{"id":3546,"date":"2025-08-29T16:29:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T16:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/?p=3546"},"modified":"2025-08-29T16:29:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T16:29:12","slug":"book-review-your-stripped-bare-guide-to-citing-using-history-sources-by-elizabeth-shown-mills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/?p=3546","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Your Stripped Bare Guide to Citing & Using History Sources by Elizabeth Shown Mills"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Genealogical.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

They say you can\u2019t judge a book by its cover but in the case of Elizabeth Shown Mills\u2019s latest, Your Stripped Bare Guide to Citing & Using History Sources<\/em> (2025), the cover is so charming it almost makes me want to sit down and write a source citation. And that\u2019s saying something, coming from someone who usually dreads the task and full disclosure, often cheats by letting AI do it for her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You might wonder, after decades of writing about citations, what more could ESM possibly have to say? I own all four editions of her past works, Evidence Explained<\/em>, along with two editions of Professional Genealogy<\/em>. Those texts are monumental, hefty, encyclopedic guides designed to help family historians create<\/em> (and yes, crafting a citation is an art) a source reference for every conceivable research situation. But therein lies the problem; they are so thorough they can overwhelm beginners. Too often, they end up gathering dust and making the bookshelf sag, which is a shame because they hold the keys to accurate, credible, and most importantly, findable<\/em> research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll admit, I\u2019ve grown a bit lazy since AI became part of my workflow. For my personal research, I often settle for a quick and dirty Chicago-style citation generated by a chatbot. I\u2019ve noticed some of my editors have relaxed their standards, too. Why? Because tracking down the exact template in Evidence Explained<\/em> can be a time consuming hunt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enter Your Stripped Bare Guide<\/em>. This is the book I didn\u2019t know I\u2019d been waiting for, clear, concise, and portable. At just 138 pages, it\u2019s a featherweight compared to its predecessors, but it\u2019s packed with practical, ready-to-use information. I liken it to The Elements of Style<\/em>, a distilled, timeless resource that belongs within arm\u2019s reach of every researcher\u2019s desk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And timeless it is. Consider how much genealogy has changed since 2007, when the first Evidence Explained<\/em> was published. Back then, FamilySearch was still shipping microfilm via snail mail to local Family History Centers. AI existed only in movie scripts. Blogging was in its infancy. The very first iPhone had just been released. Now, so much is online (though not everything) and our research methods continue to evolve. I had wondered, when ESM retired, who would carry the citation torch into this ever changing landscape. No worries now! Stripped Bare<\/em> teaches the core principles so we can confidently adapt to whatever new technology comes next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pro tip: read the foreword first, it\u2019s a soothing antidote to any citation anxiety. The opening chapter lays out universal guidelines for any source, followed by \u201cFundamentals of Documentation,\u201d filled with tips and practical recommendations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One passage made me laugh out loud; ESM notes that the purpose of citations isn\u2019t to help others find our sources. Gasp! I could picture one of my high school English teachers having an apoplexy. After all, isn\u2019t that what we were always taught? Even now, I carry that belief with me. Stripped Bare<\/em> challenges that notion, and while some \u201cold school\u201d researchers may bristle, I found it refreshing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also appreciated the section on citing derivatives. About a decade ago, I found myself in a spirited (and unresolved) debate with another professional genealogist who insisted I was wrong to cite both the original and the derivative. ESM explains my position far more elegantly than I did, which may be why we never reached agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s what I love most, Stripped Bare<\/em> offers just 14 templates. Yes, that\u2019s the same number found in Evidence Explained<\/em>, and many of the examples are familiar, but what\u2019s gone is the 555 page sprawl of trying to illustrate every possible source on earth. That level of detail served its purpose once, but it\u2019s no longer necessary for most researchers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some might think this is simply a repackaged version of the first three chapters of Evidence Explained<\/em>. It isn\u2019t. While there\u2019s necessary overlap, after all, the fundamentals don\u2019t change, the material is rewritten in a fresh, approachable way. Most importantly, it keeps evidence analysis front and center, reminding us that citation is not just about formatting, but about thinking critically about our sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For intermediate researchers and beyond, I highly recommend Your Stripped Bare Guide to Citing & Using History Sources<\/em>. It\u2019s available in paperback and eBook from Genealogical.com<\/a>\u2014and it just might make you want<\/em> to write your next citation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

They say you can\u2019t judge a book by its cover but in the case of Elizabeth Shown Mills\u2019s latest, Your Stripped Bare Guide to Citing & Using History Sources (2025), the cover is so charming it almost makes me want to sit down and write a source citation. And that\u2019s saying something, coming from someone … Continue reading “Book Review: Your Stripped Bare Guide to Citing & Using History Sources by Elizabeth Shown Mills”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[842,1323,1322],"class_list":["post-3546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","tag-elizabeth-shown-mills","tag-source-citations","tag-your-stripped-bare-guide"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3546"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3546\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3561,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3546\/revisions\/3561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}