Chicago Style Citations : How to Cite Sources Inside the Text in Chicago (Turabian) Style

Any time you write a formal paper, such as a thesis or dissertation, it's important that you properly cite any sources that you use. Any time you use an idea that was introduced in another place -- whether it's a book, a Web site, or another scholarly paper -- you must give credit to the original author, by citing the source. If you use a quotation from another source, you also must list the source in your paper. It's important to list the sources you use so whoever reads your paper can find more information, should they need it. A comprehensive source list also shows your instructor and other readers that you've performed the necessary research to develop the position you've taken in the paper.

Citing sources in Chicago (Turabian) Style requires two processes. One citation is required at the position in the main text where the cited material appears, where you have three options: 1) In-text citations, 2) footnotes, or 3) endnotes. The other citation occurs at the end of the paper, in a list of all cited works, called a reference list or a bibliography. If you use endnotes, the bibliography is not required, although most formal pages include one.

In this article, we'll focus on in-text citations, which Chicago (Turabian) Style sometimes calls parenthetical references, within the main text of the paper. Other articles in this series will handle the other types of references.

I) AUTHOR-DATE

You can use a couple of different types of parenthetical references within the text, depending on the structure of the sentence, as shown in these examples.

AUTHOR-DATE (EXAMPLE A).

Include the name of the author within the sentence, followed by the year of publication inside parentheses.

*The Jones study (2003) indicates that technological advancements spur economic growth.

AUTHOR-DATE (EXAMPLE B).

You can place the name of the authors inside the parentheses with the year of publication, depending on your sentence structure. Use no punctuation within the parentheses.

*Some economic studies indicate that technological advancements spur economic growth (Jones 2003).

AUTHOR-DATE (EXAMPLE C).

If you don't have a date of publication, use "n.d." in place of the date.

*Some economic studies indicate that technological advancements spur economic growth (Jones n.d.).

AUTHOR-DATE (EXAMPLE D).

With multiple authors, use commas and the word "and" inside the parentheses. If the cited work has more than three authors, use "et al." after the primary author.

*Some economic studies indicate that technological advancements spur economic growth (Jones, Johnson, and Smith 2003).

*Some economic studies indicate that technological advancements spur economic growth (Jones et al. 2003).

AUTHOR-DATE (EXAMPLE E).

If you have multiple sources from the same author or sources from multiple authors with the same last name, you'll have to list part of the title of the work or the organization of the author along with the author. You also can add "a" and "b" to the year of publication, should you have two sources from the same author published in the same year.

*Some economic studies indicate that technological advancements spur economic growth (Jones Economic Growth Study, 2003).

*Other economic studies show that investing in technological research will benefit the economy, too (Jones Technology and the Economy, 2003).

AUTHOR-DATE (EXAMPLE F).

If you need to cite a source with no author, list a shortened version of the title or the organization that created the source. Use the same formatting as with the author.

*Some economic studies indicate that technological advancements spur economic growth (State University 2003).

II. FOOTNOTES OR ENDNOTES

If you decide to use footnotes or endnotes instead of the author-date style, you'll need to use numbers within the main text to link the material you want to source with the footnote or endnote. Use an Arabic number with each source, either in superscript, in parentheses, or in brackets. Use the Arabic numbers in sequential order.

*Some economic studies indicate that technological advancements spur economic growth. [1]

*Some economic studies indicate that technological advancements spur economic growth. (1)

*Some economic studies indicate that technological advancements spur economic growth.1 (* this number is superscript)

List each footnote at the bottom of the page where the source is cited. Separate the main text from the footnote(s) with a vertical line, called a separator. Endnotes go at the end of all of the pages of the main text. Indent each footnote or endnote and use single-spacing, with a blank space between each footnote or endnote. After listing the source once in an endnote or footnote, you can use an abbreviated version of the author's name and title of the work upon subsequent listings. Use a superscript number or a number with a period to introduce the footnote.

*1. Jones, Xavier. ...
*1 Jones, Xavier. ... (* this number is superscript)