Frequently Asked Questions

Citing Sources in a Note/Bibliography - Turabian Style

Kate L. Turabian's A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations provides guidance for undergraduate and graduate students in the preparation of scholarly research. "Turabian" is now in its 7th edition, published in 2007. A copy is kept for your convenience at the McFarlin Library Reference Desk.  It may not be checked out, but should be used in the library.

Below is a brief guide to the most frequently used entries. Turabian permits the use of two different forms of citation: the traditional note/bibliography preferred by the humanities and the author-date/reference list favored by the social and natural sciences. This guide shows the former.  Please click here for information on the author-date/reference list style.  Consult the Manual if you need additional help.

Turabian allows the use of either footnotes (which appear at the bottom of each page) or endnotes (which appear at the end of the paper, following the text but preceding the bibliography).  Check with your department or your professor to see which you should use.

In the examples below, the footnote is given first with the bibliographic entry below.  The footnote examples represent the first reference to a work, which should include the full reference.  Subsequent references to the work may be cited in a shortened form.  If the subsequent reference immediately follows the first, use the Latin abbreviation ibid. (from ibidem meaning "in the same place") and the page number: Ibid., 103.  Otherwise cite later references using the author's name, a short form of the title and the page number: DeSantis, Modern America, 103.  Much more information, help, and examples may be found in the Manual.

See important notes at the bottom of the page.

*Published in 1996, the 6th edition of Turabian does not cover online sources of information, other than ERIC documents and technical reports. This sample citation is based upon other the requirements of other style guides and Turabian's own description (p. 158-159, 210) of the form electronic citations should take.  Be sure and check to see if your professor has another format for citing online sources.

NOTES:

Authors:

• In notes the author's name appears in normal order. Reverse the author's name (i.e., last name, comma, first name) in the bibliography.
• In notes, cite the names of all authors up to three.  If there are more than three authors, cite only the name of the first author listed followed by "et al." or "and others".
• In bibliographies, reverse only the name of the first author listed. Give the names of subsequent authors in normal order.  Give the names of authors in the order in which they appear in the source.

Publication Date:

• If no date is available, write n.d. in place of the year.

Titles:

• In notes, capitalize headline style (i.e., all words except articles, prepositions or conjunctions, unless they are the first or last words in the title).
• Separate a title from a subtitle with a colon and a space.
• In notes, the titles of books and journals should always be underlined or italicized. Chapter and article titles should be enclosed in "quotation marks".

Place of Publication:

• Abbreviate the names of U.S. states and territories using either the traditional format (e.g. Okla.) or the official two-letter U.S. Postal Service codes (e.g. OK).

Page References:

• In notes, refer to pages by number alone.  Don't use the abbreviation p. or pp. unless its absence would cause confusion.