GUIDELINES FOR CANDIDATES

Introduction

The mission of the Scholarship is to provide funding for winning candidates to pursue serious study in the field of genealogy at a recognized institution. The Scholarship is intended to encourage all members of the genealogical community to demonstrate genealogy skills and their application, either as hobbyists or to acquire professional qualification. Even those well advanced in the field of genealogical study are not precluded from pursuing a better understanding of what they do and why they do it.

Further, we expect candidates to provide material of a quality adequate to print in a typical family history journal for the benefit of other family and local historians. This document is intended to provide applicants, be they experts or just starting out, with information and methodology to support and guide the writing process. These materials meet recognized, international standards of evidence and citation, as well as conforming to professional editorial and publishing standards. They are intended particularly to guide those who may have no previous experience writing genealogical material for publication and are used also to guide the Scholarship Committee when evaluating submissions. They are not intended, however, to be a closed set of rules. Candidates may deviate from the guidelines for good and significant reasons, but before doing so it may be advisable to consult the Committee. The committee may be contacted either by email or surface mail at the addresses shown earlier on this website. Please provide a description of what is intended and the reasons you feel an exception should be made.

Candidates will be judged on the quality of the material they provide related to the skill sets and education they have. Applicants are not required to be experienced researchers and writers. A straightforward basic submission, well researched and well written by someone with modest genealogical skills and experience will win out over one by a more experienced or better trained candidate that is poorly researched or badly written.

Lack of extensive genealogical skills and experience should not be a deterrent to applying.

The compiled genealogy should include a variety of records sources while the genealogical essay should deal with a single major record type used in compiling the genealogy. Possible essay subjects include any heritage-related materials such as: the usual genealogically-related record collections; records-at-risk; civil, military and religious records; general and local histories; newspaper records; technology aids; census and vital-statistic records; stray records; research aids; and historical memoirs of general interest. An examination of several recent issues of NGS Quarterly produced by the National Genealogical Society or the New England Historical and Genealogical Register produced by the New England Genealogical Society may give a clearer idea of the type and quality of material sought.

The Genealogical Report

The Genealogical Report is to report on four generations: a single early progenitor and three generations of descendants in one direct line. At least one sibling in the latest generation must have been born before 1900, but all siblings in that generation are to be included. The births and deaths of spouses of members of the direct line must be documented fully. The births and deaths of collateral line siblings in each generation, including any born after 1900, should be fully documented, but data for their spouses or descendants is not required. Information about siblings of the initial progenitor is not required. Submissions may treat any ethnic or religious group eventually settling in North America and any period of history subject to the conditions above. Submissions must be original material, not previously published elsewhere or submitted to another journal for consideration.

The report is to be a complete genealogical narrative, with appropriate source referencing, using either the New England Genealogical Society's Register System OR the National Genealogical Society Quarterly's Record System (also called Modified Register System) of formatting and presentation1 .

If the report is generated by a genealogical computer program, it should be edited for clear readability and flow of the sentences. The literary quality of the Genealogy will be seriously considered in evaluating submissions. It must be prepared in well-written English using the guidelines given here for writing, and include endnotes and a bibliography.

Reviewers will assess four areas:
(1) The applicant's intended research plan,
(2) The applicant's research skills,
(3) How well the applicant assesses their findings, and
(4) How well the applicant writes their genealogical findings/decisions.
The criteria that will be used in judging the Genealogy are as follows, with equal weight given to each item during the judging process:

• How well was the research conducted (evident through the sources examined);
• How well did the candidate evaluate the information and evidence (explanations of discrepancies and how they were resolved);
• How well was the research compiled (understanding of format and amount of detail regarding biographical content and sources submitted 2 );
• How well was the report written (grammatical structure, spelling, flow, originality);
• How complete is the work (are there any qualifications made that prevented this applicant from completing the pedigree in full for the four generations and have these been explained?);
• How does the package look in its presented form?

The Genealogical Essay

The application is also to include a clearly written and source-referenced 1000 to 1500 word essay (word count excluding references and endnotes) describing one type of major genealogical record (e.g. parish records, probate records, etc.) used in the applicant's compiled Genealogy. The essay should be submitted in well-written English using the guidelines given here for writing, and include endnotes and a bibliography. The literary quality of the Essay will be seriously considered in evaluating submissions. The Essay should, at minimum, address the following questions with equal weight given to each during the judging process:

• What is the nature of the record? (what items of information does it contain, who created it, when was it created with relation to the event(s) recorded, what was the likely source of the information)
• How is the record accessed? (where is this type of record generally located, what form does it take, how did the candidate access it)
• Why and how was it used in the submitted genealogy?
• What are its benefits and limitations? (is it reliable, complete, easily accessible)
• How does it compare to other types of records as a source of the desired information?
• How well was the essay material researched, written and source referenced?

The essay should have an inherent teaching value that transcends any particular family and be thoroughly documented, with a specific citation to a reliable source for any statement that is not public knowledge.

Manuscript Preparation

Submissions
All applications must be submitted by post (NOT by courier) on paper to:

The completed Application Form, Genealogy and Essay should be submitted together as a package. It is the responsibility of the applicant to have submitted material date stamped by the post office if there is any chance it may not arrive prior to the 31 December deadline. Retain a copy of your submission, as material submitted will not be returned. Receipt of applications will be acknowledged by the Scholarship Committee.

Format

• Print application package on 8-1/2" x 11"paper. Please ensure that pages are numbered sequentially.
• Single space all material including notes.
• Set left, right, top and bottom margins at 1".
• Do not indent paragraphs. Leave extra space (a blank line) between each.
• Use upper- and lower-case characters for headings, not all capitals. Leave a line before and after headings.
• Use italics on words and phrases that you wish italicized (e.g., titles of publications). If your word-processing program does not possess this formatting feature, use an underline instead. Do not use bold instead of italics, except for surnames which must be in bold print in your Genealogy.
Place the source references and other notes as endnotes, not at the foot of the page or within the text.
• Include all preliminary material: complete table of contents, preface, foreword, and introduction, if applicable, when you submit the application. Include any relevant separate bibliographies at the end of each of the Genealogy and Essay.
• Text pages for the Genealogy and the Essay should be headed only by the title of the manuscript and footed by the page numbers (without the author's name).
• Each major subject area or subsection to your Genealogy and Essay should carry an appropriate heading, bearing in mind the typographer's maxim that at least five typeset lines (about 60 words) must separate each subheading.
• An appropriate paragraph length is 80 to 150 words. Major points may be bulleted for emphasis as desired.
• Canadian spelling is the standard (i.e., more British than American). Please consult The Canadian Oxford Dictionary for preferred spellings. An exception to this occurs when quoting material published elsewhere - do not change the spelling without permission from the publisher.
• Charts, tables, figures, and maps should be incorporated into the text for readability.

Other

• Always provide the sources of your quotes, including author and publication, if possible. You can include these in endnotes or a bibliography. (When quoting Emily Dickinson, for example, the name of the poem is needed, not the name of the collection in which it is found since there are so many collections.)
• The Scholarship follows a “rule of three.” If more than three words in a string are borrowed from another source (published or unpublished), they are enclosed in quotation marks and their source is cited. If three or more paragraphs are copied from a published source, the author must also obtain written permission from the writer and publisher of the quoted material. If you are making reference to the work of others, follow the guidelines to secure reprint permission. If you plan on including illustrations of any kind, be sure to get the copyright-holder's permission for them as well. Permission is needed to reprint published or copyrighted material. Authors are responsible for securing permission for quotations from publishers. Submit copies of permission correspondence with your manuscript.
• Public domain material includes all government sources, as well as works in the original language by authors who have been dead for at least 75 years (the copyright on translations may be held by the translator or by the publishing house).
• According to the Canadian Intellectual Property Office's brochure describing the Copyright Act, “the line between fair dealing and infringement is a thin one. There are no guidelines that define the number of words or passages that can be used without permission from the author. Only the courts can rule whether fair dealing or infringement is involved.”
• Authors retain the copyright to their creative properties. If winning candidate’s material is published, the Alberta Family Histories Society magazine, Chinook, asks only for the right of first publication, exclusivity during one year after the material's appearance on its pages, and rights to distribute copies of the article in the Chinook, separate reprints, and/or future collections of Chinook articles.
• The Chinook reserves the right to edit all submissions in conformity to house style and needs.
• All Chinook authors receive galleys of the edited manuscript for review and/or correction.

Evaluation

All submissions will be reviewed by each member of the Scholarship Committee and assigned a mark out of 100. The following maximum marks may be assigned to each submission:

• Genealogical experience and proposed course of study: 7
• Genealogical Report: 44
• Essay: 44
• General impression: 5

The five submissions receiving the highest marks will be reconsidered by the Committee to select the winner. No marks will be released to any candidate.

Conditions of the Award

Tuition Fees

• A cheque to a maximum of C$500 will be provided to the candidate, for tuition fees, payable to a recognized institution offering the course proposed by the candidate.
• If the cost of the course exceeds C$500 the candidate is expected to pay any extra fee required.
• If the course fee is less than C$500, the candidate is eligible to claim other related course expenses up to the balance of the C$500.
• A course already paid for, completed or under way is not eligible for the Scholarship.
• The candidate’s course must be commenced within 12 months of the award of the Scholarship or the award is forfeited.

Other Expenses

• Where the tuition fee for the candidate’s course is less than C$500, the candidate may claim for expenses related to the chosen course up to the balance of the C$500 award.
• Only a single claim for Other Expenses may be submitted.
• Only expenses actually paid by the candidate and accompanied by receipts are allowed.
Costs of course books and printed materials and travel and accommodation costs to attend the course, seminar or conference, with receipts, are acceptable.
• Costs for equipment, software and computer databases are not acceptable.
• Candidates are encouraged to contact the Scholarship Committee, in advance of making an expenditure not clearly acceptable, for a ruling as to its eligibility.

Helpful Reading

The Canadian Oxford Dictionary, 2nd Ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004).

The New York Public Library Writer's Guide to Style & Usage (New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1994)

The Canadian Style: A Guide to Writing and Editing, 2nd. Ed. (Dundurn Press Ltd. 1997).

Chicago Manual of Style, 14th ed. (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1993).

Curran, Joan F., Madilyn Coen Crane, and John H. Wray.Numbering Your Genealogy: Basic Systems, Complex Families, and International Kin(Arlington: National Genealogical Society, 1999).

Jones, Thomas W. “Guide for Book and Media Reviews,” NGS Quarterly, 86 (June 1998): pp. 138-139.

Mills, Elizabeth Shown, ed. Professional Genealogy: A Manual for Researchers, Writers, Editors, Lecturers and Librarians (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2001).

Ross-Larson, Bruce. Edit Yourself: A Manual for Everyone Who Works with Words (New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1982).

Sturdevant, Katherine Scott. “Writing Analytical Book Reviews,” Association of Professional Genealogists Quarterly, 4 (Fall 1989), pp. 59-60.

Venolia, Jan.Write Right! A Desktop Digest of Punctuation, Grammar, and Style (Berkeley, Calif.: Ten Speed Press, 1988).

Merriman, Brenda, About Genealogical Standards of Evidence: A Guide for Genealogists, 2nd Ed. (Toronto, The Ontario Genealogical Society, 2000).

Stevenson, Noel C., Genealogical Evidence - A Guide to the Standard of Proof Relating to Pedigrees, Ancestry, Heirship and Family History (Laguna Hills, CA: Aegean Park Press, 1989)

Lackey, Richard S., Cite Your Sources - A Manual for Documenting Family Histories and Genealogical Records (Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 1980)

Barnes, Donald R. and Richard S. Lackey, Write It Right - A Manual for Writing Family Histories and Genealogies (Ocala, FL: Lyon Press, 1983)

Goldrup, Lawrence P., Writing the Family Narrative (Salt Lake City, UT: Ancestry Incorporated, 1987)

Hatcher, Patricia Law, Producing a Quality Family History (Salt Lake City, UT: Ancestry Incorporated, 1996)

Curran, Joan Ferris, Numbering Your Genealogy - Sound and Simple Systems (Arlington, VA: National Genealogical Society, 1992).

Notes

1 Information about numbering systems can be found in:

2 Shown Mills, Elizabeth, “Evidence! Citation and Analysis for the Family Historian ”, (Baltimore:Genealogical Publishing Co., 1997).
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