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Help with Citation Styles

A Manual for Writers

of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations

Turabian Quick Guide

Kate L. Turabian’s Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations presents two basic documentation systems: notes-bibliography style (or simply bibliography style) and author-date style (sometimes called reference list style). These styles are essentially the same as those presented in The Chicago Manual of Style, sixteenth edition, with slight modifications for the needs of student writers.

Bibliography style is used widely in literature, history, and the arts. This style presents bibliographic information in footnotes or endnotes and, usually, a bibliography.

The more concise author-date style has long been used in the physical, natural, and social sciences. In this system, sources are briefly cited in parentheses in the text by author’s last name and date of publication. The parenthetical citations are amplified in a list of references, where full bibliographic information is provided.

Aside from the use of notes versus parenthetical references in the text, the two systems share a similar style. Click on the tabs below to see some common examples of materials cited in each style. For a more detailed description of the styles and numerous specific examples, see chapters 16 and 17 of the 8th edition of Turabian for bibliography style and chapters 18 and 19 for author-date style. If you are uncertain which style to use in a paper, consult your instructor.

Notes-Bibliography Style: Sample Citations

The following examples illustrate citations using notes-bibliography style. Examples of notes are followed by shortened versions of citations to the same source. For more details and many more examples, see chapters 16 and 17 of Turabian. For examples of the same citations using the author-date system, click on the Author-Date tab above.

Book

One author

   1. Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference (Boston: Little, Brown, 2000), 64–65.
   2. Gladwell, Tipping Point, 71.
Gladwell, Malcolm. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. Boston: Little, Brown, 2000.
 
Two or more authors
   1. Peter Morey and Amina Yaqin, Framing Muslims: Stereotyping and Representation after 9/11 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2011), 52.
   2. Morey and Yaqin, Framing Muslims, 60–61.

Morey, Peter, and Amina Yaqin. Framing Muslims: Stereotyping and Representation after 9/11. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2011.

For four or more authors, list all of the authors in the bibliography; in the note, list only the first author, followed by “et al.” (“and others”):

   1. Jay M. Bernstein et al., Art and Aesthetics after Adorno (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2010), 276.
   2. Bernstein et al., Art and Aesthetics, 18.

Bernstein, Jay M., Claudia Brodsky, Anthony J. Cascardi, Thierry de Duve, Aleš Erjavec, Robert Kaufman, and Fred Rush. Art and Aesthetics after Adorno. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2010.

Editor or translator instead of author

   1. Richmond Lattimore, trans., The Iliad of Homer (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1951), 91–92.
   2. Lattimore, Iliad, 24.

Lattimore, Richmond, trans. The Iliad of Homer. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1951.

Editor or translator in addition to author

   1. Jane Austen, Persuasion: An Annotated Edition, ed. Robert Morrison (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2011), 311–12.
   2. Austen, Persuasion, 315.

Austen, Jane. Persuasion: An Annotated Edition. Edited by Robert Morrison. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2011.

Chapter or other part of a book

   1. Ángeles Ramírez, “Muslim Women in the Spanish Press: The Persistence of Subaltern Images,” in Muslim Women in War and Crisis: Representation and Reality, ed. Faegheh Shirazi (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2010), 231.
   2. Ramírez, “Muslim Women,” 239–40.

Ramírez, Ángeles. “Muslim Women in the Spanish Press: The Persistence of Subaltern Images.” In Muslim Women in War and Crisis: Representation and Reality, edited by Faegheh Shirazi, 227–44. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2010.

Preface, foreword, introduction, or similar part of a book

   1. William Cronon, foreword to The Republic of Nature, by Mark Fiege (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2012), ix.
   2. Cronon, foreword, x–xi.

Cronon, William. Foreword to The Republic of Nature, by Mark Fiege, ix–xii. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2012.

Book published electronically

If a book is available in more than one format, cite the version you consulted. For books consulted online, include an access date and a URL. If you consulted the book in a library or commercial database, you may give the name of the database instead of a URL. If no fixed page numbers are available, you can include a section title or a chapter or other number.

   1. Isabel Wilkerson, The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration (New York: Vintage, 2010), 183–84, Kindle.
   2. Philip B. Kurland and Ralph Lerner, eds., The Founders’ Constitution (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987), chap. 10, doc. 19, accessed October 15, 2011, http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/.
   3. Joseph P. Quinlan, The Last Economic Superpower: The Retreat of Globalization, the End of American Dominance, and What We Can Do about It (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010), 211, accessed December 8, 2012, ProQuest Ebrary.
   4. Wilkerson, Warmth of Other Suns, 401.
   5. Kurland and Lerner, Founders’ Constitution.
   6. Quinlan, Last Economic Superpower, 88.

Wilkerson, Isabel. The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration. New York: Vintage, 2010. Kindle.
Kurland, Philip B., and Ralph Lerner, eds. The Founders’ Constitution. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987. Accessed October 15, 2011. http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/.
Quinlan, Joseph P. The Last Economic Superpower: The Retreat of Globalization, the End of American Dominance, and What We Can Do about It. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. Accessed December 8, 2012. ProQuest Ebrary.

Journal article

In a note, list the specific page numbers consulted, if any. In the bibliography, list the page range for the whole article.

Article in a print journal

   1. Alexandra Bogren, “Gender and Alcohol: The Swedish Press Debate,” Journal of Gender Studies 20, no. 2 (June 2011): 156.
   2. Bogren, “Gender and Alcohol,” 157.

Bogren, Alexandra. “Gender and Alcohol: The Swedish Press Debate.” Journal of Gender Studies 20, no. 2 (June 2011): 155–69.

Article in an online journal

For a journal article consulted online, include an access date and a URL. For articles that include a DOI, form the URL by appending the DOI to http://dx.doi.org/ rather than using the URL in your address bar. The DOI for the article in the Brown example below is 10.1086/660696. If you consulted the article in a library or commercial database, you may give the name of the database instead.

   1. Campbell Brown, “Consequentialize This,” Ethics 121, no. 4 (July 2011): 752, accessed December 1, 2012, http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/660696.
   2. Anastacia Kurylo, “Linsanity: The Construction of (Asian) Identity in an Online New York Knicks Basketball Forum,” China Media Research 8, no. 4 (October 2012): 16, accessed March 9, 2013, Academic OneFile.
   3. Brown, “Consequentialize This,” 761.
   4. Kurylo, “Linsanity,” 18–19.

Brown, Campbell. “Consequentialize This.” Ethics 121, no. 4 (July 2011): 749–71. Accessed December 1, 2012. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/660696.
Kurylo, Anastacia. “Linsanity: The Construction of (Asian) Identity in an Online New York Knicks Basketball Forum.” China Media Research 8, no. 4 (October 2012): 15–28. Accessed March 9, 2013. Academic OneFile.

Magazine article

   1. Jill Lepore, “Dickens in Eden,” New Yorker, August 29, 2011, 52.
   2. Lepore, “Dickens in Eden,” 54–55.

Lepore, Jill. “Dickens in Eden.” New Yorker, August 29, 2011.

Newspaper article

Newspaper articles may be cited in running text (“As Elisabeth Bumiller and Thom Shanker noted in a New York Times article on January 23, 2013, . . .”) instead of in a note, and they are commonly omitted from a bibliography. The following examples show the more formal versions of the citations.

   1. Elisabeth Bumiller and Thom Shanker, “Pentagon Lifts Ban on Women in Combat,” New York Times, January 23, 2013, accessed January 24, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/24/us/pentagon-says-it-is-lifting-ban-on-women-in-combat.html.
   2. Bumiller and Shanker, “Pentagon Lifts Ban.”

Bumiller, Elisabeth, and Thom Shanker. “Pentagon Lifts Ban on Women in Combat.” New York Times, January 23, 2013. Accessed January 24, 2013. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/24/us/pentagon-says-it-is-lifting-ban-on-women-in-combat.html.

Book review

   1. Joel Mokyr, review of Natural Experiments of History, ed. Jared Diamond and James A. Robinson, American Historical Review 116, no. 3 (June 2011): 754, accessed December 9, 2011, http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/ahr.116.3.752.
   2. Mokyr, review of Natural Experiments of History,752.

Mokyr, Joel. Review of Natural Experiments of History, edited by Jared Diamond and James A. Robinson. American Historical Review 116, no. 3 (June 2011): 752–55. Accessed December 9, 2011. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/ahr.116.3.752.

Thesis or dissertation

   1. Dana S. Levin, “Let’s Talk about Sex . . . Education: Exploring Youth Perspectives, Implicit Messages, and Unexamined Implications of Sex Education in Schools” (PhD diss., University of Michigan, 2010), 101–2.
   2. Levin, “Let’s Talk about Sex,” 98.

Levin, Dana S. “Let’s Talk about Sex . . . Education: Exploring Youth Perspectives, Implicit Messages, and Unexamined Implications of Sex Education in Schools.” PhD diss., University of Michigan, 2010.

Paper presented at a meeting or conference

   1. Rachel Adelman, “ ‘Such Stuff as Dreams Are Made On’: God’s Footstool in the Aramaic Targumim and Midrashic Tradition” (paper presented at the annual meeting for the Society of Biblical Literature, New Orleans, Louisiana, November 21–24, 2009).
   2. Adelman, “Such Stuff as Dreams.”

Adelman, Rachel. “ ‘Such Stuff as Dreams Are Made On’: God’s Footstool in the Aramaic Targumim and Midrashic Tradition.” Paper presented at the annual meeting for the Society of Biblical Literature, New Orleans, Louisiana, November 21–24, 2009.

Website

A citation to website content can often be limited to a mention in the text or in a note (“As of July 27, 2012, Google’s privacy policy had been updated to include . . .”). If a more formal citation is desired, it may be styled as in the examples below. Because such content is subject to change, include an access date and, if available, a date that the site was last modified.

   1. “Privacy Policy,” Google Policies & Principles, last modified July 27, 2012, accessed January 3, 2013, http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/.
   2. Google, “Privacy Policy.”

Google. “Privacy Policy.” Google Policies & Principles. Last modified July 27, 2012. Accessed January 3, 2013. http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/.

Blog entry or comment

Blog entries or comments may be cited in running text (“In a comment posted to The Becker-Posner Blog on February 16, 2012, . . .”) instead of in a note, and they are commonly omitted from a bibliography. The following examples show the more formal versions of the citations.

   1. Gary Becker, “Is Capitalism in Crisis?,” The Becker-Posner Blog, February 12, 2012, accessed February 16, 2012, http://www.becker-posner-blog.com/2012/02/is-capitalism-in-crisis-becker.html.
   2. Becker, “Is Capitalism in Crisis?”

Becker, Gary. “Is Capitalism in Crisis?” The Becker-Posner Blog, February 12, 2012. Accessed February 16, 2012. http://www.becker-posner-blog.com/2012/02/is-capitalism-in-crisis-becker.html.

E-mail or text message

E-mail and text messages may be cited in running text (“In a text message to the author on July 21, 2012, John Doe revealed . . .”) instead of in a note, and they are rarely listed in a bibliography. The following example shows the more formal version of a note.

   1. John Doe, e-mail message to author, July 21, 2012.

Comment posted on a social networking service

Like e-mail and text messages, comments posted on a social networking service may be cited in running text (“In a message posted to her Twitter account on August 25, 2011, . . .”) instead of in a note, and they are rarely listed in a bibliography. The following example shows the more formal version of a note.

   1. Sarah Palin, Twitter post, August 25, 2011 (10:23 p.m.), accessed September 4, 2011, http://twitter.com/sarahpalinusa.