1. The Backbone of Genealogy
SOURCING
The Backbone of Genealogy

2. The Value of Sourcing
Gives others confidence that your facts come from reliable sources.
Saves you time so you won’t have to retrace your steps.
Helps you and others who follow you, to know where to pick up.

3. Ezra Taft Benson – Gen. Conf. 1978
The Lord’s mandate given in section 128 of theDoctrine and Covenants has not changed: “Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause? …
“Let us, therefore, as a church and a people, and as Latter-day Saints, offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness; and let us present in his holy temple … a book containing the records of our dead, which shall be worthy of all acceptation.” (D&C 128:22, 24.)

4. How many sources are should we seek for each person in the tree?
Ideally, we should seek for proof of each fact (vital event); as well as evidence to prove relationships.

5. Is there a systematic way of going about sourcing?
With nearest deceased relatives and work your way back. As of yet, the system will not let you attach records to living people.
More records available on line after 1940.
Work through list generated on

6. Go to www.findarecord.com

7. Helps with Family Tree Sourcing
Descendancy View
Record Hints
Research Suggestions
Search tool

8. The Value of Hints
Before Record Hints, thousands of records were attached daily. Now ¼ million are added daily.
Allows success for new users to make meaningful contributions.
Hints come up automatically – no searching
Low risk of false positives.

9. TIPS: Are there more hints for this person?
If three hints are displayed,
there may be more when
you click on Show Details. .

10. Click on the icon and then be sure to also click on Show Details

11. Results were surprising

12. Attach all hints. Don’t assume they are duplicates just because they look the same.

13. Don’t try to outsmart the system
Don’t try to outsmart the system. If you click on Not a Match, just to clear what you may think is a duplicate, doing so will throw off the system’s algorithm.

14. It may cause the system to show even more hints.
FAMILY TREE RECORD HINTS SHOULD BE A PRIORITY OVER ATTACHING SOURCES FROM OTHER WEBSITES
 Source Linker
It may cause the system to show even more hints.
It may create new temple opportunities.
In one out of ten hints, you will find new information.

15. Suggestions often apply to other family members, not to the person who’s page you are on.

16. Just as with hints, suggestions may look like duplicates
Just as with hints, suggestions may look like duplicates. But when you click on the suggestion on the person’s page, you will see that it may reference different family members or apply to different situations.

17. Hinting The system is in control.
Hints are pre-calculated, behind the scenes, taking data from Family Tree
The hinting system searches using the name, gender, all events with dates and places, all one-hop relatives (parents, spouses, children) and their names dates and places. The more information available, the more accurate the results.
Low risk of false positives Correct about 98.5 – 99% of the time.
Results are quite thorough. For the record collections searched by the hinting system, the system finds about 60-70% of the records pertaining to the person.

18. Searching You enter data into search form.
The search form limits the number and type of parameters you can enter.
Too much information can limit the results.
The risk of false positives is high.
You are in control. You can fine-tune, and tweak search parameters to find elusive records.