Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace. Third Edition

Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace. Third Edition. Elizabeth Shown Mills. Hardbound, (2015), Index, 892 pp.

It's Here! The new Third Edition of Evidence Explained, the nationally acclaimed guidebook on source citation and analysis.

Eight years have passed since the first edition of Evidence Explained, the definitive guide to the citation and analysis of historical sources--a guide so thorough that it leaves nothing to chance. Yet advances in genealogy and history research, changes at major repositories and online information providers, and the ever-evolving electronic world have generated new citation and analysis challenges for researchers. While countless websites now suggest ways to identify their offerings, few of those address the analytical needs of a researcher concerned with the nature and provenance of web material, whose numerous incarnations and transformations often affect the reliability of their content.

Like the previous editions of Evidence Explained, the third edition explains citation principles for both traditional and nontraditional sources; includes more than 1,000 citation models for virtually every source type; and shows readers where to go to find their sources and how to describe and evaluate them. It contains many new citation models, updates to websites, and descriptions and evaluations of numerous contemporary materials not included in earlier editions.

Highlights of the third edition include:

• QuickStart Guide
• Expanded “3x3” Evidence Analysis Process Model
• Expanded coverage for genetic citations
• Expanded coverage of layered citations

Plus

• Latest concepts in evidence analysis
• Coverage of latest media and delivery systems
• Expanded glossary
• Handling of cached materials at Wayback Machine and elsewhere
• Privacy standards for genetic research
• Updates in National Archives citations after changes at NARA and TNG
• Updates for major online providers after acquisitions and mergers
• When to cite DOIs vs. URLs
• When to cite Stable URLs vs. paths and keywords
• Your 4 Basic Rules for citing websites
• & many other issues raised by users of past editions

"The definitive guide for how to cite every conceivable kind of source a historian might use, from traditional archival materials to digital media to the most arcane sources imaginable."—John B. Boles, William P. Hobby Professor of History, Rice University

"Twenty-first century technology confronts historians and students with a bewildering proliferation of information some of it accurate and too much of it dubious. In Evidence Explained, Mills demonstrates how to separate the wheat from the chaff and how to report one’s sources and achievements. This encyclopedic guidebook is an invaluable resource for historians, students and editors alike."—Jon Kukla, author of Mr. Jefferson’s Women and A Wilderness So Immense: The Louisiana Purchase and the Destiny of America

"Historians will welcome the publication of this detailed guide to citations. Even avid users of The Chicago Manual of Style regularly encounter sources for which that handbook gives no guidance. Now we can turn to Elizabeth Shown Mills’s comprehensive work."—Journal of Southern History

"A key resource guide for scholars and serious researchers who must rely upon and understand historical evidence. Highly recommended."—R.V. Labaree, Choice

"This is an essential resource for family historians; highly recommended for all libraries."—Library Journal (First edition: Library Journal Best Reference 2007)

"In standardizing a family history style, Mills has advanced the discipline. She has given researchers, writers, editors, and publishers invaluable new tools to bring quality and consistency to their work and distinction to the field."—National Genealogical Society Quarterly

"Meant not only as a style guide for the types of source citations used by historians and genealogists, this book also discusses why analysis of information within the total context of a source is imperative to understanding the nature of a fact. Citations not only tell where the source was found, but also can indicate a level of confidence to knowledgeable researchers."—Association of Professional Genealogists Quarterly

** Library Journal’s Best Reference 2007 **
** Winner of the National Genealogical Society’s 2008 Award of Excellence**

Book #: 3878-G 
ISBN: 9780806320175