If you are writing an essay or dissertation and you make reference to an SMR entry, you must be careful to scroll down to see which particular source was used to draw up the SMR entry. Any description of a site or monument is either a composite of the views of several authors, excavation reports or an entry based on a personal observation. Each statement in the SMR entry will be referenced to a source. Therefore, you should, in addition to citing the Herefordshire SMR number, also quote the source(s) the particular information you are using is taken from. The SMR entry in itself is not a primary source!

You will find that each source is footnoted within each SMR entry. Sometimes several numbers are put together implying that the information is taken from several sources.

For example, if you want to quote the SMR entry on Hereford Castle, you must carefully look at which part of the entry you are referring to. The written sources are footnoted within each entry. If you want to cite, "The castle earthworks and house called Castle Cliff occupies the south east angle of the walled town said to have been built by William fitz Osbern soon after the Conquest.", you must find the original source, which is Number 8, Noble, F., Medieval boroughs of West Herefordshire, Transactions of the Woolhope Naturalist Field Club. If the information is gained from a watching brief or excavation, this will also be foot-noted. The Events section (you must scroll further down the page to see the Events entries) refers to all excavations and watching briefs associated with a given site.

The correct foot-note for the above mentioned quote would be:

The reference should also include (if relevant) the year of publication, the page number (if given) and, in the case of a journal or periodical, the volume number.

There are at least 122 SMRs in Great Britain, so you must be sure to state Herefordshire SMR. Note that some SMRs are now referred to as HERs (Historic Environment Records), and there is also a number of UADs (Urban Archaeological Databases) which cover English cities.

At the bottom of each section you will either see the initials M.G. (Miranda Greene) or T.F.M. (Toria Forsyth-Moser) of the authors. You should therefore footnote any quotes with:

The author, Historic Herefordshire on Line and the URL in the address box of any given page.

For example, Toria Forsyth-Moser, Historic Herefordshire On Line, http://www.smr.herefordshire.gov.uk/education/norman_conquest.htm

Quote the name of the author, the title of the essay, Historic Herefordshire On Line and the relevant URL.

For example, Roz Lowe, "Sir Samuel Meyrick and Goodrich Court", Historic Herefordshire On Line, http://www.smr.herefordshire.gov.uk/samuel _meyrick.htm