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Citation & Formatting Help

No page numbers

If an ebook or webpage do not have page numbers, you may use a chapter number or section heading instead (Chicago 14.160, Turabian 17.1.10, Society of Biblical Literature 6.2.25).

Footnote example: 1. Adam Begley, Updike (New York: Harper, 2014), chap. 2, iBooks.

Parenthetical example: (Begley 2014, ch. 2).

No date

If you cannot find a date for the work, you may use the abbreviation n.d. in place of the year. Or you may include a guessed-at date with brackets and a question mark [1750?] (Chicago 14.145, Turabian 17.1.6.3).

Footnote examples: Boston, n.d. or Edinburgh, [1750?]

Parenthetical examples: (Nano, n.d.) or (Nano [1750?])

No author

If a publication has no author but was issued by an organization, use the organization as the author (Chicago 14.84, Turabian 17.1.1.3).

If there is no author at all, begin the citation with the title instead (Chicago 14.79, Turabian 17.1.1.5).

Footnote example: 2. Stanze in lode della donna brutta (Florence, 1547).

Bible citation

According to SBL student supplement 1.2:

"Citations of modern Bible versions do not require publisher’s information in either footnotes or bibliography; instead, use the standard abbreviation for the Bible version (e.g., NIV, ESV, RSV, KJV, NASB; see SBL Handbook 8.2). If citing scripture from a single version, include the abbreviation of the version following the chapter and verse on the first scripture reference only. When citing more than one version in a paper, include the version after each citation."
Example: “Now Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria” (2 Kgs 10:1 NRSV).

See SBL's list of abbreviations for books of the Bible.

Personal interviews

For footnote style (Humanities Notes-Bibliography style), include information about interviews only in notes. Include an interview in your bibliography only if it is critical to your argument or frequently cited. (Chicago 14.211, Turabian 17.6.1)

Example footnote: 1. David Shields, interview by author, Seattle, July 22, 2016.

For parenthetical style (Social Science Author-Date style), use the name of the person interviewed in the parenthetical reference, and include it in the reference list (Turabian 19.6.1).

Example: (Shields 2016)

Shields, David. 2016. Interview by author. Seattle. July 22, 2016.

Text cites another author

If you want to quote a source that is quoted in the source you read, you should usually try to find the original source. If you can't obtain the original source, cite both the orginal and the work you read in the footnote (Chicago 14.260).

Footnote example: 1. Louis Zukofsky, “Sincerity and Objectification,” Poetry 37 (February 1931): 269, quoted in Bonnie Costello, Marianne Moore: Imaginary Possessions (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1981), 78.

For parenthetical style, in the text mention the original author and date, and then cite the source you read in the reference list (Chicago 15.56).

Parenthetical example: In Louis Zukofsky’s “Sincerity and Objectification,” from the February 1931 issue of Poetry magazine (quoted in Costello 1981)...

Reference list: Costello, Bonnie. 1981. Marianne Moore: Imaginary Possessions. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Differences between styles

The Chicago Manual of Style was originally created by the University of Chicago Press as a guide for publishing requirements.

Kate Turabian's A Manual for Writers was based on the Chicago Manual but intended for student papers rather than publishing. It has a few minor differences, but it generally follows the same citation formats as the Chicago Manual ("History of Kate Turabian's a Manual for Writers"). 

For some formatting decisions, Turabian refers students to their university's style guide. The TIU style guide thus fills in the gaps about local requirements, such as the layout of the title page, page number formatting, etc.

The SBL Handbook of Style was created by the Society of Biblical LIterature as a supplement to the Chicago Manual for biblical studies. It includes unique specifications for biblical research, such as citing ancient texts and abbreviations for major sources (Society of Biblical Literature 2014, 15).

Manuals cited

Society of Biblical Literature. The SBL Handbook of Style: For Biblical Studies and Related Disciplines. 2nd ed. Atlanta, GA: SBL Press, 2014.

Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations: Chicago Style for Students and Researchers. 9th ed. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2018.

University of Chicago Press. The Chicago Manual of Style. 17th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017.