Q. I am using documents from a Civil War Military Service Record, Pension file, and Bounty Land Warrant in several reports.
I was able to obtain photocopies of these records from the National Archive. How do I footnote these primary sources and how
should the bibliography information for them be given? Do I use the Public Documents format or the Unpublished Material format?
For example, I was able to discover my subject’s first and second wives were fighting over his pension
from a Department of Interior, Bureau of Pensions, record card and several affidavits. Would I give the year I obtained the
records, as with an electronic source, since the date some of these records were created is unknown? Thank you.
A. Your sources could be styled either way. When CMOS doesn’t cover a particular type of citation, our hope is that writers will be able to extrapolate from
the examples of similar sources and create a reasonable format. Try to style similar citations in the same way. Don’t
worry about finding some “correct” way to style such sources. Following the sequence
of more conventional citations (author first, then title, and so on) will help readers find what they’re
looking for. The important thing is to be clear and include the information that your readers will need to understand the
citation and locate the source, if it still exists. If you think extra information would be helpful, by all means add it.
Annotate in sentence style if you can’t think of any other place to put leftover information.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. What is the correct way to list exhibition catalogues in a bibliography? I have seen them listed in so many different ways that I am confused. I don’t really want to draw particular attention to the editors, but some lists alphabetize exhibition catalogues according to the names of the editors. Other times, authors’ names are used, but that seems to mean that one of the authors is also an editor. I have even seen listings under the name of the sponsoring museum. What is the correct way to do this? Grazie.
A. Chicago style treats an exhibition catalog like any other published book. Like books, catalogs may be listed by title, if the bibliographer thinks the editor is not particularly relevant to the discussion or known to readers. Please see the example in CMOS 14.236.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. How would one cite an interview?
A. Please see CMOS 14.211: “Unpublished interviews are best cited in text or in notes, though they occasionally appear in bibliographies. Citations should include the names of both the person interviewed and the interviewer; brief identifying information, if appropriate; the place or date of the interview (or both, if known); and, if a transcript or recording is available, where it may be found. Permission to quote may be needed; see chapter 4.” Here’s an example:
1. Benjamin Spock, interview by Milton J. E. Senn, November 20, 1974, interview 67A, transcript, Senn Oral History Collection, National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Hello. I have a question regarding reviews. In the 15th edition of CMOS, 17.202 addresses the citation of a review in a newspaper. I was wondering about the format of a review in a periodical. How do you treat a review with a title? Thank you so much.
Q. How do you cite quotations in the paragraph and in the endnote or footnote?
Q. In our reference section, websites will not show dates (of access or site creation). Where would you then place a website
entry (without a date) within an alphabetized entry that has numerous em-dash entries by the same author? Thank you.
A. Chicago style uses n.d. to mean “no date” at the beginning of such an entry.
You can put all the n.d. items together at the top or bottom of that author’s works, arranged in alphabetical
order by title.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Hi. I need to list resources in many documents, and sometimes URL listings are not enough. How can I find author information at websites?
A. Are you asking how to find out who is the author of a given website? I’m afraid I can’t help you—if the owner of the site hasn’t posted his or her name, I don’t think there’s any way to know. It’s just one of the reasons that some internet documents may not be suitable for citing in careful research.
Update from another reader: If you want to find out the owner of a website (its domain) you can look it up using the Whois database from InterNIC. It will tell you who owns the domain name. While it may not tell the person doing the search who is the author of a particular article, it will give contact information for the owner of the domain, such as his or her email address, and that person may be able to answer questions such as who is the author of a particular article.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I would like to quote a sentence from my textbook that was initially a quote from another source. Which source do I cite? Do I cite my textbook or the original source (or both)?
A. Please see CMOS 14.260: “To cite a source from a secondary source (‘quoted in . . .’) is generally to be discouraged, since authors are expected to have examined the works they cite. If an original source is unavailable, however, both the original and the secondary source must be listed.” Here’s an example:
1. Louis Zukofsky, “Sincerity and Objectification,” Poetry 37 (February 1931): 269, quoted in Bonnie Costello, Marianne Moore: Imaginary Possessions (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1981), 78.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I was wondering how I would cite an educational movie. Thank you.
A. CMOS doesn’t answer this question, but it’s one of the most frequently asked. I’m
getting the impression that research papers are a lot more fun than they used to be. When you cite a book, you include author
or editor, title, place of publication, and year. So for a movie, you could treat the director like an editor, and style it
something like this:
Movie Title. Directed by Mary Smith. Hollywood, CA: Bigshot Productions, 2004.
When you have to deal with odd citations, just include all the information you think your readers will want or need, and
don’t worry too much about how to style the bits that don’t fit into the conventional
format. Try to style similar citations in the same way.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. How many lines of a published poem or song may be quoted in an article or book manuscript without having to obtain the author or lyric writer’s permission? And, what if the author or lyric writer is deceased?
A. The legalities of quoting poetry and music lyrics—even just a line or two—are very strict and complex. If you don’t have knowledge of them yourself, you should work closely with your publisher to make sure permissions are in order. (CMOS, chapter 4, presents an overview of rights and permissions issues.)
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]