Q. How many works to include in a single citation? The following in-text citation includes too many works, to my taste: (Hong & Kuo 1999; Holton 2001; Rowden 2001; Reichert 1998; Gravin 1994; Holt et al. 2000; Griego et al. 2000; Thomsen & Hoest 2001; Goh 2003; Porth et al. 1999; Gardiner & Whiting 1997; Watkins & Marsick 1998). Does anyone have a rule that can be helpful in deciding (1) how many works are too many? (2) what you do with the works that have to be deleted? Suggest incorporating them elsewhere?
A. Author-date style can get ugly, and your wish to trim this string is understandable. But the right number of works is however many works the writer needs to list in support of the point she is making. It’s not a good idea for an editor to whittle down a writer’s source citations. Readers in the disciplines that use author-date style are used to being interrupted by it; they seem to appreciate the economical delivery of the information.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Using the notes and bibliography style of citation, how does one cite a 1972 reprint of a Government Printing Office publication of a collection of Native American treaties in a freestanding publication entitled Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties, 7 vols.? Charles Kappler served as editor for at least volume 2, which is the only one that I have used. Volumes 1 and 2 were originally published in 1904, though the entire set has a date range of 1904–1980.
A. CMOS treats reprints at 14.114, authors and editors of multivolume works at 14.122, and public documents that are freestanding publications at 14.291. That’s a lot to juggle, but using the examples at those locations, you can fashion something reasonable. In a note citation, it’s not necessary to provide information about the entire multivolume series; it’s enough to cite the volume you are referencing: Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties, vol. 2, ed. Charles Kappler (1904; repr., Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1972).
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. When using the author-date method, how do you cite a special issue of a journal (one that has an issue title and editor)? In particular, how is the title of the special issue formatted: quotation marks, italics, capitalized?
A. Chicago styles the title of a special journal issue in roman type with quotation marks and headline caps. Please see the examples at CMOS 14.178.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I am editing a book on a Western painter, and the author insists on including birth and death dates for every person cited,
which makes for very bumpy and annoying reading. I’d like to include the dates in footnotes to make
the reading smoother, but does this lessen the academic value of the text?
A. On the contrary. If this is a trade book, the writer might fear that footnotes will look too academic and turn off readers.
Try to find out why the writer objects. If the objection is to footnotes per se, try for endnotes. If the objection is to
moving the dates out of the text, then you’re probably stuck.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. For title-within-a-title purposes, is a newspaper like a book or like a ship? That is, in an imaginary title in italics such as All That Fits: A History of Advertising in the New York Times, would the newspaper’s name be italic and placed within quotes (as a book’s title would) or set roman (i.e., in reverse italics) (as a ship’s name would)? It strikes me that a case can be made for either approach.
A. Although a newspaper is obviously more like a ship, a newspaper title is after all a title of a published work, so in your imaginary book title New York Times should appear in quotation marks: All That Fits: A History of Advertising in the “New York Times.”
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I don’t see anything in your online guide about how to cite art exhibition catalogs. I frequently need to cite them. Did I miss it in the guide? If not, would you consider adding it to your guide? It would be helpful. Thanks.
A. Exhibition catalogs are cited like books. Please see CMOS 14.236. You can find this in the index under both “exhibitions” and “catalogs” or by typing either of those words into the Search box. (We’re teaching how to fish today.)
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. My library shelves are full. I need to make some difficult decisions to make space for new arrivals. Is there any reason
to keep my CMOS 14th and 15th editions?
A. What a question. If you had more children, would you give away your firstborn? Find a board and build another shelf.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. For a dissertation using Chicago style (notes and bibliography version), do you recommend that websites be listed in a discrete section of the bibliography, apart from publications?
A. Although CMOS stops short of recommending it, there are times when it might be helpful. Please see paragraph 14.63 for guidance on deciding whether to divide a bibliography into sections.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I am editing an anthology in which the authors have written essays responding to a document. This document has been previously
published as a brochure and now will be published as part of the anthology. How should they cite quotations from the document?
A. Something like “p. xii, above” or “appendix A, p. 113”
should do it. (The page numbers will have to be entered after typesetting.)
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I have scanned a textbook with the information I need for a paper, but I forgot to scan the page numbers. I looked up the
book online and found the table of contents, so I can document the page numbers for the entire chapters, but I only scanned
selective pages. How can I cite in the footnotes without a page number?
A. There’s no way to do this right without page numbers; your citations will lack important information.
If your goal is important to you (getting an A? getting published?), you’re going to have to locate
the original source again.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]