shame on me) when I've tried to go back to a website to fill in material that I had drawn from the site only to find that the site no longer exists and is nowhere to be found. Sites, indeed, are evanescent.

I think I have my print settings set to include the web address and date on hard copies that I print off. However, sometimes when I've saved a webpage on my pc I forget to add in the web address itself, which is important from a citation standpoint. One approach for preserving the address electronically is to save the page in HTML format ... this results in a larger file typically than would result through saving the page in TXT format, but much of the original "look" of the page is preserved in HTML and the original address can be found (on an IE browser) by going to VIEW/SOURCE on the tabs at the top.

Another approach is to edit the saved page to insert the original web address onto the saved page itself. Some websites do this for you, particularly current news items, but I wish every site did so, or that there was a way to "stamp" the address automatically when saving the page as an electronic file.

As someone else pointed out, including the date in the citation is important, too, because even if the web address remains, content often changes. Another little fussy point ... when I find something in a web search in "cache," but no longer on the "actual page," I thank my lucky stars that I have "caught" the information before it disappears from the web, and then try to remember to mark "[cache]" at the end of the citation. These finds definitely should be copied.

People should keep in mind that although there is overlap between the need to provide source citations and copyright protection, the two also are issues each their own also .... just as providing source citations does not settle most copyright infringement issues, so should one keep and display source citations as a matter of research integrity, apart from any copyright concerns.

I thought it would be good to mention the above thoughts mostly to remind myself to do these things, because even knowing better, I too often forget or get into too much of a hurry saving things or inputting them into the genealogy database that I forget to properly keep track of the sources. :-)

Dave Kearney
----- Original Message -----
From: Jim Handy
To:
Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2006 6:48 AM
Subject: RE: [LDR] Website Attribution


Sally -
I don't know the answer to your question. However, due to the evanescent
nature of some websites, I would recommend making a copy onto your hard
drive that part of the citation you reference. Then list your local file
name parenthetically after the website address in your bibliography. There
was (emphasis) a website that contained detailed transcriptions of all the
headstones in a cemetery where many of my ancestors and kin rest. The
graves are still there, the website isn't.
-Jim

> [Original Message]
> From: Sally Phillips <>
> To: <>
> Date: 1/6/2006 5:31:28 PM
> Subject: [LDR] Website Attribution
>
> This is not a question specific local to Lower Delmarva, but you all are
such fine, erudite folks, I can't think of a better group to ask.
>
> What is the accepted form (or forms) when one wants to include a website
in a bibliography? For instance, having used Neil's site, how would I show
it?
>
> I'm showing my age here. This question would not have occurred to anyone
when I was in school.
>
> Sally Phillips

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