Citation 101—Chicago style

a friendly guide

from the writing program and

graduate writing coach at EMU

Skip Kempe, Former Graduate Writing Coach

First:

Why do citations matter?

one explanation:

…so that your readers can know where your ideas come from.

more specifically, citations:

• allow you to show how your argument is built upon the ideas of others
• allow you to indicate which ideas are taken from others, and from whom those ideas were taken; in other words, to give credit where it's due
• allow the interested reader to follow your argument and confirm its logic by investigating the ideas on which the argument is built, or to further explore those ideas on their own.

—from the UNC University Libraries

(also, see CMOS, “The purpose of source citations,” here)

Back up:

Why does it matter which sources you choose?

academic writing

• …is NEVER just about what you think
• …must be connected to what others in the field have said
• …prefers peer-reviewed articles
• …distinguishes between primary & secondary sources
• …explains every example

arguments aren’t about “what you think”

• Arguments must be based on specific evidence that you point to
• What “counts” as evidence in your discipline?
• Every factual statement must point to supporting evidence
• Except… common knowledge!
• Avoid vague statements of assumptions

What’s common knowledge? What’s vague?

• “Cell phone use has increased immensely since the start of the century.”
• “When Barack Obama was first inaugurated in 2009,...”
• “Fewer Americans go to church now than at any time in the nation’s past.”
• “The highest rate of church growth is in Africa.”
• “The opioid epidemic affects many families.” 😐
• “The opioid epidemic affects many families across income levels.” 👍
• “The opioid epidemic affects many families across income levels and geography.” 👍👏🎉

when to cite:

• Direct quotations
• Paraphrases
• “any facts or opinions not generally known or easily checked” ��—CMOS 14.1

2. Scholarly research must be connected

• Points and arguments build on what others have written. Always!
• Requires critical analysis of what others have said—even big-time scholars
• Not all sources are created equal!

Think:

Let’s rank the following sources

rank these, most authoritative to least:

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• social media post
• news article
• book
• chapter in a book
• letter to the editor
• letter to the editor of a scholarly journal
• dataset on a corporate website
• dataset on a university website
• dataset on a government website
• wikipedia article
• scholarly (peer-reviewed) article

what is a…

scholarly article?

scholarly articles

​

a/k/a “primary research” or “peer-reviewed” or “refereed” articles:

• Authors’ academic affiliations listed
• Begin with an abstract summarizing the research
• Often a section for methods and materials
• Numerous citations within the text
• Results of research are given
• Includes sections for discussion and conclusion
• Ends with a bibliography or list of references

From Harvard Library

primary vs. secondary sources

• Primary: the person writing the article made the observations themselves. They were a first-hand witness. The source material was recorded more or less at the time of the events it documents.
• Secondary: reporting on what someone else observed. The source material in many cases is recorded after the the events it documents.

points don’t explain themselves!

Use P-Q-E. Every time!�

• Point: make your point.
• Quote: quote a source, whether directly or indirectly.�…but you’re not done yet!
• Explain: explain how that quotation connects to your argument.

​

Point, quotation, explain. Point, quotation, explain. Point, quotation, explain.

Now that you have reliable sources, what next?

documentation!

• We document ideas taken from reliable sources with citations:
• so that your readers can track down your sources
• so that you give credit to those you’re borrowing from
• so that you can show how your ideas fit in with an ongoing scholarly conversation
• so that you don’t take credit for work or ideas that aren’t your own!
• (so that you avoid plagiarism)
• Causes BIG PROBLEMS when you don’t say where your ideas came from
• It’s GOOD to build your ideas on others’ anyway!

citation information goes TWO places

• Bibliography (or References or Works Cited) goes at the end of your paper, as a separate section
• Notes go within the text of your paper. They tell the reader what source you got a quotation from, and point them to the bibliography at the end of the paper for the full information on the source
• “In-text citations”
• “Footnotes”
• “Endnotes”
• Two different formats, working together, same purpose!

first: citations within your text

Chicago: really two systems…

• “Notes and Bibliography” system (NB)
• Uses footnotes (or endnotes) for citing sources in the body of the text
• Footnotes (or endnotes) include shortened versions of more complete source info in a “Bibliography” section at the end of the paper
• “Author-Date” system
• Uses parenthetical citations in the text with the author’s last name and publication year
• These parenthetical citations refer to more complete source info in a “References” section at the end of the paper

how to include evidence from sources

“The project [of modernity] amounted to an extraordinary intellectual effort on the part of Enlightenment thinkers.”³ Kant, for example, believed in the “universal, eternal, and…immutable qualities of all humanity”;⁴ further, others argued that…

​

———————

3. Harvey, Condition of Postmodernity, 12.

4. Harvey, 13.

Superscript number follows final punctuation

When you use a full bibliography, footnote information can be simplified

Use even shorter notes when referring to the directly preceding source

CMOS Notes and Bibliography style…

• Notes cite sources or provide additional commentary
• Numbers for your notes:
• superscript in the text
• full sized and followed by a period in the notes themselves
• (Learn how your word processor does this!)
• Put numbers at the end of the clause or sentence they refer to, after any punctuation except a dash:
• “Example,”¹⁷
• (also, “Example number two,”)¹⁸ which demonstrates more punctuation

Further resources

• Chicago Manual of Style site
• https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-1.html�
• Purdue OWL on CMOS formatting
• https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/chicago_manual_17th_edition/cmos_formatting_and_style_guide/general_format.html�
• Purdue OWL sample CMOS NB paper
• https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/chicago_manual_17th_edition/cmos_formatting_and_style_guide/cmos_nb_sample_paper.html�

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signal verb variety (The Everyday Writer p.145)

acknowledges concludes emphasizes replies

advises concurs expresses reports

agrees confirms interprets responds

allows criticizes lists reveals

answers declares objects says

asserts describes observes states

believes disagrees offers suggests

charges discusses opposes thinks

claims disputes remarks writes

citations always point to your bibliography

So:

• Notes (N) = inside the paper
• Bibliography (B) = at the end of the paper

Tip:

• create the bibliography citations first, as you research. Include all possible sources that you encounter
• as you use sources in your rough draft, copy the bibliography citations into a second list containing the sources you actually use (ask your instructor whether to include sources you consulted but didn’t cite)

MyBib supports this nicely… Zotero is great too.

Long quotations (40 words or more) as above: single-space, half-inch indent

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Gravida quis blandit turpis cursus in hac habitasse platea. Vitae elementum curabitur vitae nunc sed velit.

Tortor id aliquet lectus proin. Eget nunc lobortis mattis aliquam faucibus purus in. Tellus in metus vulputate eu scelerisque felis. Non quam lacus suspendisse faucibus interdum posuere lorem ipsum. Amet mauris commodo quis imperdiet. Rhoncus mattis rhoncus urna neque viverra justo nec. Ultrices sagittis orci a scelerisque purus semper eget. Morbi blandit cursus risus at ultrices mi tempus imperdiet nulla.¹²

Aliquam sem et tortor consequat id porta nibh. Tortor pretium viverra suspendisse potenti nullam ac tortor vitae. Porta non pulvinar neque laoreet suspendisse interdum conse.

Lots of details!

books

• Books (one author)
• N: 1. First name Last name, Title of Book (Place of publication: Publisher, Year of publication), page number.�1. Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums (New York: Viking Press, 1958), 128. �[but shorten to: Kerouac, Dharma Bums, 128.]�
• B: Last name, First name. Title of Book. Place of publication: Publisher, Year of publication.�Kerouac, Jack. The Dharma Bums. New York: Viking Press, 1958.

books

• Books (multiple authors)
• N: 2. Scott Lash and John Urry, Economies of Signs & Space (London: Sage Publications, 1994), 241-51. [but shorten to: Lash and Urry, Economies, 241–51]�
• B: Lash, Scott, and John Urry. Economies of Signs & Space. London: Sage Publications, 1994.
• Books (translated work)
• N: 3. Julio Cortázar, Hopscotch, trans. Gregory Rabassa (New York: Pantheon Books, 1966), 165. [but shorten to: Cortázar, Hopscotch, 165.]�
• B: Cortázar, Julio. Hopscotch. Translated by Gregory Rabassa. New York: Pantheon Books, 1966.

edited book with separately authored chapters

• N: 6. Muriel Harris, “Talk to Me: Engaging Reluctant Writers,” in A Tutor's Guide: Helping Writers One to One, ed. Ben Rafoth (New Hampshire: Heinemann, 2000), 24-34. �[but shorten to: Harris, “Talk to Me,” 24–34.]�
• B: Harris, Muriel. “Talk to Me: Engaging Reluctant Writers.” In A Tutor’s Guide: Helping Writers One to One, edited by Ben Rafoth, 24-34. New Hampshire: Heinemann, 2000.

​

journal articles

• N: 1. Henry E. Bent, “Professionalization of the Ph.D. Degree,” College Composition and Communication 58, no. 4 (2007): 141, accessed December 4, 2017, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1978286. �[but shorten to: Bent, “Professionalization,” 141.]�
• B: Bent, Henry E. "Professionalization of the Ph.D. Degree.” College Composition and Communication 58, no. 4 (2007): 0-145. Accessed December 4, 2017. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1978286.�
• If accessed in print, leave off the access date and URL.

Where to get help?

Excellent details for all of this on the Chicago Manual website

Also: the Purdue OWL website

*Online Writing Lab

And a strong recommendation: MyBib, a citation machine �that also tracks your sources

next: the bibliography

in general:

from Purdue OWL

basic reference list format: books

Bibliography format:

Strayed, Cheryl. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2012.

​

Compare to Notes format:

1. Cheryl Strayed, Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2012), 87–88.

2. Strayed, Wild, 261, 265.

all these examples from CMOS online

basic reference list format: books, >1 author

Bibliography format:

Berkman, Alexander, Henry Bauer, and Carl Nold. Prison Blossoms: Anarchist Voices from . . . [continue as before]

​

Compare to Notes format:

1. Alexander Berkman, Henry Bauer, and Carl Nold, Prison Blossoms: Anarchist Voices from . . .

2. Berkman, Bauer, and Nold, Prison Blossoms . . .

all these examples from CMOS online

basic reference list format: edited books

Bibliography format:

Daum, Meghan, ed. Selfish, Shallow, and Self-Absorbed: Sixteen Writers on the Decision Not to Have Kids. New York: Picador, 2015.

​

Compare to Notes format:

1. Meghan Daum, ed., Selfish, Shallow, and Self-Absorbed: Sixteen Writers on the Decision Not to Have Kids (New York: Picador, 2015), 32.

2. Daum, Selfish, 134–35.

all these examples from CMOS online

basic reference list format: edited book chapter

Bibliography format:

Gould, Glenn. “Streisand as Schwarzkopf.” In The Glenn Gould Reader, edited by Tim Page, 308–11. New York: Vintage Books, 1984.

​

Compare to Notes format:

1. Glenn Gould, “Streisand as Schwarzkopf,” in The Glenn Gould Reader, ed. Tim Page (New York: Vintage Books, 1984), 310.

2. Gould, “Streisand as Schwarzkopf,” 309.

basic reference list format: journal article

Bibliography format:

Bagley, Benjamin. “Loving Someone in Particular.” Ethics 125, no. 2 (January 2015): 477–507.

For an article consulted online, include the DOI (preferred) or stable URL (not copied from your browser’s address bar!):

Liu, Jui-Ch’i. “Beholding the Feminine Sublime: Lee Miller’s War Photography.” Signs 40, no. 2 (Winter 2015): 308–19. https://doi.org/10.1086/678242.

creating journal article citations

• EMU library database may have a citation already available
• MyBib or the citation tools for Word & Google Docs
• Watch for capitalization errors!

practice: create a reference for a journal article

Student Loan Debt Letters: How Colleges Communicate Debt with Students

https://emu.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=150311123&site=ehost-live&scope=site

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Lastname, Firstname, Firstname Lastname, Firstname Lastname. “Title of the article.” Name of the Periodical, volume, no. issue (Date): #–#. https://doi.org/xxxx.

Try it!

practice: create a reference for a journal article

Student Loan Debt Letters: How Colleges Communicate Debt with Students

Lastname, Firstname, Firstname Lastname, Firstname Lastname. “Title of the article.” Name of the Periodical, volume, no. issue (Date): #–#. https://doi.org/xxxx.

Taylor, Zachary, Gretchen Holthaus, and Karla Weber. “Student Loan Debt Letters: How Colleges Communicate Debt with Students.” Journal of Personal Finance 20, no. 1 (January 2021): 26–39.

exactly like this!

Sample CMOS formatted paper

—from our friends at the Purdue OWL

thank you!

a friendly guide

from the writing program and

graduate writing coach at EMU

Skip Kempe, Former Graduate Writing Coach