To cite the work of others in Turabian, you give each source a note where you use it and an entry in the bibliography at the end. This lesson shows how the pieces fit, before the next three lessons build notes and entries for books, journal articles, and websites.
One source, four ways
Say you're citing page 45 of Jeff Meldrum's book, then page 52 later on. Here's the same source everywhere it appears:
- In your sentence: Meldrum argues that footprint casts deserve closer study.1 (a superscript 1, after the period)
- The first note: 1. Jeff Meldrum, Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science (New York: Forge, 2007), 45.
- Every later note: 4. Meldrum, Sasquatch, 52.
- The bibliography: Meldrum, Jeff. Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science. New York: Forge, 2007.
(The page numbers here are for illustration. In your own paper, use the pages you actually cite.)
Note versus bibliography entry
The two look alike, and students lose points copying one into the other. Here's what changes:
| Note | Bibliography entry | |
|---|---|---|
| Author's name | First name first: Jeff Meldrum | Last name first: Meldrum, Jeff |
| Between the parts | Commas | Periods |
| A book's publication facts | In parentheses | No parentheses |
| Pages | The page you used | No page for a book; the full range for an article |
| Indent | First line indented half an inch | Hanging indent, half an inch |
| Order | Numbered in the order you cite | Alphabetical by author |
Only the first author is inverted in the bibliography. Any coauthors stay first name first: Lozier, J. D., P. Aniello, and M. J. Hickerson.
Full notes and shortened notes
The first time you cite a source, the note gives everything a reader needs to find it. After that, every note for the same source is shortened: the author's last name, a short form of the title, and the page. The reader can always find the full details in the first note and in the bibliography. Lesson 13 covers shortened notes, and the old Latin shortcut Ibid., in detail.
Gathering the details
Turabian has rules for a huge number of source types, and within each type there are more variations: the number of authors, an editor or translator, an edition, print or online. Memorizing all of it isn't worth your time. Instead, collect these details as you research:
- Book: author, title and subtitle, city of publication, publisher, year, and the pages you use
- Journal article: author, article title, journal title, volume, issue, year, page range, the pages you use, and the DOI or URL
- Website: author (if any), page title, site name, owner, date published or updated (or the date you accessed it), and the URL
The next three lessons walk through those three types. For anything more complex, even Turabian experts reach for the manual, or let a tool like PERRLA do the heavy lifting.
Keeping the bibliography in order
As you add sources, keep the bibliography in alphabetical order by the first word of each entry, usually the first author's last name. If two entries start with the same last name, the first name decides: Jacobs, John comes before Jacobs, Michael. A work with no author goes by the first important word of its title, skipping A, An, and The.
Quick checklist
- Every source has a note where you use it and an entry in the bibliography
- The first note is full; every later note is shortened
- Note: first name first, commas, page you used
- Bibliography: last name first, periods, hanging indent
- Bibliography in alphabetical order
How PERRLA handles notes and the bibliography
PERRLA writes each source both ways from the same details. Look a source up by its ISBN, DOI, or link, or fill in one of 47 guided forms, then type # in your paper to cite it. The first note is full, every later one is shortened, and the bibliography entry lands in alphabetical order.
978-0765312174Book
10.1098/rspb.2014.0161Journal article
who.int/news-room/…Website
Paste one in and PERRLA fills in the source from the published record.