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--- ljwrites:research:unforgotten_sisters:start [2025/04/21 21:09] – Conclusion list formatting error fixed ljwrites
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 I also looked through all the working links in the Web section of the bibliography and could not find Seondeok mentioned in any of them.
+#### Note on citations in the book
+Overall *Unforgotten Sisters* suffered from inadequate citations, having only a bibliography for the entire book without pinpoint citations, footnotes, or endnotes.
+The vague citations made it difficult to match ideas and information to sources.
+Though understandable that a work of popular science would not have the same citation standards as a full academic work, at the very least chapter-level bibliographies would have made for better attribution and sourcing.
 ### Sŏndŏk: Princess of the Moon and Stars
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 ### Tentative conclusions
-  * Unless some alternate non-fiction source can be presented, almost all Bernardi's dubious claims about Seondeok and some about Cheomseongdae appear to originate from Holman's *Princess of the Moon and Stars* or to have been influenced by the novel. Further points in this conclusion proceed on this assumption, which I believe has enough support to stand until and unless Bernardi can present an adequate alternate source.
+  * Unless some alternate non-fiction source can be presented, almost all Bernardi's dubious claims about Seondeok and one about Cheomseongdae appear to originate from Holman's *Princess of the Moon and Stars* or to have been influenced by the novel. Further points in this conclusion proceed on this assumption, which I believe has enough support to stand until and unless Bernardi can present an adequate alternate source.
   * Other assertions with unclear factual support need to be sourced better or retracted.
-  * Overall, *Unforgotten Sisters* suffered from inadequate citations, having only a bibliography for the entire book without pinpoint citations, footnotes, or endnotes. The vague citations made it difficult to match ideas and information to sources. Though understandable that a work of popular science would not have the same citation standards as a full academic work, at the very least chapter-level bibliographies would have made for better attribution and sourcing.
   * The Seondeok chapter in *Unforgotten Sisters* and the Cosmos Magazine article based on it should be retracted or heavily corrected to remove the fictional material.
   * If the chapter and article are left in their current state, they should be marked or otherwise notified as largely fictional, and Ms. Holman's permission should be sought for the use, with appropriate credit, of fictional details she originated. She may also be due some form of apology, acknowledgement, and amends.
   * Ideally, all live outlets purporting to be non-fictional sources on Seondeok, such as Encyclopedia.com, would be contacted to make corrections. I am focusing specifically on the *Unforgotten Sisters* chapter because it is newer than these other sources and should be held to higher standards in vetting its sources as a publication from a major scholarly/nonfiction publishing house,