Mastering
Genealogical Documentation Study Group
Chapter
13 – Citing Original Online Content
Marceline
Beem
Reference:
Jones,
Thomas W. "Citing Original Online Content." In Mastering Genealogical Documentation, 135-142. Arlington, VA:
National Genealogical Society, 2017.
This
week’s chapter focuses on how to cite original online content. My great-grandmother, Frances Horton, grew up
in Anderson and Campbell Counties, Tennessee, where her father and his twin
brother worked for the coal mines. In
writing about the social and historical context of her childhood, I discovered
an article from the time period that stated miners in Anderson County earned
about $2 a day and worked about 250 days a year, making their annual wage approximately $500.[1]
I used WolframAlpha to convert $500 in 1891 dollars to a modern value, and
came up with $13,950. My citation for the conversion follows:
 |
| Entering the search terms at WolframAlpha |
Who? WolframAlpha (omitted in citation because
it is the same answer as What?)
What? WolframAlpha
Whereis? http://www.wolframalpha.com
When?
accessed 24 September 2017
Wherein?
search for “$500 1891”
Most of the time, this is enough information for the citation. However, since my audience was my ProGen study group, I opted to include an explanation of the factors used in the conversion process, since Wolfram Alpha included it on the results page.
Explanation of factors used in conversion process: Computed results are based on the
Consumer Price Index with a 2.68% annual rate of inflation and an inflation
factor of 27.89.
With the explanatory note, my full citation now reads:
WolframAlpha (http://www.wolframalpha.com :
accessed 24 September 2017), search for “$500 1891.” Computed results are
based on the Consumer Price Index with a 2.68% annual rate of inflation and an
inflation factor of 27.89.
[1] “The Mine Trouble,” Knoxville Journal (Knoxville, Tennessee),
17 Jul 1891, p. 2; GenealogyBank (http://genealogybank.com : accessed 24
Sep 2017).
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