Q. I have a question about copyright notices in image credit lines. CMOS 3.32 says that credit lines “occasionally” require a copyright date, but I’m not sure when they do and when they don’t. The first example doesn’t have a copyright date, while the second example, which is formatted identically in other respects, does. Is this determined by the permission grantor, or are there other factors involved?
A. It is indeed determined by the permission grantor, who may specify that the copyright date be included in the credit line. For advice on a specific situation that isn’t clear, please consult an attorney who specializes in intellectual property law.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. If a portion of a book is quoted in text and the author and the name of the book are given in the text (e.g., “Sensory perception is a matter of selectively throwing away information,” write Terry Bossomaier and David Green in their book Patterns in the Sand), is there a need for an endnote, as well?
A. You do need a complete citation when you quote someone else’s work in text. It needn’t be in the form of an endnote, but an endnote (or footnote) is an excellent way to add the publication information (city, publisher, date) and page or location number of the quotation if you can’t squeeze it all into the text.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Is there any acceptable way for an author to distinguish between endnotes that convey additional information and those that simply provide a reference citation? I get very tired of chasing down a dozen who-cares citations to occasionally glean a gem of real information.
A. It’s fairly common for writers of scholarly books to use footnotes for discursive material and endnotes for citations. But to flag two different types of endnotes somehow in the text? That seems potentially fussy and confusing.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. In an essay, an author cited a report by an organization that has, since that report, changed its name, and later the author cited a second report written and published by the organization under its new name. Should the entries in References be under two different names, or both under the new name, perhaps with the first including a note such as, “Formerly . . .”?
A. The author should cite each report under the name that appears on the report. Annotating the new name with “Formerly . . .” is a good idea. Add blind entries in the reference list, if necessary:
New Name. See also Old Name
Old Name. See also New Name
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Chicago is very clear on the styling of editor- or author-translated titles in notes, but the examples provided are all books with italicized titles. In the case of a paper where the foreign title is enclosed in double quotes, is the bracketed translation placed before or after the closing quotes?
A. A translation would be placed within the quotation marks only if it were actually part of the title. You can find examples of bracketed translations of titles in quotation marks at CMOS 14.99.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Hello. I’m organizing a bibliography with multiple sources from the same author, including several introductions she’s written. Would all the introductions be alphabetized under I for Introduction?
A. Yes, and then all the introductions should be sorted into alphabetical order by book or article title. See CMOS 14.110 for how to style a bibliography entry for a book introduction.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I’m editing a dissertation that quotes letters and interviews and other private documents. I understand that authors’ names in the bibliography do not include clerical titles such as Father, Bishop, and Archbishop. Does that apply to footnotes as well? And should the clerical titles be omitted for the recipients of the letters? Given that the dissertation concerns all manner of ecclesiastical matters, it includes many references to clergy at all levels of the hierarchy.
A. You were right to inquire! In scholarship, it’s much more important to include information that is relevant to the work than to follow a style guide’s preferences. Style must accommodate the work, not the other way around. As you suspect, in a dissertation concerning ecclesiastical matters, the titles of people can be very important, indicating their place in the clerical hierarchy, their manners, their viewpoints, or their power relative to the addressee. If the writer included them, they should not be removed without consultation, and the writer’s wish to keep them should take precedence over a style preference.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I am writing a long research paper, and in almost every page the footnotes take up nearly half the page. Most of my sources have URLs with them; am I allowed to take out all of the URLs in the footnotes if they are included in my bibliography?
A. You should ask your instructor what’s allowed, but as far as Chicago is concerned, footnotes may consist of short citations (author, short title, page number) when there’s a bibliography to provide full citations. Please see CMOS 14.23.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Many online journals are switching from continuous pagination of their articles to assigning each article a number. I’m working with a company that wants to incorporate these article numbers in their citations. Where would the article number go in the citation?
A. Since CMOS is silent on this, it’s up to you, but logic would suggest that article numbers come after volume numbers.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I am editing a paper and changing the citations into Chicago style. The sentence in question reads: “In terms of the transition from a sociology of labour, there has been enough uptake to allow for such assessments (see Lier 2007; Castree 2007; Coe and Lier 2011; Rutherford 2010; and Coe 2013 for a more recent review).” How would I cite this in Chicago?
A. This is your lucky day: they are already in Chicago style! Please see CMOS 15.30 (“Multiple text references”) for a similar example.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]