All data presented to this site MUST be accompanied by corresponding source citations and/or copies of those proofs. Unsourced gedcoms, family group sheets, and LDS Patron files will not be accepted as "proof."  While we will gladly post such data for evaluation and discussion, in the hopes that other primary evidences may be located by our network of researchers, we cannot use them as "proofs."

Source descriptions are best written in footnote form if the source is a book or a periodical. Such a description should include:

1. Author, compiler, or editor.
2. Title and edition.
3. Place of publication.
4. Publisher.
5. Date of publication.
6. Page number(s) where applicable.

In addition, if you are submitting material for review and/or assistance, it would be helpful to include exactly what you are looking for ("all Bowerman names", is not acceptable!). Outline in some detail what you have done and what the results have been since your last such report. A report should be made while both the problem and the research are still clear in your mind. Six things belong in this report:

1. An explanation of the problem.
2. A notation of the records you have searched.
3. A statement of your reasons for searching those records.
4. Your findings therein.
5. Your interpretation and evaluation of these findings as they relate to the problem (in whatever detail is required).
6. An outline of the problem as it now stands and suggestions for future research.

It is not essential (or even advisable) that the points in this list be numbered and kept separate, but merely that each be covered.

If you have proven a difficult connection, the evidence which verified that connection should be laid out with great care, step by step, so that it can be easily reviewed. When a line or a connection long accepted by the family is disproved, it is doubly important to make a written report of the details and the evidence. Sources and their contents must be listed with particularity - not just in a general way. Others in the family will question your conclusions, as well they should, and if a careful report has not been prepared, you will in time forget the details of your proof. You will find that it is difficult for some persons to accept new conclusions even when supported by impeccable evidence, so you had better be well prepared. Though all the sources from which your proof was derived are in your notes, that is not the same as having the details of your proof and analysis summarized systematically in a report. Your reports become an important part of your permanent research file, and no requirement of record keeping is more important.