Chicago Style

This is Unit Twenty-Seven of College Composition. Unit Twenty-Six taught APA and compared it with MLA. This unit teaches the third style, Chicago, used in history, religion, the fine arts and business. Carry one idea through this lecture. In Chicago's notes-and-bibliography system, a note and a bibliography entry for the same source hold similar information arranged and punctuated differently, and that difference is the system's main trap. A worked example near the end recognizes a style from a single citation. By the end you will be able to explain Chicago's two systems. To write first notes, shortened notes and a bibliography. To cite books, articles and web pages. And to tell the three styles apart.

Two entries on Chicago's disciplines and its two systems.

History, religion, arts, business.

CMP 0651 Chicago's Purpose and Disciplines

Chicago style, from the Chicago Manual of Style, is used for documentation in history, religion, the fine arts and business. For student papers, the Chicago system is presented in Kate Turabian's manual for writers of research papers, which follows the Chicago Manual. Ask your instructor which Chicago format to use, since Chicago offers two.

Two systems.

CMP 0652 Two Chicago Systems

Chicago offers two documentation systems: notes and bibliography, and author-date. Notes and bibliography, common in literature, art and history, uses numbered notes; author-date, mostly used in the sciences, puts the author and year in parentheses in the text. This course teaches notes and bibliography, the system most associated with Chicago in the humanities.

Five entries on notes: the system, footnotes and endnotes, the first note, shortened notes, and numbering.

Numbers and notes.

CMP 0653 Notes and Bibliography

In notes and bibliography, a raised number marks each borrowed passage and points to a note; a bibliography lists all sources at the end. The note gives that passage's source details; the bibliography gives every source in full, alphabetically. Notes and bibliography entries for the same source are formatted differently, which is the system's main trap.

Bottom of the page, or the end.

CMP 0654 Footnotes and Endnotes

Chicago notes can be footnotes, at the bottom of the page, or endnotes, gathered at the end of the paper. The raised numeral in the text goes after the punctuation of the passage it marks, and the matching note begins with the same number. Use one kind of note consistently throughout a paper, as your instructor directs.

Full details first.

CMP 0655 The First Note

A source's first note gives full details: the author's name in normal order, the title, publication facts in parentheses, and the page. For a book: first and last name, italicized title, publisher and year in parentheses, then the page. Commas separate the parts of a note, unlike the periods of a bibliography entry.

Later references.

CMP 0656 Shortened Notes

Later notes for the same source are shortened to the author's last name, a short title, and the page. A second reference to a book gives the last name, a few key words of the title, and the new page. Shortened notes depend on the full note appearing earlier; never shorten the first citation of a source.

Consecutive numbers.

CMP 0657 Numbering Notes

Chicago notes are numbered consecutively in the order they appear in the paper, starting with one. Each new citation gets the next number, even if it cites a source already cited; the note itself is then the shortened form. Do not reuse a number for a repeated source; every citation point gets its own new number.

Six entries on the bibliography, how notes and entries differ, books, articles, web pages, and paper format.

Every source, alphabetized.

CMP 0658 The Bibliography

The Chicago bibliography lists every source on a separate page at the end, alphabetized by the authors' last names. A source with no author is alphabetized by the first main word of its title, ignoring a, an and the. The bibliography is what readers use to find sources; it must include every work cited in the notes.

One source, two forms.

CMP 0659 Note Versus Bibliography Entry

A Chicago note and a bibliography entry for the same source differ in five ways. The note gives the author's name first name first; the bibliography inverts it for alphabetizing. The note separates parts with commas; the bibliography with periods. The note puts publisher and year in parentheses; the bibliography sets them off with periods. The note gives the page cited; the bibliography gives no page for a book and the full range for an article. Notes are numbered; bibliography entries are not, and they use a hanging indent. Copying a note into the bibliography unchanged is the commonest Chicago error.

A book, three ways.

CMP 0660 A Book in Chicago

A Chicago book citation has three forms. The full note gives the author's first and last name, the italicized title, the publisher and year in parentheses, and the page. The shortened note gives the last name, a short title and the page. The bibliography entry gives last name, first name, the title, then publisher and year, each part ending with a period. For books published after nineteen hundred, the current edition no longer requires the place of publication. Two authors are joined by and, with only the first name inverted in the bibliography; check the current manual for many authors.

An article, three ways.

CMP 0661 An Article in Chicago

A Chicago journal-article citation adds the article title in quotation marks and the journal's volume, issue and year. The full note gives the author's name, the article title with a comma inside the quotation marks, the italicized journal, the volume, n o and the issue, the year in parentheses, a colon, and the page cited. The shortened note gives the last name, a short title and the page. The bibliography inverts the name and gives the article's full page range. The note cites only the pages you used, the bibliography the full range; mixing them up is a frequent error.

A web page.

CMP 0662 A Web Page in Chicago

A Chicago web page citation gives the author if known, the page title in quotation marks, the site name, the date last modified, and the URL. The note uses normal name order and commas; the bibliography inverts the name and uses periods. If no modification date is shown, use the date you accessed the page.

Turabian's format.

CMP 0663 Chicago Paper Format

Student papers in Chicago style follow Turabian's format, which usually includes a title page. The title appears about a third of the way down the title page, with the writer's name, class and date lower on the page; the title page itself is not numbered. Instructors often adjust the format; follow their requirements first.

Three entries on comparing the three styles, a worked example, and the current manual. The opening idea is paid off at the worked example.

Three ways to credit.

CMP 0664 Three Styles Compared

MLA, APA and Chicago all credit sources, but each signals them differently. In the text, MLA gives the author and page in parentheses, APA the author and year with a page when available, and Chicago notes a raised number. The lists are titled Works Cited, References and Bibliography. MLA and Chicago bibliographies give full first names; APA gives initials. APA puts the date right after the author; MLA and Chicago put it near the end. MLA serves languages and literature, APA the social sciences, Chicago notes history and the arts. A raised number points to Chicago; a year after the author points to APA.

Four citations, one book.

CMP 0665 Recognizing a Style From a Citation

A worked example, constructed for this course, pays off the opening idea. Four citations name the same book by Lena Ortiz. A parenthetical citation with her name and a page only is MLA. One with her name, the year and p before the page is APA. A raised numeral pointing to a note with her name in normal order and the publication facts in parentheses is Chicago notes. A list entry with an initial, the year in parentheses after the name, and a sentence-case title is an APA reference. Do not decide by one feature: MLA and Chicago bibliographies both give full first names, so check the date's position and punctuation too.

Editions change.

CMP 0666 Check the Current Manual

The Chicago Manual of Style is revised periodically, and recent editions changed details such as listing a book's place of publication. The notes-and-bibliography pattern is stable, but check details such as how many authors to list. When your instructor's requirements differ from the manual, follow your instructor.

Look at what you can now do. You can explain where Chicago is used and its two systems, notes and bibliography, and author-date. You can use footnotes or endnotes, write a full first note and shortened later notes, and number every citation in order. You can build a bibliography, rearranging and repunctuating each note's information, for books, articles and web pages, and format a Turabian paper. And you can compare MLA, APA and Chicago, and recognize a style from a single citation. That completes the sources block. Unit Twenty-Eight begins rhetorical analysis, with the appeals.