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Turabian Referencing

The Turabian referencing system is named after Kate Turabian, who worked as the dissertation secretary at the University of Chicago between 1930 and 1958 and who developed the referencing and citation guide for the University of Chicago. Turabian referencing is noted for its regular use in history and economics papers. This referencing system is similar to the Chicago referencing system, but more straight forward, using fewer style formats. The Turabian system primarily uses the footnotes/ endnotes style of citation and always includes a bibliography. Indeed, Turabian referencing dictates a particular style for quotations, punctuation and bibliographies, as well as for footnotes and endnotes.

Using Turabian referencing style, footnotes are created by placing a superscript number after the sentence you need to reference. This number corresponds to the number at the foot of the page, or at the end of your essay if you chose to use endnotes instead of footnotes (the Turabian referencing system allows the use of both kinds of referencing). The footnotes or endnotes can be used to expand on a point you make in your main body of text, or to cite a source used. The greater space available to endnotes renders them more useful if you have a lot of extra information to add, whereas shorter source citations could be better placed as a footnote. If using endnotes, Turabian referencing requires that these should be placed at the end of your essay, but before the bibliography, on a page titled Endnotes. Each superscript number needs to be listed numerically in your Endnotes and the relevant material added corresponding to each.

In Turabian referencing style, footnotes that cite a source need to be laid out in a specific format, following this style: author's initial, full stop, author's surname, comma, title (italicised), comma, edition (if appropriate), comma, open bracket, place of publication, colon, the publisher, comma, the date of publication, close bracket, comma, page numbers. For a fictional example: P. Jenkins, The History of the Circus, 2nd ed., (London: Penguin, 1998), p. 119. If you refer later to this same source, Turabian referencing says you do not need to reference the full details again, but simply state the author's surname, the book title and the relevant page number, thus: Jenkins, The History of the Circus, p. 186.

Although the Turabian referencing guide primarily uses this footnote/endnote referencing format to cite sources, it is also possible to use the author/date parenthetical format. Which format you decide upon depends on the style requirements of your institution or your faculty, or may just be down to personal taste. Those more used to the Harvard style of referencing will prefer the author/date in-text citation format, but Turabian referencing encourages footnotes, due to their lesser intrusion into the flow of the text.
Using quotations when working with the Turabian referencing system means you must adhere to a specific style guide. If quoting a full sentence, the quotation must be written out, in full, and enclosed in quotation marks. If you omit a word or two, you may use ellipses to convey the missing material (a short row of three full stops). If you add any words yourself that are not including in the quotation, the Turabian referencing system dictates that you must indicate this by enclosing the new words in square brackets. If you paraphrase any material, Turabian referencing requires you to totally reword the idea, but it is vital that you still reference the idea by using footnotes. The text you consulted for your ideas also needs to be placed in the full bibliography. Ensuring you always cite any source used, however seemingly insignificant, means the Turabian referencing system will protect you from any allegations of plagarism.

In Turabian referencing style, all sources used must be referenced in a full bibliography at the end of your essay. The bibliography is laid out alphabetically by author surname. Any sources cited in the footnotes of your essay need to be referenced again here, but using a different format. The format for bibliographic referencing using the Turabian style, is similar to the footnote citation, but the list is ordered by surname before initials, and without brackets or page numbers. Turabian referencing here also requires minor punctuation differences in the use of the full stop and the comma. For example, the earlier footnote reference, in the bibliography, would be written as: Jenkins, P. The History of the Circus, 2nd ed. London: Penguin, 1998. Using the Turabian referencing system, if your footnote/endnote source has more than one author or editor, the first name only is written, followed by the words 'and others'. However, in the bibliography, all authors of the work must be listed.

Referencing journal or periodical articles using the Turabian referencing system is a little different from books. In the footnote/endnote format, an article is cited thus: initial, full stop, surname, comma, article title in quotation marks (no italics), comma, journal title (italicised), journal/periodical volume and edition, comma, date (in brackets), colon, page number (without the preceding 'p', used for book page citations). For a fictional example: J. Cooper, "Identity Crisis", Philosophical Quarterly 12.2, (Feb., 1974): 86. In the full bibliography using the Turabian referencing system, this same article would be written thus: Cooper, J. "Identity Crisis", Philosophical Quarterly 12 2, Feb. 1974. Notice, the differences in punctuation and lack of brackets, as well as the author's surname listed before the initials. The date is very important in journal articles and as much information as possible about the time of publishing should be given. Using Turabian referencing style, online articles should be referenced by giving the full URL (website address). You should also specify the date that the information was accessed, due to the unfixed nature of the internet.

Instead of calling your list of sources a Bibliography, Turabian referencing also accepts titles of Works Cited, and Sources Consulted. In Turabian referencing, it is usual to list any works in your bibliography that are written by the same author by the use of an eight space dash, with a full stop at the end, instead of repeating the author's name. In this instance, the articles or books should be listed alphabetically by title, rather than chronologically.

The definitive guide for the Turabian referencing system can be found in the book by Kate Turabian, called: A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses and Dissertations, 6th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996.