Citation Style for HIST201 Essays

The citation style you will be using in this course will be the footnotes style, also known as the Turabian style or the Chicago style (not parenthetical citations as in the MLA format).

In order for your footnotes to display correctly, you will need to use the automated feature in your word processor.*   If you are still using Word 2003 on a PC or Word 2008 on a Mac, you can insert a footnote by clicking “Insert”–>”Reference”–>”Footnote,” which will pop your cursor down to the bottom of the page.  That is where you type the citation.  In Word 2007 for PCs, you can click on the “References” ribbon and then click “Insert Footnote.”  You will need to add content to the footnote manually.  If you use the “Add Citation” feature, at least on my office computer, it will not be correct even if you select Chicago or Turabian as your style.

Your essay can only have one footnote #1, one footnote #2, etc., so don’t manipulate the footnotes to start renumbering on each page.  Think of it like page numbers–it would be confusing if a paper had two or three pages all with #1 in the corner, so the same goes for footnotes.

To figure out the content for those footnotes, use the Chicago Style Citation Manual posted here under “Class Handouts.” Also, the Turabian Manual Quick Guide and Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide include formatting information.  In both cases, use the “N” format for notes.  You will not be using the author-date system (used in the hard sciences).

All of this may sound complicated, but footnotes are really quite easy as long as you follow these directions!  More than likely your computer’s default setting is correct, so if you find yourself having to change all of the settings and it gets complicated, then there is a good chance you are doing it wrong.  Adding footnotes is not a complicated or tricky maneuver.

*You cannot add footnotes into the footer of the paper, because the text that appears in the footer will appear on every page in the exact same format.   The description listed above is the ONLY correct way to add citations, so do not attempt to adjust it manually.

Advertisement

---