You Could Look It Up
Q. Dear CMOS, What is the proper way to cite computer software or computer programs? Should the name of the software be italicized, or should it have quotation marks? I wasn’t able to find this information on the CMOS website.
A. If you are a subscriber to CMOS Online, please see section 7.81: “Proper names of computer hardware, software, networks, systems, and languages are capitalized.” A good way to find things in CMOS Online is to use the index. This information, for instance, is found under “computer software.” (Looking under “software,” one is directed to “computer software.”) You can also type “software” into the search box and scroll through the list of results until you see the context you’re looking for. Although content at this level of detail is accessible only to subscribers, you can find the most common citation styles at our free Web-site “Quick Guide” (http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html ).
