Q. Hello, how do I cite an electronic thesis that I found on the web?
A. Cite this as you would any other dissertation (see CMOS 14.113 for examples), but include a URL. For documents retrieved from a commercial database, give the name of the database and add, in parentheses, any identification number supplied or recommended by the database.
[This answer relies on the 18th edition of CMOS (2024) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I found a nice comment written in a book by the last owner. Have no idea who that was, but the words are good. How do I cite this?
A. Unfortunately, you’re stuck with “I saw this written in a book.” You could mention the date you saw it, if it matters, but there’s little point to citing the book unless it’s in some way relevant.
[This answer relies on the 18th edition of CMOS (2024) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I am teaching my students CMOS notes and bibliography type for all of their academic papers. When using footnotes on a paper the student did the full bibliographic citation on page 1. Then on page 2 there was a reference to the same source. Is it correct to allow the student to simply use author-date for that subsequent citation? Or is it more correct for the student to repeat the full bibliographic citation?
A. Chicago prefers shortened citations after the first full mention. CMOS 13.21 and the examples that follow will give you a solid overview of notes-bibliography style that will help you teach your students. And our Citation Quick Guide includes examples of shortened citations (author, title, page) for each full note.
[This answer relies on the 18th edition of CMOS (2024) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I am using the author-date system for a book. I need to cite a response from a survey that was done after a workshop. The survey results were never published and the responses are anonymous.
A. You can write, “Unpublished survey with anonymous responses”—although I’m afraid that doesn’t sound very authoritative. If it has a date and if someone admits to having administered it, those could be your author and date.
[This answer relies on the 18th edition of CMOS (2024) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I am writing a scholarly book and the publisher has explicitly indicated that it does not want numerous endnotes, long endnotes, discursive endnotes, or cross-citations. In providing a gloss of various texts in the scholarly literature in my introduction, I have provided the complete author’s name, the title, and date of the book within the running text. To add a note would be redundant. Is this an acceptable way to satisfy both the publisher and the scholarly readers?
A. Many scholars expect to be told who published the book in addition to what you’ve listed. But if a bibliography (or reference list) is included, then your short text citations should be sufficient.
[This answer relies on the 18th edition of CMOS (2024) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I am copyediting a scholarly text in which there are many excerpts from Italian correspondence, each followed by the author’s translation in parentheses. She has placed the note number (for the source) after the translation, rather than after the original, and has made it clear in an early note that all translations are hers unless stated. Is the note number placement correct? My inclination would be to put the number after the original text.
A. You’re right—since the note contains a source for the original, the note number goes with the original.
[This answer relies on the 18th edition of CMOS (2024) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. How do I cite in text two works in the same year by authors with the same surname? I have (MacDonald 1999) for both K. A. MacDonald and R. H. MacDonald, each of whom wrote an article that year. It seems awkward to refer to them as (e.g.) “R. MacDonald” when I’ve given none of the other authors a first initial.
A. It may strike you as awkward, but it is conventional in such cases to clarify by adding initials or full names if necessary. Please see CMOS 13.116: “Where two or more works by different authors with the same last name are listed in a reference list, the text citation must include an initial (or two initials or a given name if necessary).”
[This answer relies on the 18th edition of CMOS (2024) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. How do I cite a website page that is not available anymore? I must cite a YouTube video that is an essential part of my research, but the link is now extinct. Thank you!
A. Assuming you can’t find the video elsewhere, give the link and the date you accessed the video. Then add, in parentheses, the fact that the video is no longer available at that link. See also CMOS 14.104.
[This answer relies on the 18th edition of CMOS (2024) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Can it be considered acceptable to use endnotes for some of the chapters of an edited volume (conference proceedings) and footnotes for others? After selecting a great design for layout where notes are placed in a narrow side column, we laid out about a quarter of the text and then discovered that some chapters have such extensive notes that they need to be made into chapter endnotes. We don’t want to change the overall design for a number of reasons. What we’d like to do is retain the side notes in the chapters for which they work, and use chapter endnotes in the chapters where side notes don’t work. Is it more important to maintain consistency in this situation than to preserve our design?
A. Your proposal preserves neither consistency nor design. If a design doesn’t serve the work, it should be modified until it works. I’m sorry that you’re left with this dilemma! A more thorough review of the entire manuscript before choosing a design would have prevented it. Readers are better served by consistency in collections like this; otherwise, they find themselves constantly searching for the notes.
[This answer relies on the 18th edition of CMOS (2024) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. How would you recommend citing a note which occurs in the front matter of a book on a page numbered with Roman numerals? Following the advice in CMOS, my troublesome page reference in the footnote would be xviiin1. Looks odd, no? And a bit hard to interpret for any but the editorial in-crowd?
A. It does look odd. You can prevent confusion by spelling out the abbreviation: xviii, note 1; at the very least, add a space before the n: xviii n1 (see CMOS 14.56). Regardless, be sure to let your copyeditor in on the strategy.
[This answer relies on the 18th edition of CMOS (2024) unless otherwise noted.]