Cite records and check sharing rights
See this course’s project requirements
A six-part community-history packet with a bounded question, finding-aid path, record analysis, timeline, citation and rights notes, and a 150–250-word evidence-based account.
Keep your working files in your own notebook or software. Save a private description, checklist, and work link in My Proof.
What to include
- State a bounded question and a search plan that could challenge the starting caption.
- Trace R3 through the correct collection and item locator.
- Analyze record purpose and shared evidence before drawing conclusions.
- Create a timeline that separates approval, event, publication, and later annotation.
- Attach retraceable citations and a rights check to a 150–250-word account with a specific unresolved point.
Review and revise
Use these criteria to check your work and choose what to improve.
- The question and conclusion concern the same bounded event.
- Record locators, dates, and attendance numbers match the supplied evidence.
- The account distinguishes direct support, shared sources, and uncertainty.
- Citations support specific claims, and image access is kept separate from reuse permission.
Want more background?
The idea in everyday life
Fictional citation fields: repository Eastbank Practice Archive; collection Harbor Community Club Records (HCC); R3 title Opening evening attendance ledger; date September 15, 1963; Series B, Box 2, Folder 4. R4 title Harbor Hall welcomes public club gathering; newspaper Eastbank Weekly, September 17, 1963, page 2; stored in HCC Series C, Box 3, Folder 1. Practice rights card: R3 transcription permitted with credit; R4 image reproduction rights unconfirmed. These rights cards are invented teaching inputs. Every excerpt supplied by this course is original fictional text. No actual archive image is included.
A citation tells someone where evidence came from; permission answers a different sharing question.
Cite records and check sharing rights: guided practice
A citation tells someone where evidence came from; permission answers a different sharing question.
Use paper or a free local text editor. This is an original fictional practice case; do not submit its records to a real service. Start this lesson with these facts, even if an earlier variation changed them. Fictional citation fields: repository Eastbank Practice Archive; collection Harbor Community Club Records (HCC); R3 title Opening evening attendance ledger; date September 15, 1963; Series B, Box 2, Folder 4. R4 title Harbor Hall welcomes public club gathering; newspaper Eastbank Weekly, September 17, 1963, page 2; stored in HCC Series C, Box 3, Folder 1. Practice rights card: R3 transcription permitted with credit; R4 image reproduction rights unconfirmed. These rights cards are invented teaching inputs. Every excerpt supplied by this course is original fictional text. No actual archive image is included.
1. Build a complete citation
Write an R3 citation using title, date, collection, item identifier, locator, and repository.
You should see: Opening evening attendance ledger, September 15, 1963, R3, Harbor Community Club Records (HCC), Series B, Box 2, Folder 4, Eastbank Practice Archive.
The citation provides enough identifying detail to retrace the record.
2. Attach claim-level references
Add R3 to the attendance statement and R4 to the newspaper-report statement.
You should see: The ledger records 42 attendees [R3]. The September 17 newspaper reports a September 15 gathering [R4].
A reader should be able to tell which record supports which claim.
3. Apply the rights card
Decide how the practice display handles R4’s image when rights remain unconfirmed.
You should see: Use an original summary and citation; leave out a reproduced image pending permission or a confirmed applicable reuse basis.
Viewing a source and citing it do not by themselves authorize copying its image.
4. Record a research gap
Note that no permit is supplied and state a useful next search without claiming a permit never existed.
You should see: Permit evidence is absent from this packet. A next search would check the appropriate building-record collection and its access instructions.
Missing evidence in a small set does not prove that the underlying event or record never existed.
What to finish
Cite records and check sharing rights record with the worked decisions and changed-case check.
Watch for this
Confusing a source link with reproduction permission or treating a search gap as proof of absence.
How can I tell I understand it?
Create retraceable citations and separate source access from permission to reproduce. Explain the evidence behind the result and correct any mismatch.
Quick knowledge check
Answer all 3 questions. Get at least 2 right and the lesson completes automatically.
You’ll get an explanation for each answer. Signed in? Your results save to your account.
Pass the check. We’ll save the progress.
Answer all 3 questions above and get at least 2 right. You can review the explanations and try again.
Go to the knowledge checkOptional course overview video · same video as Lesson 1
Getting Started with DocsTeach: Finding and Sharing Primary Source Documents
From US National Archives. Watch here or open it on YouTube .
Optional course overview. Follow the written steps below at your own pace.Tools, templates, and lesson sources
Tools and templates
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Sources and further reading
Explore the references behind this lesson.
Source & access notes · checked 2026-09-12
Inspected the observe, interpret, context, and evidence sequence across document-analysis resources. Exercises here use new fictional records, not copied worksheets.
Access: Public page or PDF inspected without payment or institutional sign-in on September 12, 2026. Optional external accounts are unnecessary for this course.
Reuse: Link and original paraphrase only. Public access does not grant blanket reuse; no provider text, figures, or exercises are reproduced.
Source & access notes · checked 2026-09-12
Inspected research planning, finding resources, and the limits of what an archive holds. Applies the stable search method to an original community-archive case.
Access: Public page or PDF inspected without payment or institutional sign-in on September 12, 2026. Optional external accounts are unnecessary for this course.
Reuse: Link and original paraphrase only. Public access does not grant blanket reuse; no provider text, figures, or exercises are reproduced.
Source & access notes · checked 2026-09-12
Inspected finding-aid, provenance, collection, and arrangement vocabulary. The linked glossary is historical; used only for stable vocabulary, not current access policy.
Access: Public page or PDF inspected without payment or institutional sign-in on September 12, 2026. Optional external accounts are unnecessary for this course.
Reuse: Link and original paraphrase only. Public access does not grant blanket reuse; no provider text, figures, or exercises are reproduced.
Source & access notes · checked 2026-09-12
Inspected the distinction between federal-agency-created public-domain works and other holdings with potential rights restrictions, user clearance responsibility, and useful credit lines. No photographs reproduced.
Access: Public page or PDF inspected without payment or institutional sign-in on September 12, 2026. Optional external accounts are unnecessary for this course.
Reuse: Link and original paraphrase only. Public access does not grant blanket reuse; no provider text, figures, or exercises are reproduced.
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