Turabian History

Kate Turabian's A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations is an essential book for students writing papers. Abridged from the Chicago Manual of Style, Turabian offers two forms of citation formats, one for literature, history and the arts, and another for physical, natural and social sciences. However, citation formats often vary from professor to professor and journal to journal, even within a discipline. This article will discuss both methods of citation for books for history papers.

Notes/Bibliography Form for History: Notes

In a footnote or endnote, you cite a book by listing its author(s) by Firstname Lastname, and the title of the publication in italics. Then, inside parenthesis write the location of publication, the publisher, and the date. Outside of the parenthesis you put a comma and the page you are citing. An example would be: Jack Smith, A History of Beagles in America (Houston, Lone Star Publishing, 2005), 64.

Bibliography Form for History: Bibliography

The bibliographical entry for the notes/bibliography form is very similar to the note form. Since your bibliography will be alphabetized by author last name, the format begins with the author's name in Lastname Firstname order. Where the note format had commas, the bibliography form has periods. The parenthesis disappear, and you don't need the page number. Using the same fictional text cited above, an example would be: Smith, Jack. A History of Beagles in America. Houston, Lone Star Publishing, 2005.

Author/Date Form for History: In-text reference

When using author/date format, you list the author's name, date of publication and the page you are citing in the text itself. An example would be: Sixty years after the introduction of the beagle to the United States, it had become the most popular hunting dog among New Englanders, making up nearly 73% of all dogs bought for that purpose. (Smith 2005, 64.) You provide the full information for the title in the Works List.

Author/Date Form for History: Works List

The works list is similar to the bibliography, with the exception of the placement of the year of publication. Instead of going at the end, it goes immediately after the author's name, like this: Smith, Jack. 2005. A History of Beagles in America. Houston, Lone Star Publishing.

Other resources

If you are citing a journal or magazine article, media or website, the formats are a little different. You can find examples of all of them at www.library.osu.edu/sites/guides/turabiangd.php and liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/workshop/cittur.htm. If you get really stuck on how to cite something in history, check out the Chicago Manual of Style, from which Turabian is extracted. Most libraries have at least one copy. Also, always check with your professor or the journal you are submitting to for their preferred style.