Today is the first day of school around here. 7 hours of child free bliss for me. Not that I didn't almost breakdown, again, when my "babies" were leaving but a mom has to have some space too.
Today also starts the session of the Boston University Online Genealogical Research Program that I signed up for. In a nutshell, I am really, really,
nervous. Most of you have told me I will
be fine, and I am sure that I will be, but that overwhelming fear of the
unknown is what is killing me. Class
starts at 10 am EST, just have to kill time until that happens.
Many
of you spoke to me about blogging my experiences with the
course. I will do my best to give you my
impression of the course; however I need to let everyone know about the Student
Ethics Code that applies to what I can, or cannot, say here.
“Being an ethical genealogist means adhering to guidelines. Students should not create Internet profiles, trees, or post questions or answers in email lists or blogs concerning any course material, course assignments, or course case studies. This helps preserve the integrity of the course for all participants, current and future. Those violating this will be asked to remove or block the material immediately. Be aware that in some cases you are creating a permanent record which cannot be removed. Failure to observe this guideline may result in removal from the course. This policy is known as the "What goes on in Online Campus stays in Online Campus" student conduct clause.”
With this in mind I hope you all will understand why I do
not post about the class in as much detail as some of you would like. However, the textbooks for the course are
available to everyone and I know many of you already have them. I want to post my
thoughts and conclusions after reading the various chapters from these books. Feel free to post your thoughts on them as well.
The textbooks for this class, as listed on their website, are the following:
Board for Certification of Genealogists.
Orem, Utah: Ancestry, 2000.
ISBN: 0-916-489-92-2.
Elizabeth Shown Mills.
Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace, 2nd
Edition.
Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2009.
ISBN-13: 978-0806318066
Elizabeth Shown Mills.
A Manual for Researchers, Writers, Editors, Lecturers, and
Librarians.
Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2001
ISBN-13: 978-0-8063-16482
Thomas W. Jones
Arlington: National Genealogical Society, 2013.
ISBN: 1935815075
Thankfully I purchased Tom Jones's book back
in May when it first came out. The books are now on back order though Amazon and some students are scrambling for a copy. If you do not have it already I would pick it up. I am about halfway through it and there have been some real duh moments for me while reading it. In fact so many that I am seriously considering restarting my family tree program from scratch so I can redo it all correctly.
Have you read these books or participated in the BU program? I would love to hear from you and know what
you think!
Thank you for sharing this information!
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