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ENGL 102 First Person Family History Narrative Assignment Guide

Research Resources

US Government Genealogy Resources

Genealogy & Immigration Record Websites

Frederick County Public Library (FCPL) Genealogy Databases

To access FCPL resources you must have an FCPL Library Card number. Anyone with a Maryland Address can apply for a temporary digital card for immediate access. Follow the directions located on the Apply for an FCPL Library Card page. Temporary cards are active until June 1, 2020.

Citing Sources

About Citing Sources and Plagiarism

Basic Guidelines for Citing Genealogy Records in MLA Format

When citing records, treat the issuing agency as the author. The source’s title is the name of the item in which a record was found. Assuming the record was found in a database such as FamilySearch, or Ancestry, treat that as the container for the source, and if no publication date is given use the copyright dates of the website. For example, if you found a marriage certificate in an index of marriage certificates issued by New York City, covering 1907 through 1995 on Ancestry.com you would cite it like this:

In text:
According to documents, Obvious Fakename was married in 1922 (New York City).

Works Cited:
New York City, Marriage Indexes, 1907-1995. Ancestry, 1997-2020. www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/xxxxxxx/
person/xxxxxxxx/facts 

[Adapted from https://style.mla.org/citing-documents-genealogy-sites/]

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