How to Audit Your Family Tree’s Source Citations

What counts as a citation

A source record sitting in your file isn’t enough on its own — it has to be linked directly to the specific event it supports. The full chain: a source pointer (SOUR) connects to a title (TITL), a specific reference like a page or film frame (PAGE), and a quality rating (QUAY). A minimal useful citation has at least a title and a specific page or reference — not just “Ancestry.com” with nothing pointing to which record.

A source that exists in your file but isn’t linked from any birth, death, or marriage event doesn’t count as a citation for that event, even if it’s sitting right there in your source list. This is the single most common gap: research that was done, but never attached to the fact it supports.

The QUAY quality scale

Every citation should carry a quality rating — how much weight the source itself can bear:

• 3 — Direct, primary evidence: an original document or first-hand account.
• 2 — Secondary evidence: a published transcription or derivative record.
• 1 — Questionable source: family tradition, or an indexed database without images.
• 0 — Unreliable: don’t use it as the sole support for any fact.

A citation proves a record was consulted — it doesn’t by itself prove the record is correct, and a QUAY rating is set by whoever entered it, not independently verified. Setting these ratings honestly is what makes the rest of the audit useful.

How to check your own tree

1. Most genealogy software has a report or filter for “events without sources” or “uncited facts.” Run it for birth, death, and marriage events specifically — these are the key events that carry the most weight.
2. For each uncited event, decide: was research actually done and just not attached, or is this a genuine gap that needs a source search?
3. For events that do have a source, check whether it’s linked directly to the event, not just sitting in your source list unattached.
4. Where you have a citation, confirm the QUAY rating actually reflects the source — a family story and a birth certificate shouldn’t carry the same weight.

What this can’t tell you: whether a citation you haven’t reviewed recently is actually accurate — a citation shows a record was consulted, not that it’s correct — and whether an uncited event is genuinely unsupported, or was simply never entered into your software. Both require going back to the record itself.

Doing this automatically

Checking citation coverage by hand across a large tree is slow. KinSift’s Source Citations check reads your exported GEDCOM and reports exactly which core events are missing a linked citation, flags low QUAY ratings on primary events, and gives you a prioritised list — for free, with no signup.