Chicago Referencing †4 Things You Should Know

Chicago Referencing – 4 Things You Should Know Chicago Referencing – 4 Things You Should Know Chicago referencing is a flexible system for citing sources in academic writing. If it’s your colleges chosen system or you’re writing a paper for a journal, knowing how to use Chicago referencing is vital. Before you set to work, though, there are a few things you should know. 1. The Chicago Manual of Style Chicago referencing is set out in The Chicago Manual of Style. The 16th edition of this was released in 2010 and includes details on every aspect of editorial practice, from grammar to formatting. In the U.S., The Chicago Manual of Style is commonly used by publications in the social and human sciences. However, if your college simply specifies â€Å"Chicago referencing,† it’s only the rules for citing sources that you need to worry about. 2. One Manual, Two Styles Chicago referencing can be a little confusing because it incorporates two citation styles: author-date citations and a footnote and bibliography version. Author-date citations use a style similar to APA referencing, with the author’s surname, year of publication and (if relevant) page numbers given in brackets: The New World was colonized around 11,000 B.C. (Diamond 1997, 67). This is accompanied by full publication detail in a reference list. The footnote and bibliography system, meanwhile, cites sources with superscript numbers (e.g., 1, 2, 3) in the main text. You can then give source information in footnotes (as well as in a bibliography). The first footnote for the source named above, for example, would appear as: 1. Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs Steel: A Short History of Everybody for the Last 13,000 Years (London: Vintage, 1997), 67. The fact there are two citation styles within Chicago referencing makes it crucial to check your style guide before you start writing. 3. Subsequent Citations If you’re using the author-date system, citing the same source more than once simply requires giving the author’s name and year of publication each time. With the footnote and bibliography system, however, you can shorten subsequent citations of the same source. For consecutive citations, you can use the Latin term â€Å"Ibid.† For nonconsecutive citations, give the author’s surname, a shortened title and relevant page numbers: 1. Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs Steel: A Short History of Everybody for the Last 13,000 Years (London: Vintage, 1997), 67. 2. Ibid., 112. 3. Derek Author, A Different Book, (New York: Publisher Inc., 2005), 45. 4. Diamond, Guns, Germs Steel, 23. 4. Reference List/Bibliography The two citation systems covered by Chicago referencing use a similar format for creating a reference list/bibliography, but there are differences. The information required for a book in a reference list when using the author-date system is: Author Surname, First Name. Year. Title. City of Publication: Publisher. With the footnote and bibliography system, on the other hand, publication information should be presented as follows: Author Surname, First Name. Title. City of Publication: Publisher, Year.