18 September 2014 We've all done it. We're writing something. Maybe it's an instructional article. Maybe it's the end product of a piece of research. We recall something we've read that is relevant to a point we're trying to make. We even recall where we read it—one of those Significant Books or Weighty Journals on our own library shelves. So we retrieve it, find the relevant passage, refresh our memory as to what it actually says, synthesize or quote the author's point, and then cite the source. All well and good. Or not! ...

24 October 2014 As a rule, the surviving lists will be copied into the recorded minutes of the county court (i.e., inferior, superior, ordinary, chancery, circuit, or whatever name is used in the locale). At the end of each ...

24 September 2014 Every field has its distinctive vocabulary. The word "document," for example, evokes a quite-different expectation in the mind of one who does historical research vis à vis, say, a software architect. The following basic vocabulary is ...

8 September 2014 In our research, we find The Perfect Stuff to incorporate into our lecture, a classroom module, or a piece of writing we plan to circulate or publish. Can we do so legally? Of course! say some. Your purpose is educational. That means it falls under the Fair Use principle of U.S. Copyright Law, which explicitly tells us ...

12 September 2014 Every kind of citation follows a basic pattern: 1-2-3. When we have something to identify, we identify (1) the creator, (2) the item, then (3) access information. If it's a ...

4 September 2014 Citations exist in two stages, working notes and final form. This input vs. output issue is especially important for history researchers, given our use of so many original materials. Yes, EE does provide formats for many types of sources not treated by classic citation guides; but the more-important issue is not format. It's substance. What's critical is ...

31 August 2014 What does a period say to you when you see one? By common agreement in the language world, a period usually means: Stop. The end. Finis. When we're writing, it means ...

29 August 2014 Contrary to the old cliché, facts do not speak for themselves. Facts are chameleons whose shape and color reflect their handlers. A beginning researcher and a skilled one can read the same information in a record and draw two separate conclusions, based upon ...

27 August 2014 Biographical research is always a gamble. Our person of interest may or may not have been literate. Among those who were, many created few records to document their existence. The records we expect to find for a place and time will likely have suffered some destruction.