Week 6: Documenting Your Findings Quiz

Week 6: Documenting Your Findings Quiz

Question 1: You found conflicting birth years for an ancestor: 1847 (marriage record), 1849 (death certificate), and 1850 (census). How should you present this in your family history report?

Choose the middle date (1849) as a compromise
Document all three dates with their sources and note the discrepancy
Use only the marriage record since it's closest to the birth
Calculate an estimated range (1847-1850) without citing specific sources

Question 2: You're creating a citation for a digitized 1920 census record found on Ancestry.com. Which elements are essential for a complete citation?

Just the Ancestry.com URL and access date
Original source details, repository location, digital collection information, and access date
Only the original government source information
Ancestry database name and the specific record identifier

Question 3: Your cousin wants to publish a family cookbook with family stories but plans to include unverified claims about ancestors being "Cherokee princesses" and Civil War heroes. How should you advise them about documentation standards?

Support the project since family traditions are important
Suggest labeling unverified stories as "family tradition" and adding documentation for proven facts
Refuse to participate unless everything is fully documented
Recommend removing all genealogical content from the cookbook

Question 4: You're organizing 50 years of family research left by a deceased relative. You find folders with photocopies but no citations indicating where the documents came from. What's your best approach for future usability?

Discard uncited materials since they can't be verified
Create a separate "unverified" section and research to identify sources
Use the materials but add generic citations like "family papers"
Include everything without citations since the research was done by family

Question 5: You're writing a family history and discover your great-grandfather was imprisoned for bootlegging during Prohibition. Your family doesn't know this story. How should you handle this sensitive information in your documentation?

Include it with full documentation since it's factual and historical
Omit it entirely to protect the family's feelings
Include it but downplay the details and focus on the historical context
Ask family permission before including any mention of it

Question 6: You're preparing to share your research with a genealogy society. Your file system includes: original documents, photocopies, transcriptions, research notes, and correspondence. What's the most effective way to organize this for sharing?

Share only the final family tree without supporting documentation
Create a research report with findings, followed by an appendix of key documents with citations
Provide everything in chronological order by when you found it
Share only original documents and let others draw their own conclusions