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Modern style guides

A style guide is a "a set of standards for the writing and design of documents, either for general use or for a specific publication, organization or field. The implementation of a style guide provides uniformity in style and formatting of a document." [Wikipedia, "Style Guide"] Any number style guides address citation standards. Some guides are written for more general groups of authors or editors; some support particular organizations or publications.. For example, even //Wikipedia// has a style guide.

There is no rigid standard for citations to which all Applications and all users should be expected to conform. Even editors of the Register fashion citations a little differently than those at the Quarterly--despite both being US centric, guided by the Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS) and dealing largely with polished product. As well, CMOS itself is a living style--it's guidelines are regularly updated to adapt to changing circumstance.

Louis Kessler wrote, "Building Mills methodology into GEDCOM is wrong. Building Lackeys or anyone else's is wrong. Methodologies change, get improved, new ones come out, etc. ... BetterGEDCOM is hopefully going to be a place this information can be permanently stored. It must be general to accept any methodology...." [louiskessler, "re: What's Wrong with Sources?," Dec. 13, 2010 5:53PM, BetterGEDCOM [Wiki], in part.]

Style Guide Quick Reference

I. General Guides:

• Chicago Manual of Style
• Richard S. Lackey
• Kate L. Turabian (1893-1987)
• APA - American Psychological Association Style Guide
• MLA - Modern Language Association
• Mills, Evidence Explained [link to Mills, The Evidence SeriesBetterGEDCOM wiki page]
  • Mills, Evidence! (1997)
  • Mills, Evidence Explained (2007/2009)

II. Publisher or Organization Specific

• Register (NEHGR)
• Board for Certification of Genealogists
• OGS
• 
  

I. GENERAL GUIDES

ID	APA
Name	American Psychological Association Style Guide
Authorities	American Psychological Association, "APA Style" Purdue Online Writing Lab, "APA Style." Ohio State University, "American Psychological Association Style Guide"
Description	"...editorial style that many of the social and behavioral sciences have adopted to present written material in the field. APA Style was first developed 80 years ago by a group of social scientists who wished to establish sound standards of communication." See "About APA Style," APA Style. The style guide reference book called The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. Chapter 7 deals with reference notes and provides examples.
Focus
Known Application Support
BetterGEDCOM references
Changes (Date, By)	30 Mar 2011, GeneJ

ID	CMOS
Name	Chicago Manual of Style
Authorities	The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th ed (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2010) The Chicago Manual of Style Online Wikipedia, "//The Chicago Manual of Style//." Ohio State University, "Chicago Manual of Style Note-Bibliography System Style Guide."
Description
Focus
Known application support
BetterGEDCOM references
Changes (Date, By)	30 Mar 2011, GeneJ;

ID	Lackey
Name	Richard S. Lackey
Authorities	Richard S. Lackey, //Cite your sources: a manual for documenting family histories and genealogical records// (Univ. Press of Mississippi, 1986).
Description
Focus	Genealogical Citations ?US centric
Known Application Support	//RootsMagic// v4, //RootsMagic Essentials// v4
BetterGEDCOM references
Changes (Date, By)	30 Mar 2011, GeneJ;

ID	Mills
Name	Evidence Explained
Authorities	Elizabeth Shown Mills, //Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace//, Second Edition (2009)
Description	"[P]rovides citation models for most historical sources--especially original materials not covered by classic citation guides such as The Chicago Manual of Style" (1) In a recent APG Members Only list posting (19 Mar 2011), Mills commented that no "principles" were changed between the first and second editions. She indicated the more recent publication cover "a wider variety of electronic media." Mills earlier published //Evidence! Citation & Analysis for the Family Historian// (1997).
Focus	Genealogical Citations
Known Application Support	//Legacy Family Tree// v7, //RootsMagic// v4, //RootsMagic Essentials// v4, Family Tree Maker 2011, Family Tree Maker 2010 for Mac
BetterGEDCOM references	Elizabeth Shown Mills
Changes (Date, By)	30 Mar 2011, GeneJ

ID	MLA
Name	Modern Language Association
Authorities	Joseph Gibaldi, //MLA Handbook// (New York : Modern Language Association of America, 2009) Modern Language Association, "MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (7th edition)" Ohio State University, "Modern Language Association (MLA) Style Guide."
Description
Focus
Known Application Support
BetterGEDCOM references
Changes (Date, By)	30 Mar 2011, GeneJ

ID	Turabian
Name	Turabian Style, Kate L. Turabian (1893–1987)
Authorities	Kate L. Turabian, //A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations: Chicago Style for Students and Researchers// (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007). University of Chicago Press, "Turabian Quick Guide" Ohio State University, "Turabian Citation Guide."
Description	From the Turabian Quick Guide, "These styles are essentially the same as those presented in //The Chicago Manual of Style//, 15th edition, with slight modifications for the needs of student writers."
Focus	US centric
Known Application Support
BetterGEDCOM references
Changes (Date, By)	30 Mar 2011, GeneJ

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II. PUBLICATION OR ORGANIZATION SPECIFIC

ID	Register (NEHGR)
Name	Register-style (citations)
Affiliated with ...	The New England Historical and Genealogical Register
Authorities	American Ancestors, "Register Citation Formats"
Description	1. Represented as, "basic citation formats currently used by (or, in a few cases, to be used by) The New England Historical and Genealogical Register." 2. Plays particularly nicely in the GEDCOM sandbox
Focus	Genealogical citations ?US Centric
Known Application Support
BetterGEDCOM references
Changes (Date, By)	30 Mar 2011, GeneJ;

ID	BCG
Name	Board for Certification of Genealogists
Affiliated with ...	Board for Certification of Genealogists
Authorities	Board for Certification of Genealogists, "Style Guides"
Description	Two items of interest from "Certification: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) (emphasis added) "Different journals, publishers, and fields do have different style preferences that reflect their needs—often economy or certain situations that exist in their research areas. When submitting work to any press, writers are expected to follow the prescribed style of that press. However, even when major scholarly journals publish abbreviated citations, the research they publish will have undergone extensive peer-review and fact-checking to ensure that it meets standards of the field." "When you submit either unpublished work or published work samples from genealogical magazines that allow you to choose your own presentation styles, BCG's judges would expect you to cite your sources fully by the standards of its recommended guides."
Focus	Genealogical citations US Centric
Known Application Support
BetterGEDCOM references
Changes (Date, By)	30 Mar 2011, GeneJ;

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Table template 2:

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Affiliated with ...
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