5 replies to this topic

[WandererOTD]

[SOLVED] I have added a newspaper article source citation using the Newspaper, Online Images template.  All was well, and I can see the right-hand column being filled in with text as I fill in the fields.  I then clicked OK and Close.  That took me back to my person screen.  I then discovered that I had to customize the fact sentence for this fact.  So I looked over the 2 help documents ("Sentence Template Language" and "Using Sentence Templates") and thought I understood it - seemed simple enough.  I also looked at the syntax of the existing  Newspapers, Online Images template.  I used the fields shown in that template, and did it according to the instructions in the 2 help files.  But it isn't working for me.  Here's what I have constructed now:

 

[Date:DayofWeek:Commas], an article entitled "" appeared in <i>[Newspaper]</i> [Place].

 

This yields:

 

"On Saturday, 6 February, 1886, an article entitled "" appeared in <i>[Newspaper]</i> [Place]."

 

My intent was to draw the field entries from the citation itself into the sentence, but legitimate fields [Newspaper] and [Place] don't  work.  Turns out [Place] pulls a location that's entered into the right side when I highlight the newspaper article "row" on the left in the basic Edit Person screen.  That's not what I want, of course.

 

I probably will want to expand the sentence when I understand what is going on.

 

My conclusion is that I'm missing something obvious - of course, because it is not working.  It seems to me that this should have worked...so I need some advice and hand-holding.  Please.

 

Many thanks in advance.

[TomH]

The main thing you have misunderstood is that the fact sentence cannot use variables from the source|citation and the source sentence cannot use variables from the person|fact. 

[Laura]

In the fact, enter the Date, Place as the location of the newspaper, and the article and newspaper name in the Description.

[Date:Dayofweek:Comma], an article entitled [Desc] [Place].

Description: Article name appeared in the Newspaper name.

I would change it to;

[Date:Dayofweek:Comma] appeared in an [Desc] [Place]

Description: article "Article name" in the "Newspaper name" [no quotes or italics]

I use the Miscellaneous fact for newspaper articles and customize the sentence.

[Date:Dayofweek:Comma] was mentioned in an article in the [Desc] [Place]

Description: "Newspaper name" newspaper

Where to find the person in the newspaper [the article name, page, and column] and the article transcription are entered into the note.

The word newspaper in the description is a keyword I can use for searches.

My sentence may change according to what the article is about, but the description entry is always the newspaper name and the place is the physical location of the newspaper, city, county, state.

You could put the newspaper name as part of the Place and the article name in the description and adjust the sentence accordingly if you aren't a user that thinks places should only be city, county, state and country.

Place: Newspaper name, city, county, state

The source could be for the online version of the newspaper if that is where I found the article or the newspaper and physical location or my great aunt's newspaper clipping in her scrapbook.

The fact is the information. The source(s) are where I found it.

[WandererOTD]

Hi TomH and Laura,

 

Thank you very much - I am not as confused now.

 

Following Laura's suggestions, I revised the Sentence to this:

 

[Date:DayofWeek:Commas], an article appeared in [PlaceDetails] about [Person] [Desc].

 

I used [PlaceDetails] for the newspaper name in quotes followed by the word newspaper.

 

I used [Description] for a short synopsis of the article.  I included [Person] to make the sentence make more sense.

 

The result is:

 

On Sat. 6 Feb. 1886, an article appeared in the "Goldsboro Messenger" newspaper about John Daniel KERR, Sr. putting a steamboat into service on Black River, NC.

 

At least now the sentence is clear enough when it appears in a narrative.  I think that this type approach will work for other newspaper articles as well.

 

Many thanks!!

 

Fred

[Laura]

I see you caught my mistake of leaving [Person] out of my sentences when I typed them for my post. <smile>

Just be aware that the Place details may not be imported into a third party program from a gedcom where you might expect it to be as Place details are RM specific features and are exported as an address.

[WandererOTD]

Thanks for helping me with this.  Still trying to figure out the best single program to work on my genealogy - quite impressed with RootsMagic.  Had been using FTM 2014 but it did not seem robust enough.  So after RootsTech 2015, I decided to try RootsMagic.  I think this forum is an excellent resource - especially since I'm doing the total immersion experience adjusting an existing GEDCOM to RootsMagic.