How to do footnotes in Turabian
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The Turabian Humanities style does not use parenthetical citations. Turabian Scientific, on the other hand, calls for parenthetical citations with no footnotes.
Learn the basics here, and then use our footnoter tool to automatically insert Turabian footnotes into your next paper.
Footnotes and parenthetical citation examples according to Turabian style.
For a book:
Your topic? The Cardiff Giant hoax that mesmerized America in the nineteenth century.
You write: It only took scientist O. C. Marsh twenty minutes to figure out the mystery of the giant, supposedly a three-hundred-year-old statue.
The footnote will look like this in Turabian Humanities–
Mark Jaffe, The Gilded Dinosaur: The Fossil War Between E.D. Cope and O.C. Marsh and the Rise of American Science, (New York: Crown Publishers, 2000), 1-8.
Here’s the Turabian Humanities abbreviated footnote format –
Jaffe, 1-8.
In Turabian Scientific, it will look like this –
It only took scientist O. C. Marsh twenty minutes to figure out the mystery of the giant, supposedly a three-hundred-year-old statue. (Jaffe 2000, 1-8)
For a book section:
Same topic. Same book. Somewhat different form.
The footnote will look like this in Turabian Humanities –
Mark Jaffe, "Chapter One," The Gilded Dinosaur: The Fossil War Between E.D. Cope and O.C. Marsh and the Rise of American Science, (New York: Crown Publishers, 2000), 1-8.
Here’s the Turabian Humanities abbreviated footnote format –
Jaffe, 1-8.
In Turabian Scientific, it will look like this –
It only took scientist O. C. Marsh twenty minutes to figure out the mystery of the giant, supposedly a three-hundred-year-old statue. (Jaffe 2000, 1-8)
For an encyclopedia:
You’re doing a paper that covers advances in medicine. In it, you use information from The Columbia Encyclopedia.
You write: The Human Genome Project was 83 percent complete in 2000 after ten years of mapping the twenty-three pairs of human chromosomes. Genes for such diseases as a type of breast cancer, cystic fibrosis, Huntington’s disease and neurofibromatosis were located.
The footnote will look like this in Turabian Humanities –
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth. "Human Genome Project."
Here’s the Turabian Humanities abbreviated footnote format –
Columbia University, 22847.
In Turabian Scientific, it will look like this –
The Human Genome Project was 83 percent complete in 2000 after ten years of mapping the twenty-three pairs of human chromosomes. Genes for such diseases as a type of breast cancer, cystic fibrosis, Huntington’s disease and neurofibromatosis were located. (Columbia University 2004, 22847)
For a journal item:
Slogging around for material on American war memorials, you happen across an American Forests journal item by Gabriela Rodrigues detailing Memorial Trees. These were planted to honor the soldiers of World War I and later the Second World War and victims of the 9-11 terrorist attacks.
You write: War memorials sometimes fall victim to neglect or vandalism. Thirty-three Memorial Trees planted in a small town in Pennsylvania in honor of veterans of World War I were almost toppled by chainsaws.
The footnote will look like this in Turabian Humanities –
Gabriela Rodrigues, "Preserving history by saving sycamores," American Forests.
Here’s the Turabian Humanities abbreviated footnote format –
Rodrigues.
In Turabian Scientific, it will look like this –
War memorials sometimes fall victim to neglect or vandalism. Thirty-three Memorial Trees planted in a small town in Pennsylvania in honor of veterans of World War I were almost toppled by chainsaws. (Rodrigues)
For a magazine article:
Your professor wants a paper on the great American political system. You’ve narrowed the topic to the 2008 presidential election. Still a large subject, you whittled even further to the campaign strategies of frontrunners Hillary Clinton and Rudolph Guiliani. You find an excellent article in The New Yorker on Rudy.
You write: Rudy Giuliani learned an important lesson about politicking from a real pro, longtime New York attorney general, Louis Lefkowitz. They were working the streets of Manhattan when a man questioned Guiliani on one of his positions, a position the man opposed. Giuliani spent a long time trying to change the man’s opinion. Finally Lefkowitz put his arm around the inexperienced candidate and said, “Hey kid, you’re not gonna get this guy’s vote.”
The footnote will look like this in Turabian Humanities –
Peter Boyer, "Mayberry Man: Why the heartland likes Rudy Giuliani," The New Yorker, 20 August 2007, 44-61.
Here’s the Turabian Humanities abbreviated footnote format –
Boyer, 44-61.
In Turabian Scientific, it will look like this –
Rudy Giuliani learned an important lesson about politicking from a real pro, longtime New York attorney general, Louis Lefkowitz. They were working the streets of Manhattan when a man questioned Guiliani on one of his positions, a position the man opposed. Giuliani spent a long time trying to change the man’s opinion. Finally Lefkowitz put his arm around the inexperienced candidate and said, “Hey kid, you’re not gonna get this guy’s vote.” (Boyer 2007, 44-61)
For a newspaper article:
In a paper examining the problems faced by the airline industry, you bring up the August 2007 Los Angeles International Airport computer snafu.
You write: Planes were held up for hours because of glitch in the United States Customs and Border Protection agency’s computers. Seventeen thousand passengers were affected all because of a network card in a desktop computer that wasn’t working properly.
You picked this up from a New York Times article.
The footnote will look like this in Turabian Humanities –
John Schwartz, "Who Needs Hackers?," New York Times, 12 September 2007, H1, H6.
Here’s the Turabian Humanities abbreviated footnote format –
Schwartz, H1, H6.
In Turabian Scientific, it will look like this –
Planes were held up for hours because of glitch in the United States Customs and Border Protection agency’s computers. Seventeen thousand passengers were affected all because of a network card in a desktop computer that wasn’t working properly. (Schwartz 2007, H1, H6)
For a Web site:
Your paper deals with how to get fit. You examine different devices and their promises of firmer thighs and so on. You conclude that the best way to get your body looking better is to work out more and properly.
As an example, you use abdominal exercises.
You write: Many people fall for the ab stimulators. They’re good in physical therapy for soft-tissue injuries. Pretty much useless for working your abs. Instead, do a circuit of exercises that include knee touches, ankle smacks, hip thrusts, butterfly sit-ups, and others.
You discovered all this information on a YouTube page.
The footnote will look like this in Turabian Humanities –
Jackdanyells, "How to workout Your Abs Without Buying Stupid Crap," http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrUUEujszlY [10 September 2007].
Turabian Humanities does not abbreviate footnotes for Web sites.
In Turabian Scientific, it will look like this –
(Jackdanyells How to workout Your Abs Without Buying Stupid Crap http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrUUEujszlY Sep 10, 2007)
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