A Citation Assessment is your assessment of the credibility of the source information that led you to a particular conclusion). Remember that the assessment is for the piece of information in the source that led to the citation, rather than the source document as a whole.
Version 6 and below
Family Historian version 6 and below supports Citation Assessment based on the GedcomGEDCOM, an acronym for GEnealogical Data COMmunication, is a specification for exchanging genealogical data between different genealogy software. It is a file format that most genealogical programs and online trees recognise. standard:
- Primary evidence: Such as a Birth CertificateBirth Certificates are a formal record of the birth of a child, and typically include the date and place of birth together with information about the parents. or most information in a CensusCensus records are national collections of population statistics. They usually record details about members of a household on a particular date, and are typically collected every ten years.. For example, a census enumerator will have recorded contemporary details such as name and address of the householder. However, details such as Birth, PlaceAccording to GEDCOM, a Place should hold “The jurisdictional name of the place where the event took place…” and Age may be less credible and warrant a lower assessment.
- Secondary evidence: Such as Birth, Place and Age in a Census or on a Death CertificateDeath Certificates are a formal record of the death of a person, and typically include the date and place of death, the age or date of birth, and sometimes information about close relations., that are not contemporary with the birth, as they were recorded some time after the event, and/or by somebody who did not have first-hand knowledge.
- Questionable: Such as a GEDCOM from another user who may be guilty of wishful thinking, when you have not had the chance to check their data. (Once you’ve checked it, you may remove the citation to their GEDCOM and replace it with citationsA link between a source and a fact, documenting Where within the source you find information being “cited” to support the fact/conclusion. to better sourcesSource: “where information was found”. This could be anything from an archive in a county records office, a book, or even a relative’s recorded recollection. Citing your Sources helps to show how you reached a particular conclusion about an Individual.. Or you may conclude they were wrong, and remove the citation altogether.)
- Unreliable: Such as any family legend or hearsay that is very hard to verify.
Version 7
In version 7, you can continue to base your Citation AssessmentsA Citation Assessment is a record of how credible you believe a piece of information in a source to be, when you have relied on that information to reach a conclusion about a fact. on the Gedcom standard, but you can also specify a combination of values accessible via <more options> in the Citation Assessment dropdown:
These are described at Citation Assessment Dialog Help and partially reflect the evidence analysis process described by Elizabeth Shown Mills.