Q. Dear CMOS: In making bibliographic entries, I am not finding a way to call attention to multilingual publications. It would be of great value to my international audience to know that the text of the publication is translated into two, three, or four languages. I worry that it is not clear which language is used in the text, or that the entirety of the text is presented in multiple languages. How could this be accomplished?
A. You could write after the citation something like “Includes translations into French, Spanish, and German.”
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Concerning the author-date system of references, we use in-text citations and many times in-text citations end up in footnotes. Some authors will write “See Author1 2011, 123–34, and Author2 2000, and Author3 2004.” Others would write “See Author1 (2011, 123–34), and Author2 (2000), and Author3 (2004).” Which is correct?
A. Both styles are popular and conform to Chicago style guidelines. Please see CMOS 15.21–31, for many examples. Semicolons work well in place of and.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. CMOS gives a way to cite a book with two subtitles: by using a colon and then a semicolon between the three pieces of the title. What if the book I want to cite already has a colon printed between the first and second subtitles (no punctuation between title and first subtitle)? Is it okay to insert a colon between the title and first subtitle, then change the printed colon to a semicolon between the first and second subtitle?
A. When you say that there is no punctuation between the title and subtitle, it sounds as though you’re looking at a book cover or title page. Punctuation in a citation is not based on covers and title pages (“display type”), because there often isn’t any punctuation there. In display, the title is often set on its own line and given special treatment, like larger type or color, which conveys to the reader where the title stops and the subtitle begins.
Short answer: yes, in a citation you must insert punctuation to convey where the title ends and where the first subtitle ends. Check the Library of Congress information on the copyright page to confirm your impression. (The various subtitles will be separated by colons there; in your citation, you can change a colon between two subtitles to a semicolon.)
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Titles of works should be italicized, but on social media sites (e.g., Facebook, Instagram) text cannot be formatted. In social posts, is it best to leave titles of works Roman? Or do you recommend another way to designate titles of works using only plain text?
A. You can use “quotation marks” or ALL CAPS, or write _Title_ or *Title*.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I am editing a series of essays (18th century to present) that have been translated from the French and, later in the series, from other languages. Naturally, word meanings have changed over time. Also, English words and French words, for example, might come from the same root but do not have the same meaning—even in the same century. The translator’s notes on language are copious. He has been numbering them as footnotes, but CMOS says they should be asterisks, not numbers. If there are more than three translator’s notes per page (a quick review shows 8 on some pages), the number of asterisks will be unwieldy. Please advise!
A. Use only one asterisk per page; subsequent translator’s notes should use other symbols, in the traditional sequence (* † ‡), doubling the symbols if there are more than four notes. Please see CMOS 14.25. There are several other ways to integrate translator’s notes into those of the original. Please see CMOS 14.51 for the other methods.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Hi! I have a citation question. Text B included an excerpt of Text A, which the author of Text B translated. The translation exists only within Text B; it’s not in any other published work. I want to cite the translation. When doing so, do I need to include Text B in the citation? Or, do I simply cite Text A as translated by author of Text B?
A. If I understand you correctly, you are citing a passage found in Text B and written by Author B which happens to be a translation of someone else’s text. Thus you must credit Author B in addition to Author A.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. When citing a source in Urdu for a dissertation in English do I need to transliterate with diacritics (in the notes and in the bibliography) the name of the author and the place of publishing and publication house? If so, how should I write an author’s name in the bibliography when I have two or more publications by the same author, in both English and Urdu?
A. The question isn’t whether you need to, but whether your readers will understand and benefit from having the information in more than one form and whether they would be inconvenienced by not having it. Once you’ve figured out what your readers want, you can give it to them. To give an author’s name in more than one form, you can annotate or cross-reference as you see fit:
J. Smith [Q. Urdublik]
or
Smith, J. See also Urdublik, Q.
For rendering the place-name of the publishing house, see CMOS 14.131: “Current, commonly used English names . . . are usually preferred whenever such forms exist.” (We would check Merriam-Webster.) Otherwise, include the Urdu diacriticals and make sure the place-name styling is consistent throughout your notes and bibliography.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Can a citation be too long? And how do you know if it is?
A. If you run out of paper? If your computer crashes? (Is this a trick question?) A citation is probably too long if it looks silly or contains more information than necessary. You are probably the best judge of this.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. When writing a paper, do you footnote information that you have learned in multiple sources?
A. If what you learned is common knowledge, then there’s no need to cite sources, but if it’s something that most people would need to look up or that different sources treat differently, then you should identify which sources you used. Obviously, this calls for judgment and partly depends on who your readers are and what you can expect them to know. For help with student papers, please see our free student pages.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I’m wondering how to style a webinar series name and the title of an episode in that series. Should the series name be italicized and the episode title be in quotes?
A. CMOS is silent, but your suggestion is one possibility. Or you could make the series title roman like book series titles and titles of academic courses.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]