Turabian Body Pages: Where the Writing Goes

With your title page ready, it's time to start the body of your paper, where all the real writing happens.

The body is the largest part of your paper. It's where you present your ideas and use research to support them. Later lessons cover exactly how to write each note. For now, let's get the body pages formatted correctly.

The page number

At the top of the page sits the page number, continuing from the title page. The title page was page 1 with its number hidden, so the first body page shows 2 in the top right corner of the header.

If you're using PERRLA, this is automatic: every page gets the right number in the right spot.

Where the text starts

With a separate title page, start your text at the top of page 2. Turabian doesn't ask you to repeat the title there, though some instructors like it. If yours does, put it on the first line, centered and bold, exactly as on the title page.

Without a title page, the title goes at the top of page 1 instead, centered and bold, and the text begins below it.

You don't need an "Introduction" heading. Your opening paragraphs introduce the paper. If your paper uses headings, the first one comes when the next section starts. Lesson 7 covers headings.

The main text

Here's what to keep in mind as you type:

• Indent the first line of every paragraph half an inch.
• Double-space the text.
• Leave no extra space before or after paragraphs.
• Keep the text left-aligned, never justified.

If you followed the page setup lesson, all of these are already set.

The footnotes

The body page is where Turabian looks most different from APA and MLA. Each time you use a source, a small raised number goes in your sentence, and the note it points to sits at the bottom of the same page:

• A short line separates the notes from the text. Your word processor adds it.
• Notes are single-spaced, with a blank line between them.
• The first line of each note is indented half an inch, like a paragraph.
• Notes are numbered 1, 2, 3, and on through the whole paper, without starting over.

Use your word processor's footnote tool (in Word, Insert Footnote) rather than typing notes by hand. It keeps each note on the right page and renumbers them when you add or delete one.

A first body page

Here is page 2 of the sample Bigfoot paper.

1. Page 2The numbering continues from the hidden page 1.
2. The textDouble-spaced, first line indented half an inch, starting at the top of the page.
3. The note numbersSuperscript, after the period.
4. The footnotesSingle-spaced at the bottom of the same page, a blank line between them, first line indented.

Quick checklist

• Page number at the top right, from page 2
• Text starts at the top of page 2 (title repeated only if your instructor asks)
• No "Introduction" heading needed
• Body text double-spaced, half-inch first-line indent, left-aligned
• No extra space between paragraphs
• Footnotes at the bottom of the same page, single-spaced, numbered straight through the paper

How PERRLA handles body pages

PERRLA sets up the body pages for you. The page number continues, the paragraph settings stay consistent as the paper grows, and every footnote lands at the bottom of the page it belongs to. Move a paragraph to another page and its notes move with it, renumbered in order.

PERRLA also has every Turabian text and heading style, block quotes included, in the Text & Heading Style panel. The block quotes lesson shows how that works for a long quote.

Related Turabian 101 lessons

• The title page: the title a third of the way down, and the lines below it.
• Headings: Turabian's five levels of subheadings, and why most papers need two.
• Footnotes: full notes, shortened notes, and where the number goes.
• Block quotes: five lines or more, single-spaced and indented.
• Structuring a Turabian paper: introduction, main points, conclusion, and transitions.
• All 18 lessons in Turabian 101