I am working on a report for a client to trace the family lines back as far as I can. This effort has a time limit and a set fee. On several lines, I've located books written in the late 1800s, early 1900s on some of the lines that provide information on the family line for several generations. I'm unable to find primary source information for some of the relationships. I'd like to include this in my report, but I want to indicate that the information has not all been verified by me. My thoughts are to cite the books and where I have primary sources cite those rather than the book; however, I'm afraid the client will not fully appreciate that the book citations are less certain. I've thought to provide in the report overview/summary a statement explaining this, but am interested how others have handled this type of situation and the best way to not ignore information but report it appropriately. Thanks for your help, Debbie Harvey

A little education of the client goes a long way in these situations. I'd include a brief discussion of evidence and its application to the quality of this source within the detailed research notes section of the report. I would not include this information in the summary of findings, which a client often takes to be proven fact, but rather discuss it only within your detailed research notes. If you have any questions about what I mean, please feel free to email me privately. Sincerely, Melanie D. Holtz, CG Holtz Research Services [email protected] www.holtzresearch.com > On Jan 18, 2015, at 8:47 AM, Deborah Harvey via <[email protected]> wrote: > > I am working on a report for a client to trace the family lines back as far > as I can. This effort has a time limit and a set fee. On several lines, > I've located books written in the late 1800s, early 1900s on some of the > lines that provide information on the family line for several generations. > I'm unable to find primary source information for some of the > relationships. I'd like to include this in my report, but I want to > indicate that the information has not all been verified by me. My thoughts > are to cite the books and where I have primary sources cite those rather > than the book; however, I'm afraid the client will not fully appreciate > that the book citations are less certain. I've thought to provide in the > report overview/summary a statement explaining this, but am interested how > others have handled this type of situation and the best way to not ignore > information but report it appropriately. > > Thanks for your help, > Debbie Harvey > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message