Turabian style is the student version of Chicago style, set out in Kate L. Turabian's A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. Most students use its notes-bibliography system, with footnotes and a bibliography.
This guide covers paper format, the title page, footnotes for common sources, short notes, the bibliography, the author-date alternative and how Turabian differs from the full Chicago manual.
The Essentials of Turabian Style
- Cite sources in numbered footnotes (or endnotes), with a full note the first time and a short note after that.
- List every source in a bibliography, alphabetized by author surname, with hanging indents.
- Use one-inch margins, a readable 12-point font and double-spaced text.
- Add a title page for class papers unless your instructor says otherwise.
History, theology, philosophy and the arts use Turabian most often. Your instructor may ask for the author-date system instead.
What Is Turabian Style?
Turabian adapts the Chicago Manual of Style for students. It keeps Chicago's citation rules but adds practical guidance on research, drafting and formatting class papers, theses and dissertations.
Each Turabian edition follows the Chicago edition current when it was written; the 9th edition, published in 2018, follows Chicago's 17th edition. Check which edition your department expects, especially now that Chicago has moved to its 18th edition.
Turabian offers two citation systems. Notes-bibliography is standard in the humanities. Author-date, with parenthetical citations and a reference list, suits the social and natural sciences.
Paper Formatting Rules
| Element | Turabian practice |
|---|---|
| Margins | At least one inch on all sides |
| Font | A readable font such as Times New Roman, usually 12 point; notes may be slightly smaller |
| Spacing | Main text double spaced |
| Block quotations | Five or more lines of prose, single spaced and indented, with a blank line before and after |
| Footnotes | Single spaced, with a blank line between notes |
| Bibliography | Single spaced entries, a blank line between entries, hanging indent |
| Page numbers | Top right or bottom center, consistently |
| Paragraphs | First line indented |
Instructors and departments often adjust these details, so follow their instructions where they differ. Consistency throughout the paper matters most, and theses usually have stricter rules set by the graduate school.
Title Page
For a class paper, center the title about a third of the way down the page. Several lines below, center your name, the course name and number, and the date, each on its own line.
Harbor Cities and the Grain Trade, 1650 to 1750
Amara Osei
HIST 214: Early Modern Europe
March 9, 2025
How the Footnote and Bibliography System Works
Place a superscript number in your text after the punctuation at the end of the clause or sentence you are citing. The matching note at the foot of the page gives the source.
- Number notes consecutively through the paper, starting at 1.
- Give a full note the first time you cite a source.
- Use a short note for every later citation of the same source.
- List every source in the bibliography, whether cited once or many times.
If you cite more than one source in a single sentence, you can combine them in one note, separated by semicolons, rather than adding several note numbers in a row.
Notes and bibliography entries hold the same information but punctuate it differently. Notes use commas and parentheses and give the author's name in normal order; bibliography entries use full stops and reverse the first author's name.
Footnotes for Books
One author, full note: 1. Rose Hale, Rivers and Cities (Leeds: Northgate Press, 2016), 34.
Two authors: 2. Rose Hale and Tom Ward, Harbor Towns (Leeds: Northgate Press, 2018), 112.
Edited book chapter: 3. Ravi Bose, "The Drowned Market," in Stories of the Delta, ed. Kemi Adeyemi (Bristol: Harbor Books, 2015), 52.
Short note: 4. Hale, Rivers and Cities, 40.
All titles and publishers are invented to show the format. Notes following Chicago 17 include the place of publication; Chicago 18 makes it optional, so follow your edition.
Footnotes for Journal Articles and Websites
Journal article: 5. Abena Mensah, "Grain and Credit in Port Cities," Journal of Early Modern Trade 13, no. 2 (2017): 218, https://doi.org/10.xxxx/xxxxx.
Short note: 6. Mensah, "Grain and Credit," 221.
Website: 7. Lina Okonjo, "How Tides Shaped Harbor Towns," Ocean Matters, May 18, 2023, https://www.example.org/tides.
Short note: 8. Okonjo, "How Tides Shaped."
Article titles go in quotation marks; journal titles are italic. In a full note, give only the page you cite; the bibliography entry gives the article's full page range.
Short Notes and Ibid.
After the first full note, use a short note: the author's surname, a shortened title of up to four words and the page number.
Turabian 9 and Chicago 17 prefer short notes to "ibid." for consecutive citations of the same source, though ibid. remains acceptable if your instructor prefers it. If you use it, write "Ibid., 45." for a different page of the source in the previous note.
9. Hale, Rivers and Cities, 40.
10. Hale, Rivers and Cities, 42. (preferred)
10. Ibid., 42. (acceptable alternative)
Bibliography Entries
Book: Hale, Rose. Rivers and Cities. Leeds: Northgate Press, 2016.
Two authors: Hale, Rose, and Tom Ward. Harbor Towns. Leeds: Northgate Press, 2018.
Chapter: Bose, Ravi. "The Drowned Market." In Stories of the Delta, edited by Kemi Adeyemi, 45–67. Bristol: Harbor Books, 2015.
Journal article: Mensah, Abena. "Grain and Credit in Port Cities." Journal of Early Modern Trade 13, no. 2 (2017): 211–36. https://doi.org/10.xxxx/xxxxx.
Alphabetize by the first author's surname. For several works by one author, Chicago 17 and Turabian 9 repeat the name in each entry rather than using a dash; check your edition.
The Author-Date Alternative
In author-date style, citations appear in parentheses in the text and sources are listed in a reference list. The year moves straight after the author in the reference.
In text: (Hale 2016, 34)
Reference list: Hale, Rose. 2016. Rivers and Cities. Leeds: Northgate Press.
Note that Turabian author-date citations have no comma between author and year, unlike APA. Use this system only if your instructor or department asks for it. The two systems should never be mixed in one paper.
Author-date suits papers that cite many recent studies, because readers see at a glance how current the evidence is. Notes suit papers that discuss archival or primary sources in detail.
Turabian Versus Chicago
| Feature | Turabian | Chicago Manual of Style |
|---|---|---|
| Audience | Students writing papers, theses and dissertations | Authors, editors and publishers |
| Citation rules | Follows Chicago | The source of the rules |
| Paper formatting | Detailed guidance on title pages, margins and spacing | Mainly concerned with published works |
| Research and writing advice | Extensive | Limited |
Common Turabian Mistakes
| Mistake | Fix |
|---|---|
| Note number placed before the full stop | Place it after the punctuation: ...trade.1 |
| Full notes repeated for every citation | Use a short note after the first citation |
| Bibliography names in normal order | Reverse the first author's name: Hale, Rose. |
| Article page range in the note | Give only the page cited; the range goes in the bibliography |
| Mixing notes and parenthetical citations | Choose one system and use it throughout |
In practice, a paper formatted correctly in Turabian also follows Chicago's citation rules for the matching edition. Our free citation generator builds Chicago-style entries from a DOI, ISBN or URL.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Turabian follows Chicago's citation rules but adds guidance for students on formatting papers and theses. For citations, they match edition for edition.
Either, but footnotes are more common. Follow your instructor's preference.
Usually yes. A bibliography lists every source cited in your notes.
Give the author's surname, a shortened title of up to four words and the page number.
It is acceptable, but Turabian 9 prefers short notes for repeated citations.
Turabian single spaces each entry and leaves a blank line between entries, with a hanging indent.
Class papers usually have one. Follow your instructor's instructions.
The one your department specifies. The 9th edition follows Chicago 17; check whether your course has moved to a newer edition.
After the punctuation at the end of the clause or sentence, as a superscript. It goes before a dash, though, if the citation applies to the text before the dash.
A Turabian bibliography lists every source you cited and may also include important works you consulted. Many instructors prefer cited works only, so check their preference.