3. Question: Does a certificate from a genealogical education program constitute certification?

Answer: No. In professional fields (as opposed to some technical fields), a certificate or a degree from a college, university, or institute attests only that you have completed certain educational coursework. Certification, which determines whether you have acquired expertise in a field, is a separate matter whose function is performed by boards or bars that are independent of teaching institutions.

 

4. Question: What credentials identify somebody as a Board-certified Genealogist?

Answer: BCG currently offers two credentials.

In the last forty years, some credentials have been developed and dropped from usage, including Certified Lineage Specialist (CLS), Certified American Indian Lineage Specialist (CAILS), and Certified Genealogical Records Specialist (CGRS), and Certified Genealogical Instructor (CGI). These credentials will be mentioned in older published works.

[Return to Certification questions]

Definition of Genealogy

5. Question: What is genealogy, exactly? What tools or materials do genealogists use? Do genealogists specialize?

Answer: Genealogy is the study of families in genetic and historical context. Within that framework, it is the study of the people who compose a family and the relationships among them. At the individual level, it is biography, because we must reconstruct each individual life in order to separate each person’s identity from that of others bearing the same name. Beyond this, many researchers also find that genealogy is a study of communities because kinship networks have long been the threads that create the fabric of each community’s social life, politics, and economy.

Good genealogists use every resource and tool available, emphasizing original records created by informants with firsthand information. Genealogists have long studied economics, geography, law, politics, religion, and society in order to properly interpret records, identify individuals and relationships correctly, and place their families in historical context. The modern field of genetics has added another valuable tool to their intellectual toolbox.

Serious genealogists do specialize, as do all professional and scholarly fields, because no one can be an authority in all aspects of any subject. Some genealogists specialize in an ethnic group, some in a geographic region, and some in a particular type of resource such as military or immigration records. Some specialize in work with the legal system, others in medical research. The advent of genetics has created yet another specialty: genealogists whose expertise lies in the interpretation of DNA results and its application to genealogical research problems.

[Return to Definition of Genealogy Questions]

Directory of Board-Certified Genealogists

6. Question: Where can I get a list of certified persons? I need someone in a particular specialty.

Answer: Consult the online BCG Roster for certified persons.

 

7. Question: How soon will my name appear on the BCG Certification Roster after I receive my certification?

Answer: Additions, changes, and corrections to the online roster are made regularly by the BCG Office.

[Return to Directory of Board-Certified Genealogists questions]

Documentation (See also “Style Guides”)

8. Question: What is the genealogical standard for documentation (source citation)?

Answer: Every statement of “fact” that is not “public knowledge” is expected to carry its own specific citation of source. (For instance, a statement that the Civil War began in 1861 would be “public knowledge” because that date is easily found in an array of sources; no source needs to be cited. However, a statement that a certain individual enlisted in a specific unit on a certain day is not public knowledge and must be supported by a reliable source.) Undocumented works are usable for clues but are never considered “proof.”

[Return to Documentation questions]

Evidence Analysis

9. Question: What is the GPS?

Answer: The GPS is the Genealogical Proof Standard, which all genealogists use to evaluate the quality of research and the reliability of conclusions.

 

10. Question: Why don’t genealogists use the simple terms “primary source” and “secondary source”? In school I was taught to use these to decide whether sources were reliable.

Answer: Determining reliability is not a simple matter. The terms “primary source” and “secondary source” theoretically distinguish reliable sources from potentially unreliable ones. As a point of fact, however, in various fields the terms are used ambiguously by researchers in a number of contradictory ways. Attempting to make a “simple” either-or choice does not enable a researcher to evaluate historical evidence reliably.

Genealogical practice appraises reliability in three ways. We appraise the source (its physical form), the quality of the information within that source, and the type of evidence we can draw from that information. Each of those aspects has two basic qualities. The following provides a brief tutorial:

SOURCES:
Sources can be people, artifacts, documents, or publications (printed or digital). They are either

INFORMATION:
In using a source, we evaluate separately each ”information statement,” to determine whether it offers

EVIDENCE:
Information that is relevant to the problem is considered evidence. It may be one of two basic types:

16. Question: Why does the Kinship Determination Project have to include at least two “proof arguments”? For everyone in my genealogy, I have a document that plainly states parentage (“direct evidence”), so why would I need to write any proof arguments?

Answer: The fact that a source explicitly states parentage for a person does not mean that the source can be accepted as proof. Records and people do err. The more thorough our research is, the more likely it is that we will find conflicting information as to identity, kinship, or other critical matters. Or we find situations in which statements of kinship are offered by multiple documents of varying quality that call for correlation and analysis. In other cases, thorough research may generate no one document that plainly states a parent-child relationship, although we may assemble various records that—considered together—provide valid evidence of parentage.

In any of these cases, we should present a “proof argument” that identifies the evidence we have found (with full citations), explains any anomalies that need interpreting, describes problems that may exist within the evidence, effectively resolves any conflicts, and otherwise provides the justification for (a) believing the assertions we have found; or (b) reaching a particular conclusion from our ambivalent or incomplete evidence.

Your Kinship Determination Project may use proof arguments to link direct ancestors to their parents, or you may use them to link a direct ancestor to a child from whom you do not descend. The critical point to remember is this: Requirement 7 asks you to demonstrate your skill at analyzing the evidence that links individuals into a kin relationship.

 

17. Question: What is the difference between the “proof arguments” for Requirement 7 and the “case study” for Requirement 6?

Answer: A case study typically includes a proof argument, and both have to meet the Genealogical Proof Standard. However, the case study you submit under Requirement 6 has specific parameters and will likely be more complex than the proof arguments you include as part of the Kinship Determination Project. Requirement 6 (Evidence Case Study) allows you a greater choice among problems you have researched, because you may choose a case that involves either identity or relationship in any family. However, that problem of identity or relationship cannot be solved simply by using uncontested direct evidence. It must involve conflicting evidence or a skilled assembly of various pieces of indirect evidence that, taken together, provide an answer to the problem

18. Question: Where can I find a model of a case study suitable for Requirement 7 (Kinship Determination Project). Under that requirement, we have the option of submitting a narrative genealogy, narrative lineage, narrative pedigree, or case study; but it must embody at least two "proof arguments" involving kinship between parent and child. I'm not sure how all that can be handled in a case study.

Answer: A case study of this type is more complicated than the typical narrative genealogy/lineage/pedigree. However, many genealogists write papers of this type for publication in peer-reviewed journals. A recent example was published in the National Genealogical Society Quarterly as follows:

Elizabeth Shown Mills, "Which Marie Louise Is 'Mariotte'? Sorting Slaves with Common Names," NGSQ 94 (September 2006): 183-204.

In this example, the central issue (the point of the case study) is one of identification. The evidence for that identification (pp. 183-91) involves a major kinship argument. After Mariotte's identification is established in various ways in the first part of the paper, her parentage, marital relationships, and offspring are summarized in a three/four-generation genealogy that incorporates smaller kinship arguments (as an example: the discussion of her daughter Cha Cha on p. 199). From this example, you will note that the kinship-argument (proof summary) can be long or short. However, it is not a matter of simply citing some piece of direct evidence. When uncontested, direct evidence of quality exists, no "argument" or "proof summary" is needed.

Regardless of the format you use, Requirement 7 asks you to demonstrate a skill essential to genealogists: the handling of questionable issues regarding two kinships. Typically, these involve conflicts in evidence or a need to assemble evidence to prove kinship when no document states the kinship. Other samples of case studies are available in the Sample Work Products area of this website.

[Return to Kinship Determination Project questions]

Mentors

19. Question: What types of mentoring are available?

Answer: A mentor is usually considered to be a teacher or counselor. However, a mentor cannot completely educate a potential applicant about every aspect of research, record interpretation, and evidence analysis. Many educational programs and publications exist today to make that level of instruction available to all who seek it. For a certification body, a mentor acts as a role model, interprets the application instructions, offers guidance, and acts as an advocate. The most rewarding mentorships occur when you develop an individual relationship with a professional you have personally met and respect—someone who works in your own specialty.

You make contacts with individuals who can mentor you when you pursue educational and networking opportunities such as institutes and conferences. Membership in the Association of Professional Genealogists [APG] and participation in APG’s online mail list, which is also open to non-members, are other ways to meet potential mentors.

You can identify prospective mentors through regular reading of professional journals, during which you identify those who are producing quality work. Notes to published authors about cogent points in their writing can lead to a broader discussion of shared interests, in the course of which mentorships often develop naturally. Conversely, publication of your own work in respected journals can bring you to the attention of more-established professionals who see promise in your work and contact you.

Certification group mentorships exist in a number of metropolitan areas, often as an auxiliary to a local or state APG chapter. These groups typically include Board-certified genealogists who offer guidance, as well as members who have attended training sessions and educational programs elsewhere. Group members provide each other with critiques of work products, encouragement in many ways, and a shared learning experience.

20. Question: What kind of guidance about certification can a mentor supply me? Can a mentor review the work I plan to submit in my portfolio?

Answer: A mentor typically answers questions about certification and reviews areas of work about which a prospective applicant feels uncertain by evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of representative samples of the applicant’s work—samples that will not be part of the final application portfolio. A mentor should never read, critique, or comment in any way upon material that the applicant plans to submit.

[Return to Mentors questions]

Photocopies

21. Question. For my portfolio, I am including photocopies of my sources behind the body of the text and do not know the proper way to cross reference my photocopies, transcriptions, translations, and abstracts to the text within my papers. Is it proper to place an annotation such as "document #1" after the sentence that refers to the source in the body of the text? How should the photocopies, transcriptions, translations, and abstracts be ordered in the back. Do I place all the wills together, all the title deeds together, etc., or do I place them in the order in which they are presented in the text?

Answer. Photocopies are required only for one work sample, Item 4: Document Work, Applicant-Supplied Document. However, that work sample does not involve the kind of issues you raise about text references and organization. Attached photocopies might be needed for Item 5: Research Report Prepared for a Client. For that requirement, you should submit your research report exactly as you submitted it to the client. If you attached photocopies for the client, then you attach them for BCG—presenting them in exactly the same manner. For Items 6 and 7, the Case Study and Kinship-Determination Project, you cite a quality source for every statement of fact that you make (matters of “common knowledge” excluded), but you should not attach photocopies. BCG expects applicants to use a substantial number of materials for these two projects. It would not be possible for applicants to supply photocopies of all sources and stay within the size limit placed upon the portfolio.

Your question about organization and labeling of documents is essentially a question of how to prepare a client report. The basic standard is this: You report to the client what you have found, what you could not find, and the significance of both. When you refer to a source, you cite it in full. If you are attaching a photocopy, then you simply add a note such as See Document 1, attached. You would then number your documents accordingly, and put a full source citation on each of those documents, on the face, in its margin.

There is no one-approach-fits-all model for organizing this research report and attachments. Conducting quality research requires you to exercise a great deal of judgment. By the same token, preparing a quality research report also calls for exercising judgment. BCG does not certify applicants on their ability to copy a canned model. BCG certifies those who demonstrate the ability to evaluate a research problem, conduct research efficiently and expertly, and report the results in a manner that is appropriate to the project—all of which calls for the exercise of judgment in a myriad of ways.

[Return to Photocopies questions]

Portfolios and the Evaluation Process

22. Question. Is there somewhere I can see a successful portfolio? I do not personally know anyone who has applied, so I do not know whether my own work measures up.

Answer: Completed portfolios by successful applicants are available for examination in the BCG exhibit booth and at certification seminars at major genealogical conferences and institutes. At most conferences you can “check out” a portfolio for an hour or so, to permit a more-detailed examination. In addition, to decide whether your skill, work habits, and standards are “ready,” you might explore “Test Your Skills” and “Are You Ready” links on this website. Beyond this, our “Sample Work Products” link displays actual research reports, case studies, and narrative genealogies that have resulted from sound genealogical work. For more explicit discussions of standards and different types of genealogical writing, see The BCG Genealogical Standards Manual.

 

23. Question: Should I send more than one copy of my portfolio?

Answer: No. One copy will suffice. Your portfolio's progress is tracked by the BCG Office. You should keep a duplicate copy for your files, however. On rare occasions, mail services lose packages in transit.

 

24. Question: Will my completed application be handled faster if I send it Express Mail?

Answer: No, instead use Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation. Sending an application via Express Mail will not make a difference in the time it takes to process your application.

 

25. Question: How long does the evaluation process take?

Answer: Allow about five to six months. Our judges volunteer their time and devote many hours to each application they evaluate. Because the judges are so highly qualified, they typically are very active professionals and volunteers for other organizations, as well.

 

26. Question: How many judges will review my portfolio?

Answer: At a minimum, three. Those three judges work independently of each other, without seeing the evaluations prepared by the others. If all three judges approve your application, you are automatically certified. If only one or two judges recommend certification, your entire portfolio will be sent to a fourth judge (an arbitration judge), who will review your work and the evaluations of the three prior judges. The arbitration judge's decision is final. (However, an applicant who feels that extenuating circumstances exist does have the right to appeal to the full board of trustees.) All judges remain anonymous.

 

27. Question: Will I be told what the judges have said about my application portfolio?

Answer: Yes, you will receive a full copy of each judge’s evaluation, both quantitative and substantive. Each judge prepares comments specifically for you.

 

28. Question: Is there an appeals process, in the event that my portfolio does not “pass”?

Answer: If your application has not been successful and you feel you have been inappropriately judged, you may file an appeal. To do so, return your full application, explain why you feel a hearing is justified, and outline the points to be reconsidered. Your application and your judges’ evaluations will be reviewed by the full Board of Trustees at its next annual meeting.

[Return to Portfolios and the Evaluation Process questions]

Professional Practices

29. Question: Does BCG set the price on what I charge a client for research?

Answer: No, Board-certified genealogists set their own fees.

[Return to Practices questions]

Research Reports

30. Question: What if I don’t have “client authorizations” to submit with my reports? Requirement 5 (research report prepared for a client) instructs us to include a letter or communication from the client authorizing the work. In the case of pro bono research, there might not be a formal contract or the discussion leading to a project may have been partially verbal and gone through several stages. What kind of documentation would BCG reviewers expect to see for client work under these conditions?

Answer: BCG asks to see a client’s authorization for both legal and evaluative purposes. While BCG needs to ensure there is no legal barrier to its circulation of client material, its portfolio evaluators also need to appraise how well the researcher fulfills a client’s mission and directives. Whether a researcher is paid by a client or not, the preliminary discussions might go through several stages before they come to a meeting of the minds on how to proceed. In those cases, you might employ one of the following approaches:

31. Question: Will I violate BCG standards if I don’t format research reports a certain way? The report models posted at your website and published in The BCG Genealogical Standards Manual are quite professional. However, the attorneys for whom I work often request that I format my reports their way, not “the BCG way.” Will I violate BCG standards if I follow their format?

Answer: BCG does not have one standardized format that it requires for client reports. In everyday practice, there are multiple ways to approach almost everything we do, and each individual case differs in some particulars that call for exercising judgment. The BCG Genealogical Standards Manual details certain pieces of information that are considered essential for most genealogical research reports and it explains why these elements are needed. The Manual and the Sample Work Products posted on our website provide various examples of ways these principles can be practiced. As a professional, you should balance those essentials against your client’s requirements to produce research that maintains the highest quality possible.

When you prepare a certification portfolio, you will, of course, want to choose one of your reports that best exemplifies the recognized standards of our field.

 

32. Question: How can I be sure that my reports are acceptable? I hear that “BCG expects every i to be dotted and every t crossed a certain way” and I’m afraid I won’t do something “right.”

Answer: Certification is about skill and quality—not i's and t's. When BCG evaluators appraise a portfolio, their focus is not on mechanical things such as how a report is formatted or whether its source citations put a comma where a certain style manual suggests the use of a semicolon. The focus of BCG judges is upon five things:

- whether the research is well done,
- whether good judgment has been exercised,
- whether findings are accurately interpreted,
- whether documentation adequately identifies the sources, and
- whether the report itself is understandable.

A recent review of portfolio critiques for the last two years cataloged comments made by the evaluators—both positive and negative, as well as general suggestions for improvement. For research reports, some of the recurring issues are, of course, more grievous than others. In all cases in which an application was not successful, the portfolio displayed a number of problems; and—by and large—the problems seen in a research report also occurred in other types of submissions by the same applicant. Despite those i and t rumors that can help unsuccessful applicants “save face,” the difference between success and disappointment typically lie in the comments below:

POSITIVE COMMENTS ON REPORTS
Unique project and report, well done
Clearly explained and well-executed research
Quality research, clearly reported
Articulate discussions
Good detective work!
Innovative research
Thorough research within limited time
Presentation easy to follow
Conclusions well explained
Both negative and positive findings reported
Well-thought out research plan
Statements are appropriately "qualified," when "qualifications" are needed
Offers good balance between original and derivative sources


NEGATIVE COMMENTS ON REPORTS
Used work of others without attribution
Did not pursue client's stated objective
Searched wrong time period for the stated problem
Misinterprets the documents attached to report
Seriously misreads basic legal language
Missed important clues in documents
Reached premature conclusions
Statements made without substantiation
Critical detail omitted from abstracts
Attached family group sheets have no citation
Attached photocopies have no documentation
Source citations in body of report are nonexistent or seriously incomplete
Research plan is weak
Serious grammatical problems make findings difficult to understand
All research is done in derivative records
Does not understand Genealogical Proof Standard
No analysis provided at all
Provides undocumented material to client, with no caution


SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT
Research reports should
- be paginated
- state the research objective
- summarize findings
- offer recommendations for continued work
- be proofread before they are released


Assembling a portfolio for peer review, whether it is our first application or our sixth renewal, is a wonderful opportunity for all of us to pause and candidly evaluate the work we are actually doing. Out of that self-evaluation, we naturally pick our best work to submit. From the peer review, then, we gain the gift Robert Burns wrote about so eloquently: the chance to see ourselves as others see us.

[Return to Research Reports questions]

Standards for Editing

33. Question: How does the BCG code of ethics apply to editors? I follow BCG standards in my own research, reports, and articles. Will I violate the BCG code of ethics if I am the editor of a society magazine that publishes inadequately documented genealogical research? I am not yet certified by BCG but have been working on my portfolio.

Answer: As editor of a society magazine, you are in a key position to encourage the adoption of sound standards. Until that can be achieved, you are governed by a basic principle all writers face: if they are to be published, they must produce work that follows the guidelines set by the editor or publisher (in your case, the society) to whom they submit their work. In any case, your portfolio should not be affected, given that you would be submitting work products that represent your own research and writing, not that of others whose work you prepared for press.

 

34. Question: Can my portfolio include work I have edited? I edit a state-level society journal whose articles must meet high standards; they undergo peer review by subject-area authorities as well as extensive editing and fact-checking by me. I don’t have a lot of time for writing of my own. When I apply for renewal, may I submit a copy of my publication as a sample work product?

Answer: Your initial certification established the fact that you work to BCG standards in all essential areas. Therefore, your renewal portfolio can allow you greater leeway to demonstrate the kind of work you typically have done over the course of the five years you were certified.

Your description of your work suggests that you heavily influence the quality of your publication by setting its standards, selecting appropriate manuscripts, and applying the expected editorial controls. Certainly an issue of your journal deserves to be considered as a sample of the quality of your work. However, you would need to also submit other work samples that represent your sole work—if not published material, then unpublished genealogical narratives or research reports you have made to your own files.

[Return to Standards for Editing questions]

Style Guides

35. Question: Does it really matter what “style guides” I use for writing and citing? As style and reference guides, The BCG Genealogical Standards Manual recommends Chicago Manual of Style's ("humanities style,” not “scientific style”) and Evidence Explained! Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace (which covers many original record types not handled by CMS). I have published genealogical articles in two major peer-reviewed journals, one in genealogy and one in another academic field. Each of those had its own preferred style. Would those peer-reviewed articles be acceptable "sample work products" to submit at renewal?

Answer: Different journals, publishers, and fields do have different style preferences that reflect their needs—often economy or certain situations that exist in their research areas. When submitting work to any press, writers are expected to follow the prescribed style of that press. However, even when major scholarly journals publish abbreviated citations, the research they publish will have undergone extensive peer-review and fact-checking to ensure that it meets standards of the field.

BCG welcomes work samples of a genealogical nature that have been published in peer-reviewed journals. Several examples, from a variety of genealogical journals, appear at this "Sample Work Products" link. Your judges will make their own evaluations of everything you submit, based upon their own expertise, but they would not "penalize" you for the fact that your published material reflects the particular house-style of a journal. In order for them to better evaluate your own work, most judges would prefer that you also include a copy of your manuscript, as you submitted it, as well as the final, edited publication.

When you submit either unpublished work or published work samples from genealogical magazines that allow you to choose your own presentation styles, BCG's judges would expect you to cite your sources fully by the standards of its recommended guides.

[Return to Style Guides questions]