When writing an article for Ancestor, please refer to these guidelines for preparation of your manuscript and to "Tips for writing an article", Ancestor, volume 35, June 2020 pp26-27. Members (when logged in), can access that article online Ancestor June 2020.
We do not publish articles of historical fiction.
All published contributions will be given editorial support by the Ancestor team, and we reserve the right to make amendments for purposes of house style, grammar, clarity, and space limitations.
Stylistic conventions
Language and spelling
Australian English, as per the Macquarie Dictionary. The Macquarie Dictionary database online can be accessed from home by State Library Victoria members.
Please note:
grandmother etc. (one word)
grand-daughter or granddaughter
great-grandfather etc.
2x great-grandfather or great-great-grandfather
3x great-grandfather, not great-great-great grandfather, etc.
Italics
Use these for:
names of commercial databases and blogs/websites
names of ships
names of books, newspapers, magazines and journals
foreign language words
Do not use italics for text quotations.
Bold
Use this for:
website addresses (i.e. links)
email addresses
sub-headings
Quotations
Use single quotation marks for short quotations (under 30-35 words), which are included in the text.
Use double quotation marks for a quote within a quote.
Longer quotations should be indented as a block quotation. The font size of the quotation should be one unit less than main text (e.g., 11 font v 12 font). No quotation marks are required.
Introduce indented text with a colon.
Always reference your block quotation by inserting an endnote immediately after the end of the block quotation.
Spacing
Leave a space between paragraphs but don’t indent them.
Use a single space after commas, colons, semicolons and between sentences.
Numbers and dates
Write dates as 3 September 1803 etc. (i.e. simple number, not 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc.)
Give the month and year in full, except in a citation where the month should be abbreviated to the first three letters.
Write the span of a decade with an 's' on the end, 1800s not 1800's except for direct quotes when original must be maintained.
Write the numbers one to twenty as words unless part of a measurement or a list of ages.
Ranges of dates for a lifespan should be separated by an en dash (not a hyphen) and have no space either side of the dash, e.g. Joseph Bellow (1832–1896).
Use a comma for numbers greater than 3 digits – e.g. 1,845 and 20,500.
If a number falls at the start of a sentence, write it in full or recast the sentence.
Use World War 1 and World War 2 (not Roman numerals).
Use numerals with the percentage sign when describing percentages in text. Note - per cent is two words if written in full (usually only if unavoidable due to a number falling at the beginning of a sentence).
The mortality rate ranged between 6% and 30%, with the highest being in the mountains.
Seventy-six per cent of the graduates attended the ceremony.
Weights and measures
Use those appropriate to the time and place with an equivalent in brackets if required.
Examples:
At the time of admission to hospital the records show he weighed 6 st 12 lbs (43.5 kg).
Markers were placed exactly 15 miles (24 km) apart.
Currency
When including references to pre-decimal currency choose the format that makes the meaning most clear to the reader (some of whom may not be familiar with pre-decimal currency).
Examples:
As a junior clerk, she was paid £2 2s 2d per week.
Wheat was bought at three shillings per bushel. (not 3/-)
Titles of Ancestor articles and references in endnotes
Use minimum capitalisation, i.e., capitalise only the first word and proper nouns.
Referencing (citations)
The rationale behind referencing is to enable readers to access and understand your source of information and make their own assessment.
Each reference should show where you obtained the information provided in your article.
Use endnotes rather than footnotes and Arabic numerals rather than Roman.
Endnote markers should be placed at the end of the sentence after the full stop. Combine multiple sources for the one sentence into one endnote, separated by a semi colon.
Please use the endnote function in your word processing software (e.g. MS Word) to create endnotes, rather than creating your own. If you need assistance with this, please ask for help from the Ancestor team prior to submitting your article.
General format for citations
Author or authoring organisation, Title & issue details, publisher details, date, page number, and date accessed for digital-only content
Place the author’s initials and/or forename before surname, no full stops after initials, and no space between initials e.g. AB Smith.
For a record accessed via genealogy websites such as Ancestry, Findmypast etc., cite the holding institution and its catalogue reference. Use of the original source citation detail (e.g. parish register) is preferable to a secondary source reference (such as an index on a genealogy website). The exact reference for an original record should be cited wherever possible. Where this has not been possible and you have relied on a record created by and/or only available on a genealogy website (e.g. an index to burials created by Findmypast) you should note that in your citation.
Many public repositories have guides on their website that will provide the information you need to correctly cite their records e.g. https://prov.vic.gov.au/how-cite-public-records and https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/citing-reco….
For any items not specifically mentioned below, please refer to the Australian Government Style guidelines for the ‘documentary-note’ system of referencing for guidance: https://www.stylemanual.gov.au/referencing-and-attribution/documentary-….
Unusual or non-standard sources
Members of the Ancestor editorial team will be happy to assist you in determining how to cite any sources which are not covered in the details below. If your article is accepted for publication, a member of the editorial team will work with you.
Second and subsequent citations to the same source
A shortened version of the initial reference should be used if the same source is referred to more than once in the article.
Example:
One author, two or multiple references to same source:
First reference:
M Cannon, Old Melbourne Town: before the gold rush, Loch Haven Books, Mainridge, Victoria, 1991, p37
Subsequent references:
M Cannon, p62
Avoid ‘ibid’, ‘loc. cit’, ‘op. cit’ etc. for ease of understanding, and replace with above referencing technique.
Also abbreviate archives, libraries etc after the first mention, even if for a different item. Include the abbreviation in brackets in the first reference:
Example:
Public Record Office Victoria (PROV), 1836/28 Victorian Census returns, VPRS 4/P0000, Folder No.28, p9
then:
PROV, 1836/11, Waybill of stores per ship ‘Rattlesnake’ for Port Philip, VPRS 4/P0000, Folder No.11, p1
Births, deaths and marriages (BDMs)
Civil registration
Citations for BDMs should include these details in the following order:
- official name of the current agency holding the original registration
- the type of record
- the number reference
- the year (if not already included in the number reference)
Additional information (e.g. exact date/place of event and full names of persons) can be added if it is useful for readers of the article, or not clear from the context - but is not essential.
Include the word ‘transcription’ if the record viewed is not an official copy or an image of an original.
A reference to an index record rather than an actual register entry or certificate should be noted in the type of record.
Some examples:
Births, Deaths and Marriages Victoria (BDM VIC), Death certificate, 4215/1964
BDM VIC, Birth register, 14478/1864
National Records of Scotland, Marriage register, 644/9 346, 1874
Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages Western Australia, Birth index, 8986/1866
South Australian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Marriage certificate transcript, 287/743, 1921
Church records – e.g. baptisms, marriages, burials
Citations for church records should show these details (where applicable) in the following order:
- Current holder of the records
- Type of record
- Name of person
- Date
- Church - formal name and location
- Title of register
- Page/entry number (if applicable)
- Microfilm number/ reference number (if applicable)
Include the word ‘transcription’ if the record viewed is not an original or an image of an original.
A reference to an index record rather than an actual church record should be noted in the type of record.
Some examples:
City of Westminster Archives Centre, Marriage of Margaret Bruce and Donald Robertson, 6 Apr 1869, St Martin-in-the-Fields,
Westminster Church of England Parish Registers, p138, entry 275, STM/PR/6/65
National Records of Scotland, Baptism of Alexander Peddie, 3 May 1773, Little Dunkeld Parish, Old Parish Registers Births, 373/ 10 79
FamilySearch Library, Baptism of Elizabeth Mealy, 22 Dec 1863, St Mary’s Church of England Melbourne Parish Register Baptisms, entry no 502, FHL microfilm #007717267
Church records in languages other than English (e.g. Irish PRs which may be in Latin)
Include the other language details that may be required to search for this record.
Example:
National Library of Ireland, Baptism of Edmund Crow (Baptismus Edmundus Crow), 13 Jan 1822, Parish of Sologhead and Oola,
Irish Catholic Parish Registers, Microfilm Number: 02498 / 05
Blogs
Items on a blog site should be referenced directly, (i.e. not just a reference to the blog itself). A general reference to the blog would only be used when you are referring to the site in general, rather than specific information contained on it.
A specific post on a blog:
Author, ‘Title of post’, date of post, Name of blog, URL link, accessed date
The URL should go directly to the cited blogpost, not to the homepage or other area of the blog.
Example:
Genealogical Society of Victoria,‘Write yourself into history’, 16 Jun 2024, Family History Matters blog, https://www.gsv.org.au/blog/write-yourself-history, accessed 21 Jan 2024
Books
Author, Title, Publisher, Place of publication, date, page reference
P De Serville, Port Phillip Gentlemen, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1980
K Cook & D Garvey, The Glint of Gold, Genlin Investments, Pymble, NSW, 1999
Census records
Include sufficient detail to allow readers to find the entry themselves. Include the individual’s name only if it has not been mentioned in the text.
Examples:
The National Archives (TNA) UK, 1851 Census of England and Wales, Parish of Monks Eleigh, Suffolk, HO107/1790, Folio 263, p20
National Records of Scotland (NRS), 1881 Census of Scotland, Parish of Annan, Dumfriesshire, 812/8/12, William McLellan
Journals and magazine articles
Examples
D Richardson, '1864- one of Brisbane's forgotten floods', Queensland History Journal, vol 23, no 3, 2016, pp175-84
C Miller, 'Game Plan', Royal Auto, 17 Apr 2017, pp22-26
Newspapers
The first mention of a newspaper title should include the place of publication unless it is implicit in the title.
Omit the day of the week and abbreviate the month to the first three letters.
The Argus (Melbourne), Tue 16 Jul 1878, p6
The Times (London), 21 June 1853, p1
The Rockhampton Bulletin, 13 Jan 1874, p1
If the article has a title, include it before the name of the newspaper
Example:
Bomber finds men in drifting launch’, The Sydney Morning Herald, 6 Oct 1950, p17
If a newspaper article has a named author, use the format as per journal and magazine articles, i.e.:
RJ Cassidy, ‘Seen from the window’, The Australian Worker (Sydney), 30 Jan 1929, p1
Links and/or references to a digital platform where the newspapers were viewed (e.g. Trove) are not required.
Passenger lists
Include the source archive and the record set, plus reference number. Include the details of the ship name and arrival or departure if that is not already mentioned in the text.
Examples:
The National Archives (TNA) UK, Passenger list for Orsova, departing London, 15 Jan 1915, Board of Trade: Commercial and Statistical Department and Successors: Outwards Passenger Lists, BT 27 -128278
Public Record Office Victoria (PROV), Inwards passenger lists (Australian Ports), VPRS 944/P0000, Jan 1852 Tasmania, p3
Personal communications, emails, letters, unpublished diaries and family anecdotes
Include dates for these references.
If referencing personal communication, please ensure you have permission to do so.
Examples:
A Smith, interview with the author, 20 Apr 2010
Doris Brown, anecdotes told to the author in the 1980s
G Thompson, email to the author, 23 Sep 2021
JA Webster, Unpublished diary 1922-1945, in the possession of the author
Unpublished material/manuscripts/papers
Author, title, year written, repository/current holder, reference number (if applicable)
Example of papers in a library collection:
JA Smith Papers of James Alexander Smith, 1878-1933, [manuscript], State Library of Victoria, Accession No : YMS 11370
Example of an unpublished memoir in a family collection:
Bob Buddles, Unpublished memoir, 2001, copy held by author
Websites
Records or items on a website should be referenced directly, (i.e. not just a reference to the website itself). A general reference would only be used when you are referring to the whole site, rather than specific information contained on it.
Specific link on a website
Author (often a ‘corporate’ author), ‘Title of webpage’, date, name of website, URL, accessed date
If the author and the name of the website are the same, just give the author’s name
Examples:
State Library of Victoria, ‘Researching your Victorian Ancestors’, 21 Jan 2024, https://guides.slv.vic.gov.au/victorianancestors, accessed 25 Jan 2024
Lance Hodgins, ‘The Peninsula’s own Nellie Melba’, 28 Feb 2019, Peninsula Essence, https://peninsulaessence.com.au/the-peninsulas-own-nellie-melba, accessed 13 Jan 2023
If the citation relates to a page within a website, the URL should go directly to the cited item, not to the homepage or other area of the website.
General link to a website:
Only used when referring to the entire website, not specific information contained on it.
Author (often a ‘corporate’ author), name of website, URL, accessed date
If the author and the name of the website are the same, just give the author’s name.
Some examples:
Genealogical Society of Victoria, https://www.gsv.org.au, accessed 1 Apr 2017
The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints, FamilySearch,
https://www.familysearch.org/, accessed 29 Jan 2024
Joachim Schubert, German South African Resource Page, https://safrika.org/ , accessed 29 Jan 2024
Wills and Probate documents
Citations for wills/probate should show these details (where applicable) in the following order:
- Current holder of the records
- Type of record
- Name of person
- Date
- Page number/ (if applicable)
- Microfilm number/ reference number (if applicable)
Examples:
The National Archives UK (TNA), Will of William George Jennings, 31 Jul 1854, PROB 11/ 2194/478
Public Record Office Victoria, Grant of administration of James Smith, 19 Oct 1855, VPRS 28/P0000, 1/753
Images and captions
Please ensure you have obtained (or are able to obtain) appropriate permissions for publication of any images supplied with the article.
Images must be in the public domain, or the author’s own, or have the owner’s permission to publish. Images taken from the internet are often unsuitable for print reproduction and may not be out of copyright.
To make it clear what each image is, give it a number and a title. In the text of your article indicate, as in the following example, where you would prefer the image to appear.
Examples:
From a private collection:
[INSERT IMAGE 1 NEAR HERE
CAPTION: Image 1 - The grave of Mary Smith, courtesy of Joe Blow]
From an institutional collection:
[INSERT IMAGE 1 NEAR HERE
CAPTION: Image 1 - The grave of Mary Smith, artist Jack Richards, State Library of Victoria, Pictures Collection, Acc. No. H1234/45]
Australian Government Style Manual, https://www.stylemanual.gov.au/
N Kyle, Citing historical sources - a manual for family historians, Unlock the Past, St Agnes, South Australia, 2013, 41pp
Printed copies:
If you want a printed copy of these Guidelines for authors, please click on the printer friendly view at the top of this page.