How to make a reference inside the text of an essay in English? Should I use square brackets or round brackets? When is it necessary to mention all the authors of the source, and when is it enough to add et al.? Are footnotes in APA or Chicago style necessary? Is it always required to include a page number? And how do you even format citations in different styles in English? To make sure you have no more doubts and feel free to cite sources inside the text according to Chicago/Turabian style rules in Google Docs, we asked the experts at WriteMyEssayOnline for advice.
The relevance of the correct formatting of the reference list
Bibliographic descriptions in the list of references are executed in accordance with the standardized requirements for formatting in a particular language. When preparing a scientific article or an essay, you should pay special attention to the list of references since errors are most often found in it. It is important to correctly and adequately format it in order to acknowledge your sources and give them credit where necessary. Science moves forward by building on the work of other scientists. There are, however, other reasons for citing in papers. Citing relevant sources shows that you have done the work and have knowledge of the issues at hand and the context in which your work fits and helps give legitimacy to your arguments. The reference list also provides readers with a way to keep track of aspects of your work. It is possible to add references to sources that enrich your work with relevant information or present an alternative viewpoint.
Chicago and Turabian — What’s the difference?
Turabian is a simplified version of Chicago for high school and college students. The main difference is that their work is not intended for publication. They are the same essays, research papers, theses, and dissertations. Chicago style, on the other hand, is designed specifically for professional scholars and publishers.
Peculiarities of Chicago/Turabian Style
The University of Chicago Press created the style in 1906 for use in the social and later physical and natural sciences.
A feature of the Chicago citation style (its 17th edition) is the possibility, as in the APA style, to choose from several reference formats: in the middle of the text or outside the text in the references section.
The formatting of in-text citations in Chicago style has two options:
- author-date;
- footnotes, endnotes.
Footnotes are more common in the humanities, and the author-date format is more a feature of the exact sciences. In any case, before choosing one of the options, it is better to clarify with your professor what kind of format is required.
Note that there should be a Reference List at the end of the paper when using the author-date format.
Since Chicago’s author-date format style is much the same as Harvard’s, we will not give a full breakdown of each type of source. Instead, we will present examples of Chicago’s layout and differences from other styles:
- There is no comma between the author’s last name and the year of publication of the source. For example: (Carroll 1865, 56);
- After the year of publication, there should be a comma and a page, paragraph, or line without p. or pp.;
- A comma separates the names of several authors. Before the last author’s last name, they put the conjunction and without a comma before it. For example: (Smith, Adamson and Franklin 2018, 89-100);
- If a source has four or more authors, they put et al. after the first author’s name, with a period after al. For example: (Davidson et al. 2011);
- All words in the title of the source are capitalized. Exceptions are service parts of speech;
- If the date of publication is unknown, n.d. is used.
As for the format of references, you need to understand the rules in more detail.
You can use two ways to format references:
- at the end of each page (footnotes);
- at the end of the paper before the references (endnotes).
To make a footnote, use a superscript font format. Place the footnote at the end of the phrase or sentence in which the quotation was used, after the punctuation mark. For example, Smith stated that “global warming is inevitable “¹.
Footnotes can be short or long:
- short ones contain the author’s last name, the source title (abbreviated if it has more than four words), and the page number;
- long ones are full information about the source.
Long footnotes are only necessary for works without a reference list (since it is not always mandatory in Chicago style). In this case, if you cite a source more than once, the first time you cite the source in full, and all subsequent citations may be limited to short footnotes.
Here’s what a long footnote looks like, followed by a short footnote:
- Mary Shelley, “Frankenstein”, in Selected Novels, ed. Richard Norman (London: My Publisher, 2009), 13.
- Shelley, “Frankenstein”, 25.
If the source has two or three authors, their names are separated by a comma, for example, 1. Davidson, Robertson, and Jackson, “Book Name,” 140-142.
If there are four or more authors, the first author is followed by et al. For example, Davidson et al., “Book Name,” 140-142.
How to make a Chicago/Turabian style in Google Docs?
You can add citations and references according to the 17th edition of The Chicago Manual of Style in Google Docs.
You have to follow these steps to add citations and a reference to your essay in Google Docs:
- Click the Tools tab in your Google Doc and then go to Quotes;
- In the sidebar, you will see the available formatting styles. They will include MLA, APA, and Chicago. Choose the Chicago formatting style and fill in all the necessary information about your source.
How to insert an in-text citation
Place the cursor where you want the quote to appear in the essay. Choose the desired source in the Quotes sidebar and click the insert button near the source of the quote.
If the # symbol appears in the text, delete it or replace it with the citing page numbers.
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