Citing and referencing: Turabian

The Turabian style is a citing and referencing system based on the Chicago style and named after Kate Turabian, from the University of Chicago, who authored a manual to guide students in citing and referencing when writing research papers. The print manual is available from all Monash libraries.

There are two forms of the Turabian style:

1. Notes - Bibliography Style: This style has a superscript number in the text and a footnote at the bottom of the page, as well as a bibliography at the end of the document. 

2. Author - Date: In author-date style, you signal that you have used a source by placing a parenthetical author date citation, e.g. (Smith 2011) within the body of your document. There is also a bibliography at the end of the document.

Please refer to the left-hand navigation menu for specific information on how to reference different types of sources, e.g. books, journals, websites and images. 

Superscript number:

• Cited sources are indicated in your text by a superscript number placed at the end of the sentence, and after the full stop, in which you refer to that source.¹

Notes:

• The first time you note a source, give the full source information (author, title, publication details, page numbers). 
• To repeat the previous note, only give the author’s surname and the page numbers. Turabian no longer uses the abbreviation ibid to refer readers to the previous citation.
• For all subsequent notes shorten the source information: only include the author’s surname, the short title (without the subtitle) and the page numbers.
• If a source has multiple authors, list all authors up to 3; for 4 or more authors list the first name followed by et al. (John Smith et. al.).
• Notes may be used for commentary on the cited sources or other substantive information on the text.

Bibliography:

• List all your sources at the end of your document in a bibliography.
• The bibliography includes every source you cited in a note and may include others you consulted but did not cite.
• The bibliography is normally a single list of all sources arranged alphabetically by the last name of the author or editor.
• If a source does not have a named author/organisation, list it by the title (ignore articles such as a or the).
• If a source has multiple authors list all names, regardless of how many.
• List the surname first for the first author, but the first names first for the other authors.

Indentation:

• The first line of notes are indented; all following lines are flush left.
• Bibliography entries have a hanging indentation - the first line is flush left and following lines are indented.

For more detailed advice refer to A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations by Kate L. Turabian. 

Please refer to the left-hand navigation menu for specific information on how to reference different types of sources, e.g. books, journals, websites and images. 

Order and Style of Elements

• The order of elements in parenthetical citation style generally follow author date, e.g. (Smith 2011). 
• If you quote or cite specific sections of a source, include page numbers separated by a comma, e.g. (Smith 2011, 21).

Bibliography:

• List all your sources at the end of your document in a bibliography. 
• The bibliography includes every source you cited and may include others you consulted but did not cite.
• The bibliography is normally a single list of all sources arranged alphabetically by the last name of the author or editor.
• If a source does not have a named author/organisation, list it by the title (ignore articles such as a or the).
• If a source has multiple authors list all names, regardless of how many. 
• List the surname first for the first author, but the first names first for the other authors.

Indentation:

• The first line of notes are indented; all following lines are flush left.
• Bibliography entries have a hanging indentation - the first line is flush left and following lines are indented.

For more detailed advice refer to A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations by Kate L. Turabian.