PERRLA/Turabian 101
Turabian 101: the Turabian format in eighteen short lessons.
A plain-English course on the Turabian format, 9th edition, in eighteen short lessons. Start at the top if footnotes are new to you, or jump to the lesson you need tonight. Every lesson is free, whether or not you ever use PERRLA.
Short on time? Start with the five lessons marked Core lesson. Together they cover the parts of the Turabian format every class paper uses.
Section 1: Turabian Foundations
Lessons 1 and 2
- 1
Welcome to Turabian 101
How the course is laid out, and what a clean Turabian class paper needs before you type the first word.
- 2
What is Turabian?
Where the format comes from, how it relates to Chicago style, and why history and theology courses ask for it.
Section 2: Formatting Basics
Lessons 3 to 6
- 3
Basic page setup
One-inch margins, a readable 12-point font, double spacing with single-spaced notes, the half-inch indent, and page numbers.
Core lesson - 4
The title page
The title a third of the way down, your name, course, and date below it, and no page number on the page.
Core lesson - 5
Body pages
Where the text starts, the page number on page 2, and paragraph formatting that stays consistent to the end.
- 6
The bibliography
The Bibliography label, alphabetical order, single-spaced entries with a blank line between, and hanging indents.
Core lesson
Section 3: Elements of the Body
Lessons 7 and 8
- 7
Headings
Turabian's five levels of subheadings, and why most class papers need only one or two.
- 8
Why and what to cite
Which ideas, numbers, and images need a note, and a quick rule of thumb for the borderline cases.
Section 4: Notes, Bibliography, and Citations
Lessons 9 to 14
- 9
How notes and the bibliography work together
The superscript, the note, and the bibliography entry: the same source, written three ways.
- 10
Book: note and bibliography entry
Author, italic title, place, publisher, and year, in the note and in the bibliography.
- 11
Journal article: note and bibliography entry
Quoted title, journal, volume, issue, year, pages, and the DOI.
- 12
Website: note and bibliography entry
Page title, site, owner, the date, and when an access date belongs.
- 13
Footnotes
Full notes, shortened notes, where the note number goes, and what to do about Ibid.
Core lesson - 14
Block quotes
Five or more lines moves the quote to a single-spaced, indented block, with the note number after the final punctuation.
Section 5: The Writing Process
Lessons 15 to 18
- 15
Academic tone and voice
How to sound calm, objective, and credible without sounding stiff.
- 16
Structuring a Turabian paper
Outline the main points, arrange the supporting sources, and build transitions that keep the argument in view.
- 17
Writing with sources and avoiding plagiarism
Quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing, with a note every time.
- 18
Final checks and common mistakes
The last pass before you submit: the mistakes that cost the most points, and a short list to run through.
Core lesson
Then learn PERRLA in 20 minutes.
PERRLA 101 is a free, self-paced course on using PERRLA: set up a paper, add and cite a source, check it, and download it, in about 20 minutes. No signup.
It covers the same ground as this course from the other direction: instead of learning the rules, you see a paper get set up, cited, and finished with the rules handled for you. Rather see it live? Our support team walks through PERRLA on Zoom four times a week, free, on the schedule above. Join a live session, or get a reminder before the next one.
Everything in these eighteen lessons is set for you when you write the paper in PERRLA.
Try PERRLA free for 7 days