Citation, Documentation of Sources

Q. Hello. Does CMOS have a recommended format for citing your own work? Some of our students do get permission to cite their previous papers/essays, and I can’t find a proper format to follow. Thanks.

A. Students would cite their own work as if they were referring to themselves in the third person—or as someone else would cite them. Assuming these previous papers or essays are unpublished, follow the format for citing an unpublished manuscript (see CMOS 14.216). For example,

Smith, Jamelle. “Bartleby’s Refusal as Gen X Flex.” Unpublished manuscript, August 3, 2021.

In the text, however, the student would use a form of the first person to refer to or quote this earlier work:

In “Bartleby’s Refusal as Gen X Flex,” I suggest that . . . [not Smith suggests that]