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.

Please note: The Turabian citing and referencing style has been updated to complement the Chicago 17th style, in that the term ibid for multiple notes from the same source has been replaced by a system of shortened citations. The Turabian referencing style is very similar to Chicago 17th, and sources not covered in this guide may be found in the Chicago 17th guide.

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.