Also, in working with Sources, it is suggested that you have access to a copy of Elizabeth Shown Mills Evidence! Citation and Analysis for the Family Historian (Baltimore Genealogical Publishing Co, 1997).  If you don't have a copy, I strongly recommend that you see about getting a copy (runs about $17 at most bookstores - including Amazon.com).  TMG uses templates for Source entry designed around the suggested citation examples given by Mills.  Also the names of  the various Source Categories in TMG are the same as Mills' examples which makes it easier for users to choose an appropriate source category.    While you can use the TMG templates to achieve the recommended citations, keep in mind that the TMG templates are only Wholly Genes interpretation of Ms. Mills' suggestions.  Your interpretation or mine may be different.  The important thing is that citations convey enough information to a reader so that the source may be easily found by the reader. 

Because each SS Application can have a lot of information, I'll only discuss one item (birth data) that is on most apps.  Source entry would be the same regardless of the type of data, and you would only enter the Source once.  But you would enter the data in the fields of the appropriate Tag (in the Person View, click on the yellow plus icon or press F4 to add a new tag).  Then you are ready to enter a Source citation.  Click on the top plus icon (beneath the Sentence button) or press F4 to add a new citation. When the Citation Entry Screen appears, click on the Search button.  This causes the Master Source List (MSL) to appear and display all source that have been entered. 

If the Source had already been entered, then you would scroll through the MSL to find it, highlight it, and click on the Select button to add this Source Citation to the Tag.    But if this is a new source, then press F4 (or click on the New button) to add a new source. 

This displays the Source Types window from which you will select the most appropriate category.  You would highlight the one you want, and click on the Select button.   Since there is not a Source Type specifically for SS Apps, you will have to choose the one that most closely matches what you want when the Source is printed as a footnote, endnote or in the bibliography.   You could also create a new custom Source Type, but that is more than we want to get into here.  For now, I suggest that we use Birth Registration (Local) or Marriage Record (Church - Certificate).   Either could be used for our purposes.  Also  the Source Type title doesn't mean anything in itself.   You may choose almost any Source Type and then modify the patterns in the Source Definition Screen to match what you need, but if the selection is close to what you need, than modifications are fewer.

When you have chosen the Source Type, highlight it, and click on the Select button. This will now cause the Source Definition Screen to display.  This would be where you would enter the description of the Source.  For now, we will select the Birth Registration (Local) Source Type for our purposes here (the Marriage Record Source Type is somewhat different, but could also be used with some minor changes in the Source Entry).

At this point, I need to mention that the Source Types based on the Mills Templates are mostly intended for one source document per entered Source. So if you have five books that are used as sources, you would have five Sources entered in TMG's Master Source List. This makes good sense for books or something similar. However, if you have many birth, marriage, death or other certificates, many references to census records or some other type of source which contain mostly the same information with minor variations or for different persons, then a single TMG Source for each document would create a very large number of TMG Sources.  Now there is nothing wrong with this and it certainly makes it easy to find a document from a footnote/endnote. But the large number of Sources might be awkward to work with.   So, if you have many of the same kind of sources like SS Apps, you may enter a TMG Source for each SS App, or you can enter one TMG Source for many -- in other words a somewhat generic Source.   For example, you might have many census references for persons from a specific county for a specific census. Rather than enter one TMG Source for each person noted in the census, you could enter a "generic" TMG Source that would be used  for the year and county. Then you would enter another for a neighboring county or different year.  The result would be two Sources instead of a dozen or more.

Thus, you may want to enter a TMG Source for each SS app or you could enter one or more generic TMG Sources for SS Apps. If you go with the generic method, you could have one or more TMG Sources depending on how you want to enter them. You could enter  one TMG Source for all SS Apps or one per state or some other breakdown, whatever seems best to you. For our purposes here, I'll use the single TMG Source for all SS Apps - the generic Source.

After selecting the desired Source Type, the Source Definition Screen displays which is where we enter the information about the source document.  We first enter the Abbreviation. This is what you will use to refer to the Source and how to find it in TMG's Master Source List (MSL). For our purpose, I'll just enter "SS Apps" as the Abbreviation and tab to the next field.

The next field is the Default Surety.  This is also for your use only and will serve as a reminder during citation entry of the Surety Value that you assigned here to the Source in general.  Check the definition of Surety in the TMG manual or the TMG Help screen.  Since SS Apps may be considered primary sources, you might want to use a "3".  But since the data may not be  contemporary with the recorded event, it might be considered a secondary source where you would assign a Surety Value of "2".  Remember that the default entered here is more to remind you of your overall evaluation of the Source, and that Surety Values assigned to citations in a Tag may be the same or different as you feel they ought to be and as accurate as you think the specific data is.  For our purposes here, we will enter a "2" and tab to the next field.

The next field is the Active(Y/N) option.  If you have a lot of entries on the MSL, then you may reduce the "clutter" by marking one or more Sources as inactive (Active = "N").  [This would hide the Source from the normal MSL.  You may select the full MSL by selecting the MSL Change menu option (or pressing F9) to toggle the MSL display).]  The Active option would normally be left at "Y", so we will leave it and tab to the next field.

The next fields [Exhibit (camera icon), and Research Log (notepad icon)] are not of interest right now.  The Source Type button would be used if you changed your mind as to which Source Type that you wanted to use.  So tab on to the Title field.

When you get to the Title field, click on the button to enter the Title of the Source.   For books and most other Source Types, the actual title of the source would be entered here.  But for this Source Type, note that the field name (title) is all in lower case indicating that the title is not used in this Source Type.   Still I would enter something for use in Reports that only lists Title data (List of Sources reports).  I'll just enter "SS Apps" again since it is again something for our use only.  Press F10 to close the window and go to the next field.

Now the cursor will be over the first of the buttons in the lower part of the window.   These buttons indicate which Source Elements are being used in this Source Definition.  Only four buttons (Source Elements) are needed for the Source Type we have selected.  Other Source Types use more or less as required.  The use and arrangement of the Source Elements in the specific Templates/Patterns control how the Source will print as a Full Footnote (Endnote), Short Footnote (Endnote) or Bibliographic entry. Look at my page on Source Groups and Source Elements for more information on this subject.

For this Source Type and this area of the Source Definition Screen (General tab), we find four Source Elements and fields for use:  Record Type, Subject, Date, and Number.  Source Elements shown surrounded by angle brackets are called "conditionals".  So when a source citation is printed, if a conditional field is empty, the field is skipped.  But if a field is not conditional, then TMG will cause certain information print in the place where the data normally would.  What prints is based to some extent on what kind of field is being printed.  The print may be "n.d." for no date, "unknown place", "n.p." for no publisher data, etc.  So, if something prints for an empty field, and you don't wish it to print, then you will need to make it a conditional field/element (more on this below).

Since we are entering a generic Source, this will also determine what and how we enter data in the Source Element fields.  I would enter "Social Security Application (SS-5)" in the Record Type field (this is the white block - don't press Enter on the button for now).  Now tab to the next white block which is the Subject Source Element.

If you were entering one TMG Source for each SS App, you would enter the name of the person in this (the Subject) field.  But since this is to be a generic Source, then we will skip this field (and will make it a conditional field later).  So you would tab to the next white block.

We would enter the date of the App in this (the Date) field, and tab to the next or Number field where we would enter the Social Security Number.  However, since these are conditional fields and we would only enter the date of the App and the SS Number assigned if we were entering a single Source for each App, we will bypass these fields (leave them empty).  This concludes the entries for the General tab of the Source Definition Screen.  

But before we leave the General tab, I want to mention one method of adding a Source Element to the Source Definition Screen.  Click on the next blank button below the last used Source Element (the one below the Number button here).  The Source Elements window will display showing those Source Elements of the Source Groups that have not been used in this Source Definition.  You would highlight one and click on the Select button to use it in this Source Definition.  You may then enter the data appropriate to that element in the white field.  I'll have more on this later when we discuss Patterns.

Now click on the Supplemental tab. This is where you would enter Comments or Memo Source Element data, or remarks about a source. For our purpose, note that the memo button is lower case indicating that this Source Element is not used for this Source Type. So we will skip this field. You may wish to select the desired options under Recorder, Media, Fidelity, and Indexed. These are not printed or referenced anywhere and are for your use only. I usually bypass them, but you may wish to set them.

Now click on the Attachments tab.  Many (but not all) Sources will use this tab for entry of the Repository for the Source (where you found the document).  Certificates, letters, census information, and other less publicly available documents need Repository data.  Books normally do not need a Repository since they may be located (mostly) from the publication information. But for a rare or hard to find book,  it may be useful to enter a Repository (in such a case, you need to modify the Patterns in the Output Forms tab.

For  this Source Type, we need to enter a Repository.  So click on the plus icon by the Repositories block to bring up the Repository Link Entry Screen.  Now you would enter the Repository # of the place where you found or obtained the document(s).   Since we're are discussing SS Apps, we probably got them from the SS Administration in Baltimore and would use the Repository #  that was assigned by TMG to that Repository when we entered it.  If you know that number, then you would enter it and tab to the next field.  If there is a Repository Reference, you would enter it now. For our purposes, I will assume that a Repository has been entered for the SS Administration and its Repository # is 138, so I will enter "138" as the Repository #, leave the Repository Reference field blank,  and click on the OK button. You may add as many Repositories as you wish to this Source.

However, if you don't recall the number or haven't entered this Repository, you will need to look it up.    If you access the Master Source List directly from the main menu (Tools menu) and create a Source from there, you may click on the Search button in this window and the Master Repository List (MRL) would display (operating much like the Master Source List).   Then you could select a Repository or enter a new Repository and select it.   However, since we entered the Master Source List from a Tag Entry Screen, we can't use the Search button (if you do, you will get a notice that you can't access the MRL here).  So we must either enter the Repository # from memory or click on the Cancel the Repository Link Entry Screen for now and tab to the next field. 

If the Source is derived from another Source, you can enter that Source here if you have already entered it as a TMG Source.  For example, if you are entering a Source for a family history, and the family history indicates that it got certain data from the census, you may wish to enter that Source (assuming you have it as a TMG Source) as the Source of the Source.  In that case, you would click on the plus icon by that field and a Citation Entry Screen would display like the one we started from here. For our purposes here, we'll skip this field.  I should mention here that, like the Repository field, the Search button here is inactivated also when accessing the MSL from a Tag Entry Screen.

This mostly completes the Source entry.  But just to make sure, click on the Output Field tab. Now, click on the top Preview button on the right. Based on what we entered above, the window should display this (which is what would print as a Footnote or Endnote citation):
                         unknown subject entry, Social Security Application (SS-5)<, [CD]>,
                         Social Security Administration, Baltimore, Maryland.

If you had entered the Source as a single source for a single SS App, then the name of the person submitting the App, the data of the App and the SS # would also display, like this:
                        John Doe entry, Social Security Application (SS-5) #123-45-6789<,
                        [CD]> (15 Jul 1954), Social Security Administration, Baltimore, Maryland.

But since we are entering a generic Source, we don't want the "unknown subject entry" phrase to print.  So press F10 to close the display window, and click on the Full Footnote button on the left.  The Full Footnote Pattern will display in an edit window and should be like this:
                    [SUBJECT] entry, [RECORD TYPE]< [NUMBER]><, [CD]>< ([DATE])>,
                     [REPOSITORY], [REPOSITORY ADDRESS].

Place angle brackets around the "[SUBJECT] entry, " phrase. Now the pattern will look like this:
                    <[SUBJECT] entry, >[RECORD TYPE]< [NUMBER]><, [CD]>< ([DATE])>,
                     [REPOSITORY], [REPOSITORY ADDRESS].

This makes the field a conditional one as mentioned above.  Press F10 to close the edit window, and then click on the Preview button again to re-check how the data will print. This time, the display will show this:
                    Social Security Application (SS-5)<, [CD]>,
                    Social Security Administration, Baltimore, Maryland.

The <, [CD]> indicates where the Citation Detail will print.   You may remember that the Citation Detail is part of the Citation part of the Tag and we will discuss it later.

Press F10 to close the window.  Now you should click on the middle Preview button and check the Short Footnote entry.  It will show that you need the angle bracket in its Pattern also, so close that window (F10) and click on the Short Footnote button.  Add the angle brackets here as you did in the Full Footnote pattern.  You can then close the editing window (F10) and re-check the Short Footnote in the Preview window and close that window if it is okay and move on.

Now you should check the bottom Preview button for the Bibliography.  Again you will find that you need the angle brackets.  But note that the phrase is in a different location. So you would place the brackets and the window data would show this:
                    [REPOSITORY ADDRESS]. [RECORD TYPE]<. [SUBJECT] entry>.

Note that there is no Citation Detail entry in a Bibliographic entry.  Now press F10 to close the editing window. You may now re-check the Preview window and close it when finished.

If you have added other Source Elements to this Source Definition on the General tab (clicking on the blank buttons) as I described above, you must add the Source Element to the appropriate Pattern(s) here in the Output Forms tab in much the same manner as you made the fields conditional. This tells TMG exactly where the data for that Source Element is to be printed in the citation.

As I mentioned above, a second method of adding a Source Element to a Source Definition is to add the Source Element to a Pattern in the Output Forms tab first.   You must then return to the General tab to enter the appropriate data.

This is basically all there is to a Source entry.   So once you have made all the entries and changes that are needed, click on the OK button (or press F10) to save the new Source.  It should be highlighted now in the MSL, so click the Select button to place it in the Citation Entry Screen Source # field.  The Abbreviation of the Source will display beside the field.

Now tab to the Citation Detail field that we mentioned above.  This field may be empty for some citations, or have a lot of data for others.  For a book, you might enter volume, chapter or section number, and page numbers.  For a census entry, you'd probably enter at least the page and line number where the data was found as well as other information depending on how specific or generic the Source is.  For a single Source for a single SS App, you probably would not enter anything here.  But since we entered a generic Source, we would enter the name of the person (the Subject Source Element), the application date (the Date Source Element), and the SS # (the Number Source Element).  Thus, I would enter something like:
                    John Doe entry, SS# 123-45-6789, dated 15 Jul 1954.

Now, tab to the next field, the Surety fields, stopping in the 1 field. These fields refer to the 1st (and 2nd, if any) Principal(s), the Date field, the Place fields, and the Memo field of the Tag Entry Screen. Thus we'd enter Surety values based on our evaluation of the source data and its reliability (its surety) in regard to the applicable data. When the cursor is in one of these fields, TMG will display a reminder as to what you entered in the Default Surety of the Source Definition Screen.  You may wish to use that as your entry or enter a higher or lower value as you think best.  Remember these Surety assignments are Subjective and are really only meaningful to you.  But while they are Subjective, they can still be helpful to you in your research.  For our purposes here, where we found the date and place of birth, the default surety will display as a "2", so we might enter Surety Values of "2" in each of the 1, D, and P fields, leaving the rest blank or we might record a different Surety in in one or more fields as we think best.  Now click OK to close the Citation Entry Screen, and OK again to close the Tag Entry Screen. This completes the tag and source entry.