Chicago Style & Usage 
 | The Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) is the standard reference to American English usage. The CMS was wonderfully revised in 2003, leaving behind the stuffy scholarly language of earlier editions to achieve great clarity and conciseness. It retails for $55, but is heavily discounted at amazon.com with free shipping and no taxes (Hardcover $38.50/$55 Retail).
Kate Turabians's Manual for Writer's (7th edition, 2007) is all new. It features a guide to research for beginners (130 pp.), five chapters on formatting footnotes and references (55 source types), and a section on style--rules for numbers, quotations, tables and figures, and so on. There is minimal direction how to format papers (Paperback $11.56/$17 Retail). |  |
Dictionaries. "For general matters of spelling, Chicago recommends using
Webster's Third New International Dictionary and its chief abridgment
Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary . . . in its latest edition.. If more than one spelling is given, or more than one form of the plural . . ., Chicago normally opts for the first form listed, thus aiding consistency. If, as occasionally happens, the
Collegiate disagrees with the
Third International, the
Collegiate should be followed, since it represents the latest lexical research" (CMS 2003, 278).
Abbreviations
Abbreviations--other than acronyms/initialisms--are rarely used in the text, other than in tables, figure captions, in notes and references, or within parentheses. Follow these general rules:
- Beginning a sentence. Never begin a sentence with a lowercase abbreviation. Begin a sentence with an acronym only if there is no reasonable way to rewrite it.
- Traditional forms. A number of traditional honorifics and initials continue to be used, such as Mr., Mrs., Ms., Dr., A.M., Inc., Ltd., and J. S. Bach, E. E. Cummings, C. S. Lewis.
- Scholarly abbreviations. Abbreviations such as etc., e.g., and i.e. may only be used in parenthetical comments injected into your text. For example—“various authorities support this rule (e.g., the Chicago Manual of Style and the APA Publication Manual).” They are not used outside parentheses; spell them out Instead. Fore.g. (exempli gratia) use for example; for etc. (et cetera) use and so forth, for i.e. (id est) use that is.
“Abbreviations should be used only in contexts where they are clear to readers. . . . Writers and editors should monitor the number of different abbreviations used in a document; readers trying to keep track of a large number of abbreviations, especially unfamiliar ones, will lose their way” (CMS 2003, 558).
Acronyms/Initialisms. When first used in the text, an acronym must be introduced. This is done by placing the acronym--or its source phrase--in parentheses, and thereafter using just the acronym.
- The American Sociological Association (ASA) publishes several journals. The ASA also publishes a newsletter.
- The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia) monitors the nation for emerging infectious diseases. A special notification system was established by the CDC after the hantavirus outbreak in 1993.
- Plurals. Write the plural form of an acronym without an apostrophe. For example, write “the Master of Business Administration (MBA) program is popular at the university because MBAs command high starting salaries.”
Geographical Terms: Places & States. “Within the text, spell out the names of countries, states, counties, provinces, territories, bodies of water, mountains, and the like” (Turabian 1996, 19). “In running text, the names of states, territories, possessions, [Canadian provinces and territories, and foreign countries] should always be spelled out” (CMS 2003, 566).
- Prefixes. Most prefixes to places, such as Fort, North, Port, South, are spelled out in the text; as are suffixes such as Peak or Fork. Write: North Platte, Fort Collins, Port Huron, South Bend, Long’s Peak.
- Postal Abbreviations. Use postal and other abbreviations for place names in references and notes. But spell out these, and other address abbreviations, in the text. Write: Martin Luther King Boulevard (not Martin Luther King Blvd.) William Bruce Randolf III Avenue (not W. B. Randolf Ave.), Monaco Parkway (not Monaco Pkwy.)
- Adjectives. The abbreviation “U.S.” or “US” may be used as an adjective in running text, but not as a noun. Either form is acceptable, but be consistent throughout your text.
“Abbreviations fully acceptable on envelopes and mailing labels should rarely be used in addresses in running text” (CMS 2003, 569).
Capitalization
Definitions. Capitalization may follow three forms:
full caps, heading caps, or
sentence caps. Full caps capitalizes every character of every word. These are used only in major headings. Headline or heading caps capitalize the first character of each word, subject to exceptions listed below.
Heading caps capitalize “the first and last words and all nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and subordinating conjunctions” (
CMS 1993, 282). Also capitalize the first character after a colon in a title or heading. Otherwise,
do not capitalize:
- Articles: a, an, the.
- Prepositions, including: against, between, in, of.
- Conjunctions: and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet.
- Infinitive: to.
Sentence caps capitalize the first word of a title or heading, the first word after a colon, and proper nouns.
Books and Articles. Titles of books and the names of journals always use heading caps in the text, titles of articles and documents generally do so too, and are placed in quotes.
Foreign titles. “The University of Chicago Press recommends following a simple rule: In any language but English capitalize only the words that would be capitalized in normal prose. For all the languages in question [all major European languages] this means capitalizing the first word of the title and of the subtitle and all proper nouns [sentence caps]” (
CMS, 1993, 320).
Ethnic/Racial Groups. Generally the names of ethnic or racial groups are capitalized if they represent a geographical region or language group. For example, Hispanic, Asian, African American, Appalachian. The
Chicago Manual of Style has additional examples (1993, 246-47).
- Generic terms. ”Designations based only on color, size, habitat, customs, or local usage are often lower cased” (CMS 1993, 247).
- White & Black. It is appropriate to capitalize White and Black when referring to the American racial groups. “The term Black is now often capitalized as the widely accepted name of the dark-skinned group or groups of people originating in Africa” (CMS 1993, 247). As always, be consistent. Other color terms may have disparaging connotations: red, yellow, brown. Do not use these terms.
- Compound ethnics. Do not hyphenate compound nationalities and ethnic or regional terms: African American, Anglo German, Middle Eastern.
Geographical Names. Capitalize place names when these terms are accepted as proper nouns. When a name applies to a well-recognized specific place, it should be capitalized as a proper noun.
- Geographical terms. Lowercase ” terms for abstract geographical measures, such as equator, equatorial Africa, prime meridian, tropic of Cancer, west, east, south, north’ (CMS 1993, 247).
- Regions. Capitalize Central America, but not central Europe, or central Asia. Capitalize North Africa, West Africa, and East Africa, but not western, eastern, central, or southern Africa. Capitalize Midwest, West, South or Southwest, but generally write westerner, midwesterner, southerner.
- Compounds. “When a capitalized geographical term comprising more than one word is used as an adjective before a noun, the term should not be hyphenated, since there is no risk of misreading: Middle Eastern journey, North Atlantic fog, . . . , Gulf of Mexico oil spill” (CMS 1993, 248).
Internet Terminology. Usage in this area is frozen by the
CMS publication cycle. Be consistent!
- e-mail [email]. The hyphenated form is found in the AMA, APA, CMS, and MLA style manuals!
- Web page [Web site]. “Web” is a proper noun in these terms (AMA, APA, CMS, MLA agree).
- webmaster, web. . . Most other Web terms are spelled lowercased and closed (without a hyphen): webcam, webcast, webhead, webmail, webzine, etc. Some terms may be spelled open and Web capitalized in formal writing— Web cam, Web cast, Web mail, Web TV.
Compound Words
Compound words are two or more words that work together in a specified order. This order cannot be reversed or rearranged without destroying the compound word’s meaning. A dictionary is the best guide to spelling and usage. If it is not in the dictionary it is not likely a hyphenated compound.
Full-time compound words are hyphenated whatever their role in a sentence—as an adjective or a noun. “The court-martial hearing is set for 1000 hours. The hearing will determine whether a court-martial is warranted.”
Court-martial is a full-time compound word (as is “full-time”). Consult a dictionary.
Conditional compounds are hyphenated as
adjectives, but not when used as nouns.
- Adjectival compound. “The counselor suggested a role-playing technique to reduce the stress of encounters, but cautioned that role playing alone would not solve the problem.” Role playing is a compound adjective, but not a compound noun.
- Add a hyphen to any prefix attached to a proper noun, capitalized abbreviation, or number. For example, the post-Freudian era, the pre-1960s civil rights movement, the pro-HMO lobby.
- Fractions. “When . . . a fraction is considered a single quantity, it is hyphenated [whether it is used as a noun or as an adjective]. (CMS 2003, 383). One-fourth the audience was comprised of former refugees. A two-thirds majority was required to pass the initiative.
- Made-up compound. A compound may be of the made-up-for-the-occasion variety: “The up-to-date figures were unadjusted.” But when these terms are used in the predicate they are not hyphenated: The compound word was made up for the occasion. “The unadjusted figures were up to date.”
- Serial compounds. When two or more compound modifiers have a common base, this base is sometimes omitted in all but the last modifier, but the hyphens are retained. Long- and short-term memory, 2-, 3-, and 10-min trials.
- Do not hyphenate a compound term using an adverb ending in -ly. “The widely used term was not yet in the dictionary. Such clearly understood terms are eventually documented if they endure.”
Avoid confusion! A
re-creation is not the same as
recreation. A
fast sailing ship is one designed for speed. A
fast-sailing ship is one that made a fast passage (
CMS1993, 203).
Prefixes. Most common prefixes do not require a hyphen:
aftereffect, antifreeze, cofounder, Internet, microwave, oversight, preempt, reexamine, supermarket, unbiased, underground. There are many exceptions. When in doubt check a dictionary. Note the following exceptions:
- Same two letters. If the prefix puts the same two letters together, a hyphen is sometimes inserted. For example, write: anti-industrial, co-op, non-native, post-trial. But also write: cooperative, coordinate, nonnegotiable, overrate, overreach, overrule, reelect, unnamed.
- Superlatives-diminutives. Some prefixes, best-, better-, ill-, lesser-, little-, well-, are hyphenated when they precede the noun they modify, but are not hyphenated when preceded by a modifier, or when used as a predicate adjective. The ill-advised attack failed, the strategy was ill advised.
- Weird terms. If the prefix creates an unfamiliar or weird term, a hyphen may improve clarity, for example, pro-ally, anti-college instead of proally, anticollege.
The following prefixes always require a hyphen:
Emphasis: Italics & Quotation Marks
Italics and quotation marks are used in the text to highlight words, note and translate words in a language foreign to a reader, indicate irony (scare quotes), or mark words and letters that are referred to as words, not to the meaning they convey.
Special formatting is appropriate only the first time it is applied to a word a phrase. Thereafter, the word or phrase is presented in plain text unless clarity demands the continued use of italics.
Italics. “Good writers use italics for emphasis only as an occasional adjunct to efficient sentence structure. Overused, italics quickly lose their force. Seldom should as much as a sentence be italicized for emphasis, and never a whole passage” (
CMS 2003, 290).
Add italics to a word or phrase only the first time it is used, thereafter use plain text.- Keywords. Emphasize a keyword or phrase in your text by placing it in italics. The next time the term or phrase is used it should be in plain text.
- Titles. The titles of books and the names of periodicals in your text and references.
- Words as words. Words and letters that are referred to as words or letters are set in italics . For example, "the term American Indian is inclusive of over 500 ethnic communities."
- Foreign terms. Non-English words or terms used in your text are set in italics. For example, "Ya-te-hay is a form of greeting in the Diné (Navajo) language." This practice excludes those words that have become incorporated in the English language, such as laissez-faire, or arroyo.
Quotation marks. Use quotation marks other than for quotes only in the following circumstances:
- "Place quotation marks around a word or phrase given in a special sense or purposefully misused" (Gibaldi 91). For example, The Population Council criticized the "outrageous" position of the Church on birth control. Chicago calls these “scare quotes.”
- Use quotation marks to enclose a translation of a non-English term in your text. Addis Ababa, the name of the capital of Ethiopia, is literally translated "new flower."
Within quotations. Emphasis may be added to a word or phrase in a quotation by placing it in italics. When this is done the note [emphasis added] or [italics added] must be inserted in brackets at the end of the quotation (within the quotation marks), or if the emphasis comes at the end of the sentence, in parentheses outside the quotation marks.
Numbers
“Among the factors governing the choice between spelling out numbers and using numerals are whether the number is large or small, whether it is an approximation or an exact quantity, what kind of entity it stands for, and what context it appears in” (
CMS 2003, 380). Precise measurements are always presented as numerals.
In nontechnical contexts, the following are spelled out: whole numbers from one through one hundred, round numbers, and any number beginning a sentence. For other numbers, numerals are used” (CMS 2003, 380).
- Round numbers. By virtue of their rounding, these numbers are imprecise. They are written out. For example, write “The federal deficit was increased by two hundred billion dollars,” or “San Francisco is about twelve hundred miles from Denver.” But also write, “The race followed a straight course from Denver to San Francisco, a distance of 1,255.6 miles.”
- Beginning a sentence. When numbers or a date are required to open a sentence, write them out. For example: “One hundred five girls and sixteen boys tried out for the varsity soccer team.” If you can, rewrite the sentence so it does not begin with a number.
- Mixed numbers? Do not mix numerals with written numbers when they refer to similar things. For example, write “Only 10 of the 150 tourists were willing to visit the city after the riot.” Do not write, “Only ten of the 150 tourists . . .”
- Mixed sets of numbers. Sometimes two sets of numbers are embedded in a single sentence. For clarity, present one set written out, the other as numerals. For example, write “There were eighty-three contestants who dropped out before covering 50 miles, and one hundred thirty-five before covering 250 miles.”
- Numbers & units. Generally, do not mix numbers that are spelled out with symbols, write out the term for the symbols as well. For example, write: the temperature was 45 º, or forty-five degrees; $20 or twenty dollars. Chicago style makes an exception for percentages: it is OK to write 45 percent.
- Compound numbers. Hyphenate compound numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine, compounds with a number as the first element, and the written form of fractions.
- Ordinal numbers. Follow the general rules as for other numbers. For example, write: “The window for applications was the third to twenty-third of August.” But use numerals with ordinal numbers above one hundred. For example, write: “Haile Sellassie I was the 225th Emperor of Ethiopia.”
- Centuries. Write out references to centuries, the eighteenth century, the twenty-first century, in lower cased letters.
Revolution! New date format. Chicago now recommends using the standard American format-- Month Day, Year (e.g., April 1, 2004)--for all full dates, both in the text and in end/footnotes, references, and bibliographies (see CMS 2003, sec. 6.46). Prior to this edition, dates in references and notes were to be in universal or European format, Day Month Year (e.g., 21 August 2001). This rule has been superseded.
Quotations
Quotations must be placed in quotation marks or indented as a block quote. All quotations must include a citation, a note or parenthetical citation, referring the reader to the source document. As a matter of form quotations should flow with your text, and may be edited to do so.
“It is impossible to overemphasize the importance of meticulous accuracy in quoting from the works of others” (
CMS 2003, 445). Some changes are permitted:
- Added words. Brackets are required to indicate material or emphasis added to a quote. For example: “They [the Irish Republican Army] initiated a cease fire.”
- Added emphasis. Italics may be used to add emphasis to words or phrases within a quotation, or to the entire quotation. This is indicated by (1) adding a note immediately after the change in brackets, or (2) by appending a note to the end of the quote in parentheses. For example, write: “He claimed [emphasis added] he was innocent” or write: “He claimed he was innocent” (emphasis added).
- Foreign language. “If you quote material in a foreign [sic] language, you must reproduce all accents and other marks exactly as they appear in the original (école, pietà , tête, leçon, Fähre, año)” (Gibaldi 2003, 80).
- Citation in original. If you quote material that contains a citation to another work, Chicago style now allows you to ignore the citation.
Correct Errors. For an unusual word choice, concept, term, or spelling it may be appropriate to emphasize the original is being quoted faithfully. This is done by inserting the Latin term sic (thus), in italics or underlined, and in brackets within the quotation (but in parentheses at the end of a quote), immediately following the term.
For example, write: “The ship struck an iceberg and floundered
[sic], with the loss of all on board.” Or write: “The ship struck an iceberg and floundered”
(sic). Note, to
flounder is to thrash about wildly. To
founder is to fill with water and sink.
“A verbally accurate quotation that contains minor factual or grammatical errors . . . does a disservice to readers and embarrasses the publisher. [Writers] who notice an error in a passage they wish to quote should paraphrase the original, eliminating the error” (CMS 2003, 445).
Block Quotations. Longer quotations are formatted as block quotes. Block quotes are continuously indented from the left margin the same distance as a paragraph indent. They are required with longer quotations, although what constitutes “longer” varies widely.
- The Chicago manual advises that quotes of “a hundred words or more--or at least eight lines--are set off as a block quotation” (CMS 2003, 447).
- The Turabian Manual requires you to "present a prose quotation of five lines or more as a block quotation," and that you "single-space a block quotation, and leave a blank line before and after it" (2007, 350).
- The MLA Handbook advises using block quotes when the quotation runs to “more than four lines in your paper” (Gibaldi 1999, 81).
- The APA Publication Manual instructs writers to “display a quotation of more than 40 words in a free-standing block of typewritten lines and omit the quotation marks” (1994, 95).
The Chicago manual also advises that “where quotations are being compared or otherwise used as entities in themselves, it may be better to set them all as block quotations, however short” (2003, 447).
Permitted Changes to Quotations. “Although in a direct quotation the wording, spelling, capitalization, and internal punctuation of the original should be reproduced exactly, the following changes are generally permissible . . . “ (CMS 2003, 447):
- Quotation marks. Double quotes can be changed to single quotes, and vice versa, for merging the quote with the rest of the text.
- Initial capital. If a capital letter begins a quote in the original, that letter should be changed to lowercase when run-in to your text, and vices versa (capitalize the first letter if the quote begins a sentence in your text, but is lowercased in the original). If it is essential to alert the reader to this change (e.g., to help them find the original quote), place the altered letter in brackets.
- Punctuation. The final period in a quote may be changed to a comma (and vice versa) to merge with your text.
- References in quotes. Chicago style allow reference citations in a quote to be omitted. And, in Chicago style, notes or references may be inserted into a quote. Most research styles do not allow this.
- Typographic errors. Obvious typographical errors should be corrected, although archaic spellings in older works should generally be preserved unless it is made clear to the reader that the spelling has been updated.
- Emphasis in original. If there are italics or bold font already in the original text for emphasis, then a note should added to let the reader know the quote is faithful[emphasis in original] to the original.
Editing Quotations. Three
ellipsis points (periods with a single space before, between, and after each period) indicate material has been omitted within a sentence or at the end of a sentence. “The three-dot method is appropriate for most general works and many scholarly ones. . . Where necessary for fidelity to the original and ease of reading, these three may be preceded or followed--depending on where the omission occurs--by a comma, a semicolon, a question mark, or an exclamation point” (CMS 2003, 459).
For example, if the original text reads: “Man’s capacities have never been measured; nor are we to judge of what he can do by any precedents, so little has been tried” (Thoreau 1979, 11), to assure clarity it may be edited to read:
- Original punctuation retained (semicolon) and deleted (comma before so). The punctuation in the original, if any, is retained in the quote. “Man’s capacities have never been measured; . . . so little has been tried” (Thoreau 1979, 11).
- Original punctuation retained. “If other punctuation occurs immediately before a word that is preceded by ellipsis points, that punctuation mark is placed before the word, with the usual intervening space” (Turabian 1996, 80). “Man’s capacities have never been measured; nor are we to judge of what he can do . . . , so little has been tried” (Thoreau 1979, 11). The phrase “by any precedents” has been omitted, but the comma after the phrase is retained.
- End of a sentence deleted. When the quoted material ends in a complete sentence as edited it is not necessary to add ellipsis points even if the sentence continues in the original. “Man’s capacities have never been measured; nor are we to judge of what he can do by any precedents” (Thoreau 1993, 11).
Ellipsis not required. “Ellipsis points are normally not used (1) before the first word of a quotation, even if the beginning of the original sentence has been omitted; or (2) after the last word of a quotation, even if the end of the original sentence has been omitted, unless the sentence as quoted [in the original] is deliberately incomplete” (CMS 2003, 459).
Chicago Page Formats 
The
Chicago Manual of Style is focused on book publishing, so it has few instructions to offer for formatting papers. Turabian’s
Manual for Writers is the official guide to applying Chicago style to “term papers, theses, and dissertations.
- Margins. "Nearly all papers in the United States are produced on standard pages of 8½ X 11 inches. Leave a margin of at least one inch on all four edges of the page. For a thesis or dissertation intended to be bound, you may need to leave a larger margin on the left side" (Turabian 2007, 374).
- Fonts. "Choose a . . . typeface designed for text, such as Times Roman or Palatino, and use it throughout. . . . For most papers use at least ten-point and preferably twelve-point type [smaller font for footnotes, table titles, and figure captions]" (Turabian 2007, 374).
- Indents. The standard indent is one-half inch. This applies to all indents: paragraphs, hanging indents in references, and block quotes.
- Paper. A 20 pound or 24 pound, high brightness (80+), paper works best. Avoid or photocopy lighter papers (16 pound or less) and textured papers such as erasable bond.
- Justification. "Set your word processor to left justify (with a 'ragged' right margin), and do not use its automated hyphenation feature" (Turabian 2007, 292). Only regular compound words should be hyphenated. Words hyphenated to wrap lines can be confusing, and are a proscribed by research journals.
- Spacing. “The text should be double-spaced except for block quotations, notes [and references], captions, and long headings [that wrap to two lines], which should be single spaced with a blank space between items” (Turabian 1996, 253). The latter is sometimes called block paragraph spacing.
- Page numbers for each page beginning a major section of a paper (the first text page, bibliography, notes, appendix) are placed at the bottom center of the page three-quarters of an inch from the page edge. Page numbers on other pages go in the upper right corner double spaced above the text.
- Page header. "For a class paper, [you may] include your last name, the date of the paper, or a designation such as 'First Draft'" (Turabian 2007, 376). A short title is a used in other styles .
Title & Text Page
Block paragraph spacing. "The text should be double-spaced except for block quotations, notes [and references], captions, and long headings [that wrap to two lines], which should be single spaced with a blank space between items" (Turabian 1996, 253; Turabian 2007, 375).
The title is placed one-third of the way down the title page. Proportion the author block below it. In the text, the title and major section headings begin a new page just below the top margin. The title page is not numbered, the first text page and first page of other major section are numbered bottom center, 3/4 inch from the bottom of the page (double-spaced below the text). Other pages are numbered at the top right in the margin space. The first text page is page one.
Footnotes
Footnotes must be placed, or at least must begin, on the page where they are referred to [indicated by a superscript numeral in the text]. The text and footnotes are separated by a short rule, or separator. If a footnote runs over to the following page, a separator should be inserted on that page. Each footnote must begin on a new line, indented the same amount as paragraphs in the text. Footnotes are usually single-spaced, with a blank line between notes.1
Either of two styles may be followed in numbering footnotes. The simpler one is to use numerals on the line followed by a period, as in the first example. The older style is to use superscript numerals like footnote numbers in the text, without punctuation.2 The Turabian
Manual no longer uses this format. Be consistent!
1. Kate L. Turabian,
A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 6th ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996), 254-5.
2Kate L. Turabian,
A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 6th ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996), 255.
Footnotes can create a bewildering maze for the reader to unravel. The use of cryptic phrases such as i
bid., idem, op. cit. and
loc. cit. in a footnote refer a reader to a previous citation, anywhere in the text. As a consequence, "avoid all Latin citation terms except one-
-ibid., from
ibidem or "in the same place" (Turabian 2007, 155). Use this
only when citing a page immediately after the first full reference and
only if it falls on the same page as the first full reference. After the first full reference use a shortened reference in subsequent citations.
23. Turabian,
Manual for Writers, 139.
Clarity is required in research writing. Never confuse your reader. Add a bibliography to the paper when using footnotes. This allows the reader to readily find a source.
Headings & Lists
Headings. Three levels of subheadings are shown in the graphic. The main headings--the title, the heading for the endnotes, bibliography, or appendix--are presented in full caps, centered, in a bold font, dropped two inches from the top of the page (one inch below the margin. Subheadings are presented in a bold font, lower levels in italics as well.
Lists (Seriation, Enumeration). Chicago uses the term “lists” to refer to
enumeration, or
seriation. Seriation is the process of (1) listing a series of topics, (2) marked by numbers or letters in parentheses, (3) to delineate subjects that merit individual attention in the text. This paragraph gives an example of a
run-in list in Chicago terminology or
sentence seriation in a more traditional vocabulary.
Paragraph seriation. If each element in the series requires a separate paragraph, or is a complete sentence, these are set flush with the left margin with each paragraph indented and numbered; shorter sentences may be aligned as text blocks to the right of the number. An introductory clause or sentence ending with a colon typically introduces the series:
- This form of seriation is useful in detailing and summarizing an argument, or perhaps the results of a research study.
- Each element in the series may contribute to the general topic with extensive commentary.
- But as a practical matter, this form of seriation is not particularly common in research papers. When the elements require this form of elaboration it is more common to set them under their own subheadings in the text, perhaps following seriation in a transition paragraph under a major heading by way of introduction.
- Lower level run-in heading? The paragraph list format merges into that for the lowest level heading format. The two can readily be combined when a fourth level heading is needed.
“Bullets (heavy dots
. . .) make good visual signposts in unnumbered lists but can lose their force if used too frequently” (CMS 2003, 272).
Bibliography & Tables
A bibliography is a nice touch to add to a paper documented with footnotes. It is a courtisy to the reader to recap your sources on one page and, perhaps, add additional references that were not cited in the text. You may indicate the contents with an appropriate title, such as, "Bibliography and Works Cited."
"A table offers an excellent means of presenting a large number of individual, similar facts so that they are easy to scan and compare. . . . A table should be as simple as the material allows and understandable on its own; even a reader unfamiliar with the material presented should should be able to make general sense of a table. . . . A simple table can give information that would require several paragraphs to present textually, and it can do so more clearly. For excellent advice on table preparation, consult the
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association" (CMS 2003, 496).
Number tables consecutively as they appear in your text. Center tables close in the text where they are first mentioned. If possible insert the table at the end of a paragraph. Do not split tables across two pages. If there is not enough room at the bottom of a page, continue your text and place the table at the top of the next page.
- Each table must have a label beginning with the table number and describing the contents. The label needs to inform the reader what the table presents (coefficients, means, percentages, rates, etc.), the time frame, and the coverage (e.g. United States, Illinois, Cook County, Chicago, South Side).
- Use block paragraph spacing for tables, single spacing within the label (heading), the table, and the notes; double spacing between these blocks.
- Each row and column must have a heading. Subheadings may be used to expand or clarify headings. Chicago style tables may use symbols in column headings, e.g., % or $.
- If the contents of a table are drawn or adapted from a published source, note that as the first footnote to the table. Notes that apply to the table as a whole are not numbered or lettered.
- Add footnotes notes to explain the table contents. These are labeled “a, b, c, etc.”
- The last note at the bottom of the table is reserved for reporting levels of probability. Tradition dictates the use of asterisks to annotate statistics in the table, for example: *p < .05, p < .01, ***p < .001.
The more information is put in a table the harder it is to read. Readers rarely study tables. “An informative table supplements—it does not duplicate—the text” (APA 1994, 84).
Chicago Endnotes & Footnotes
Chicago Notes are arranged in the order cited. Notes are commonly single spaced. To indicate a citation in your text place a superscript number after punctuation, preferably at the end of a sentence, one citation only per sentence. Multiple references may be combined in the endnote or footnote. Do not note or cite headings, subheadings, or titles.
- Authors. Give authors’ and editors’ full names in normal order. If there is no author use the title. List up to three co-authors to a work; four or more the first followed by et al. or and others (CMS 2003, secs. 17.28-17.30). Bibliographies list up to ten authors, then add et al.
- Multiple works by the same author in different notes list the full reference. With a subsequent citation to the same source give the lead author, a short title. and page.
- Titles. All titles require heading capitalization. Titles of journal papers, chapters in edited volumes or anthologies, reports, and newspaper articles are placed within quotes. Titles of books and the names of journals are placed in italics.
- Date. Chicago style now prefers full dates American style, in month day, year format.
- Indent notes like a paragraph or with a full indent like this list.
- Electronic sources are referenced like their print counterparts, with an added URL. Electronic sources on media other than the Internet require a note to that effect. The optional access date is placed in parentheses after the URL See the example in the list below.
Authors - Books - Compilations
One to Three Authors - Reprint 1. Pierre Bourdieu and Jean-Claude Passeron,
Reproduction in Education, Society, and Culture (London: Sage, 1977), 123.
2. Hannah Arendt,
The Human Condition (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1958; reprint, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998), 123.
Diana Hacker,
Research and Documentation in the Electronic Age (Boston: Bedford Books, 1997).
http://www.bedfordbooks.com/ (October 8, 1998).
Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams,
The Craft of Research (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995), 123.
Four to Ten Authors
Howard Schuman and others,
Racial Attitudes in America: Trends and Interpretations, rev. ed. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997).
Corporate Author
Congressional Budget Office,
Changes in Living Arrangements of the Elderly: 1960-2030 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1988).
Editor as Author
Howard S. Friedman, ed.,
Personality and Disease (New York: Wiley, 1990).
Anthology - Compilation - Edited Book
Walt Whitman,
Complete Poetry and Selected Prose, ed. James E. Miller, Jr. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1959).
Ernest Hemingway, "The Big Two-Hearted River," in
The Nick Adams Stories, ed. Philip Young (New York: Bantam Books, 1973), 159-180.
Edition Other Than the First
Thomas S. Kuhn,
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 2nd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970).
Translation
Nikos Kazantzakis,
Zorba the Greek, trans. Carl Wildman (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1952).
Journals & Newspapers
Annual Review
John D. Kelly and Martha Kaplan, "Ritual Studies,"
Annual Review of Research in Anthropology 19 (1990): 119-50.
Journal Article (Paged by Volume) Michael Dietler, "‘Our Ancestors the Gauls’: Archaeology, Ethnic Nationalism, and the Manipulation of Celtic Identity in Modern Europe,"
American Anthropologist 96 (1994): 584-605.
Journal Article (Paged by Volume) Mark Wheelis, “Biological Warfare at the 1346 Siege of Caffa,”
Emerging Infectious Diseases 8, no. 9 (September 2002): 971–975,
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol8no9/ (December 9, 2003).
Journal Paged by Issue Michael Dumper, "Israeli Settlement in the Old City of Jerusalem,"
Journal of Palestine Studies 21, no. 4 (1992): 32-53.
Magazine Articles (No Author) Edward O. Wilson, "Back from Chaos,"
Atlantic Monthly, March 1998, 41-62.
"Taking the Business Cycle’s Pulse,"
The Economist, October 28, 1995, 89-90.
Newspaper Articles (Book Review, No Author, Online) Patricia Nelson Limerick, "Dancing with Professors: The Trouble with Academic Prose,"
New York Times Book Review, October 31, 1993, 3, 23-24.
Leslie Camhi, "Art of the City," review of
New York Modern: The Arts and the City, by William B. Scott, and Peter M. Rutkoff,
Village Voice, June 15, 1999, 154.
"Feds Close Vail Logging Road,"
Colorado Daily [Boulder], July 27-29, 1999, 2.
John Markoff, "Voluntary Rules Proposed to Help Insure Privacy for Internet Users,"
New York Times, June 5, 1996.
http://www.nytimes.com/.../yo5dat.html (June 10, 1996).
Reports and Papers (
Contents)
Conference Papers S-Y. Kuroda, "Whether We Agree or Not: A Comparative Syntax of English and Japanese," in
Papers from the Second International Workshop on Japanese Syntax, ed. William J. Poser (Stanford, CA: CSLI, 1988), 103-43.
Maggie McFadden, "Weaving the Cloth of International Sisterhood" (paper presented at the National Women’s Studies Association conference, Minneapolis, June 1988), 123.
PhD Dissertation Stephen A. McNeary, "Where Fire Came Down: Social and Economic Life of the Niska" (Ph.D. dissertation, Bryn Mawr College, 1976).
Research Report Elizabeth Morrissey, "Work and Poverty in Metro and Nonmetro Areas," Rural Development Research Report No. 81 (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1991).
Webpage "Documenting Sources from the World Wide Web" (Modern Language Association, February 3, 2000).
http://www.mla.org/style/sources.htm (February 17, 2000).
References Sources and Documents
Duane F. Alwin, "Equity Theory," in
Encyclopedia of Sociology, ed. Edgar F. Borgatta and Marie L. Borgatta (New York: Macmillan, 1992), 563-575.
American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 3rd ed. (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1992). Peter G. Bergman, "Relativity," in Encyclopedia Britannica, 15th ed., vol. 26 (Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1998), 501-508.
"Genetic Engineering," in
Compton’s Interactive Encyclopedia, ver. 2.0 (Carlsbad, CA: Compton’s NewMedia, Inc., 1994). CD-ROM.
"Stock Market Crash in 1929," in
Britannica On-line. 1995.
http://www.eb.com/ (July 1, 1998).
Computer Program Luc Anselin,
SPACESTAT: A Program for the Statistical Analysis of Spatial Data. Computer program (Santa Barbara, CA: National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis, University of California, 1993).
Statistical Abstract Bureau of the Census, "Higher Education Price Indexes: 1965-1991," in
Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1993, 113th ed. (Washington, DC: US GPO, 1993), Table 277.
Chicago Bibliographies
Anthologies - Compilations - Edited Books
Bourdieu, Pierre. "The Market of Symbolic Goods." In
The Field of Cultural Production: Essays in Art and Literature, ed. Randal Johnson, 112-141. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993.
Friedman, Howard S., ed.
Personality and Disease. New York: Wiley, 1990.
Hemingway, Ernest. "The Big Two-Hearted River." In
The Nick Adams Stories, edited by Philip Young, 159-180. New York: Bantam Books, 1973.
Whitman, Walt.
Complete Poetry and Selected Prose. Edited by James E. Miller Jr. 1855. Reprint, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1959.
Books
Arendt, Hannah.
The Human Condition. 1958. Reprint, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998.
Booth, Wayne C., Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams.
The Craft of Research. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995.
Congressional Budget Office.
Changes in the Living Arrangements of the Elderly: 1960-2030. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1988.
French, R. M., trans.
The Way of a Pilgrim and The Pilgrim Continues His Way. New York: Ballantine Books-Random House, 1974.
Kuhn, Thomas S.
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 2nd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970.
Schuman, Howard, Charlotte Steeh, Lawrence Bobo, and Maria Krysan.
Racial Attitudes in America: Trends and Interpretations, rev. ed. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997.
Journals & Newspapers
Camhi, Leslie. "Art of the City." Review of
New York Modern: The Arts and the City, by William B. Scott, and Peter M. Rutkoff.
Village Voice, June 15, 1999, 154.
Dietler, Michael. "‘Our Ancestors the Gauls’: Archaeology, Ethnic Nationalism, and the Manipulation of Celtic Identity in Modern Europe."
American Anthropologist 96 (1994): 584-605.
Kelly, John D., and Martha Kaplan. "Ritual Studies."
Annual Review of Research in Anthropology 19 (1990): 119-50.
Markoff, John. "Voluntary Rules Proposed to Help Insure Privacy for Internet Users."
New York Times, June 5, 1996.
http://www.nytimes.com/.../yo5dat.html (June 10, 1996).
"Taking the Business Cycle’s Pulse."
The Economist, October 28, 1995, 89-90.
Wheelis, Mark. “Biological Warfare at the 1346 Siege of Caffa.”
Emerging Infectious Diseases 8, no. 9 (September 2002): 971–975.
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol8no9/ (December 9, 2003).
Wilson, Edward. O. "Back from Chaos."
Atlantic Monthly, March 1998, 41-62.
Reports & References
American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 3rd ed. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1992.
Bergman, Peter G. "Relativity." In
Encyclopedia Britannica, 15th ed., Vol. 26, 501-508. Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1998.
"Documenting Sources from the World Wide Web." Modern Language Association, 3 February 2000.
http://www.mla.org/style/sources.htm (February 17, 2000).
McNeary, Stephen A. "Where Fire Came Down: Social and Economic Life of the Niska." Ph.D. dissertation, Bryn Mawr College, 1976.
Morrissey, Elizabeth. "Work and Poverty in Metro and Nonmetro Areas." Rural Development Research Report No. 81. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1991.
