I'll let the footnote folks answer; however, I do have a comment about the assumption. It is safer to not assume he fled. The destroyed records might well contain a resolution to the case that did not include his fleeing. Have you checked newspaper accounts to see if the crime made the news? There might be follow up articles as well. I'd simply state that no records have been found subsequent to the arrest [for which you've kept the research log], mention the court records being destroyed, and not mention assumptions. best regards, Dee ----- Original Message ----- From: "Greg Lovelace" <greglovelace@comcast.net> To: TRANSITIONAL-GENEALOGISTS-FORUM@rootsweb.com Sent: Tuesday, October 2, 2012 1:34:52 PM Subject: [TGF] Footnotes with explanations Greetings. I have a question about footnotes. Is there a hard and fast rule about including explanations/discussions in footnotes instead of the main article? If I state that an ancestor in the late 1700s was accused of a crime and apparently fled the authorities and disappeared, would I explain my reasoning in the article? Or would I cite the arrest record and explain that no further records have been discovered to show the outcome of the case, and that it is assumed the accused fled? In this case, the court records were destroyed in a fire. Should this also be in a footnote? As you can see, I am confused. In the latest NGS Quarterly I see lots of footnotes which contain explanations of reasoning for conclusions stated in the main body of the article. Can someone give me some guidance on what goes where? Thanks. Peace, Part of the Tree, Greg The Transitional Genealogists List was created to provide a supportive environment for genealogists to learn best practices as they transition to professional level work. Please respect the kind intentions of this list. ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to TRANSITIONAL-GENEALOGISTS-FORUM-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message