Documentation
from Chicago
at http://www.subversivecopye
ditor.com/blog/.
Q. I have a question about citing journal articles that are in print but have only been accessed online, where the online version is a PDF identical to the print version. CMOS states that you need to cite the stable URL or the database you used. What is wrong with citing the page number of the print version as it appears on the PDF, if all things are identical? Answer »
Q. Is there text in CMOS that explains that placing a footnote number or symbol at the nearest point of punctuation—rather than at the precise point of reference—will not mislead the reader? I know I have seen such an explanation, but I cannot find it in CMOS 15th ed. If it no longer appears in CMOS, can you point me to a source? Answer »
Q. Please, please settle this question about questions for me! A colleague insists that the following construction does not require a question mark: “I had to consult an authority. What would The Chicago Manual of Style say.” Another example: “I got a new bike. How cool is that.” CMOS 15 indicates that a question mark is not required for indirect or courtesy questions, but a question, even if it is not being asked of someone in dialogue, is still a question. Who’s right? Answer »
Q. Dear CMS staff: We are editing a multiauthor scientific book. One of the authors is dedicating his chapter to someone. Generally, a dedication is part of prelims and belongs to the entire book. I could not find any style for this kind of case. Could you please suggest how to set this line? Answer »
Q. Are there any conventions yet for citing a text on Kindle? That is, because the type size is variable, there are no page numbers in a Kindle edition; instead, there is a running locator at the bottom of each screen. I’m wondering whether it would be permissible to cite these location numbers rather than look up my quotes in a hard copy of the text. Answer »
Q. How would I format an endnote citing a table published in an online census report? Is it necessary to include the table title, and would all of this go after the access date, or after the title and before the website? Answer »
Q. Dear Manual of Style : My friend and I are having a disagreement about whether or not “smoking gun” must be hyphenated when used as an adjective (i.e., smoking-gun evidence vs. smoking gun evidence). He believes that it is appropriate to hyphenate, citing rule 7.90 of CMOS 15. I believe that when the hyphen is unnecessary to help a reader differentiate a compound adjective from two adjacent adjectives that each independently modify the noun, it is unnecessary to hyphenate (e.g., chocolate chip cookie, high school teacher). Which one of us is correct? Answer »
Q. I recently mailed a flyer to my tour group and used the phrase “The Pavilion houses the museum’s collection of Japanese works dating from around 3000 b.c. to the twentieth century,” which I had copied from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art web page. After I clicked the Send button I realized the b.c. was in lowercase. Should I email a correction to the museum staff? Answer »
Q. When doing footnotes, do you put a footnote after every sentence, even if two or more consecutive sentences are from the same source and same page? Or can it be assumed that, regardless of the punctuation (as long as it is in the same paragraph), all that came after the last citation and before the footnote you just inserted is part of the same source and same page? Answer »
Q. Our students often use primary source documents, and now that there are many online archives, we have a wide variety of sources from which to choose. I am trying to create a style sheet for some of the more difficult citations, and I have discovered one that does not seem to fit cleanly into any example. The website is actually an HTML version of a periodical/journal article from 1924. The periodical is part of a special collection archive housed at a university archive. Do I cite it as a periodical and leave out the university archive connection? Do I cite it as a website and leave out the periodical/journal information? There does not seem to be an example that would let me include both the archive connection and the journal information. Answer »
Q. If one wished to refer to a particular published article a number of times in one’s own writing, how would one abbreviate the title, since titles can be lengthy? For example, I see an article: “To Dissect or Not: Student Choice-in-Dissection Laws Ensure the Freedom to Choose,” published in volume 37, number 2, of the April 2008 edition of Journal of Law & Education, from the University of South Carolina. How would one concisely refer to said title? Answer »
Q. I am assisting with the editing of a book. Several sources have been used, and the author would like to include others as suggested reading. For the sake of space, he would like to have just one bibliographic list. Is that acceptable? If so, should any type of notation be made indicating which books were actually used for research? Answer »
Q. If a book I am citing is in its second edition but was originally translated from German, do I combine all the editions in the bibliography, or do I list all three separately? Answer »
Q. In a self-published novel, do you need the permission of a certain company to mention a product name/brand or other trademarked title? Answer »
Q. I am editing a nonfiction manuscript of interviews with several fiction writers. The author uses ellipses (fairly often) to indicate a long pause in speech or thought. Is this a correct use of ellipses? How do you differentiate between long pauses and omissions of some lines within the transcribed conversation? Answer »
Q. I want to cite one of George Orwell’s books in my bibliography. Given that we are dealing with a pseudonym, does the citation go under “Orwell, George” or “Blair, Eric Arthur [George Orwell]”? Answer »
Q. This has become a huge issue with our professors. I am the thesis processor for the school and have stated that “Ibid.” should not be the first footnote on a page. The cited work could be two or more pages back. Does Chicago have a rule on this? The academics state that they have never heard of this, but to me it makes perfect sense for the reader to not have to go back to see what the source was. Please help! Answer »
Q. My book has three parts, and each part contains several chapters. Here is the question: do I need to give full publishing information in each new chapter for items cited earlier in the same part, or can I use the short version of citing (as I do within each chapter)? Answer »
Q. When using foreign-language archival sources, what parts of the citation should be translated into English and what parts should be left in the original language? The name of the organization where the archive is kept (Indonesian Ministry of Culture)? The name of the archive (Dutch East India Company Archive) or the section of the archive (Police Reports)? The descriptive title of the document (“report on the reorganization of the regional police force by Chief of Police S. L. Scheepmaker, chapter 2”)? In all these cases, the original language can make it easier for other researchers to find the document if they wish. But including the translation makes it easier for readers to understand the nature of the source. Answer »
Q. Hi! I am working on a white paper using results from a company survey that has not been published. We generally footnote statistics and data (including citations from internal reports to show that we are not making the information up) in white papers. But do I even need a footnote since this thing isn’t published and it’s owned by my company? Is it enough to describe the survey in the body copy? Answer »
Q. I am using Bible passages in an essay and I cannot seem to understand how to properly cite. What do I do about page numbers, as the professor will not likely use the same edition as me? Answer »
Q. How does one create a reference for a work currently at press? I know the title, journal, volume, and number, but not the pages. Answer »
Q. I am summarizing a book as part of a research paper. Am I required to cite ideas at the end of every paragraph or can one citation serve for the whole book? Answer »
Q. I am writing a history paper using three articles. If I am talking about one and source it, and then in the next sentence talk about it again, do I just keep re-sourcing it again and again? Answer »
Q. If I have multiple citations from the same author on the same page, how do I write the footnote? Do I list each separately? Abbreviate them? Answer »
Q. I am a history minor, and in my paper I put citations at the end of paragraphs, unless otherwise needed. A professor wants me to cite virtually every paragraph. He even wants me to cite information that is general knowledge, saying that not citing these things would be plagiarism. What is generally accepted when citing in a scholarly paper? Answer »
Q. Is there a proper way to cite a classic such as Tacitus when I am using a Web version without page or line numbers? Answer »
Q. I recently wrote an essay and used some information that my adult son gave me, and when I told him I was using it, he said I had to cite him. In my view, if you give birth to a source and he’s still living under your roof, you don’t have to cite him. What’s your view? Answer »
