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Learning Commons
Learning Commons
Learning Commons
Using the "Chicago Style", refers to the editorial style that some subjects within Arts and Humanities (mainly History) have uniformly adopted to present written material.
Editorial style is a set of rules or guidelines that a writer, researcher, or publisher observes to ensure clear and consistent presentation of written material. Editorial style concerns uniform use of such elements as:
The Chicago Manual of Style (16th ed.) recognizes two basic styles of citation and this is a guideline for the Notes and Bibliography system only.
These rules are published in The Chicago Manual of Style.
Whenever you consult a source while conducting research you must gather specific information about that source to create accurate and full citations.
Follow these steps to help you avoid plagiarism and practice academic integrity.
Record your research
When you are reading a book, journal article, or other document, record all of the information (bibliographical elements) necessary to create a citation. That means that you should record such information as:
The descriptive elements for a variety of document types are listed below. Keeping a record of all the information necessary to create your references is very important to ensure accuracy of your work and to avoid plagiarism.
Be careful when you have photocopied articles from journals or chapters from books. You must keep a record of the journal where the article was published or the book where you found the chapter. Note: you may not need to use all of these elements for every citation.
Whole Book
Parts of books (Chapters, sections, conference papers, etc.)
In addition to the details for the Whole Book (see above) record the following information specific to the part you are using.
Journal articles
Electronic documents
Some examples of electronic format documents are
For electronic journal articles record the bibliographic elements as you would for journal articles. In addition, record relevant data from the following list.
It can be difficult to find some of the information you will need. Not all electronic documents have an obvious author or title so you will have to thoroughly examine the article. Sometimes electronic publication do not use pagination. In that case you must keep track of the paragraph number of the section you are using in your assignment. Some documents are published in both paper and electronic formats, for example, government reports and journal articles. Cite according to the format you have accessed, not both formats.
The following is a list of common bibliographic elements you may need to record for citation of an electronic document. This list is comprehensive. The elements you record will depend upon the type of electronic document you are describing.
Organize
Be sure you save this information, and the original documents if you have them, in a format you can easily access at a later date. You may wish to write all details on the print copy of an article you are using; or you may wish to keep a system of filing cards for each reference item you use. Alternatively, you may decide to maintain a master reference list on your computer, which you add details to as required. There are a number of software packages now available, for example, RefWorks, which you can use to create databases of your references. These programs can be used to produce reference or works cited lists in a specified style. Please enquire at the Reference Desk in the Library for more information about training sessions and software for RefWorks.
Cite
Construct your citations within the text of your essay, using the appropriate guidelines for the style of citation you are using.
List
Create either a reference or works cited list at the end of your paper or assignment. The use of capitals and punctuation should be consistent and will vary according to the citation style being used.