Q. Browsing both the 15th and 16th editions for citation rules, I don’t see instruction on how to cite live performance. Given that performance studies, dance/theater criticism, and musicology/ethnomusicology are established disciplines, and that observing live performance is a necessary research method, I don’t see why that source (and its creators/producers) should not be cited.
A. It’s not that Chicago rejects live performance as a legitimate source; there simply isn’t room for examples of every kind. If live performances are the backbone of your research, the lack of a citation form in CMOS should not prevent you from citing them. You can mimic the standard order of citation elements (performer, title, place, date) or order them in a way that makes sense for your work, such as chronologically for works by the same person.
[Update: CMOS now covers how to cite live performances. See the 17th edition, paragraphs 14.266 and 15.57.]
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I have an examiner of a doctoral thesis criticizing footnotes because they renumber at every new chapter, starting at 1. Presumably he wants them to flow from one (1) to the last number sequentially through the entire thesis. Who is right?
A. Many universities have strict rules and formats for dissertations, so it’s possible that the examiner had no choice in the matter. Almost all the books that we publish at the University of Chicago restart the numbering of notes (whether footnotes or endnotes) at 1 at the beginning of each chapter. Rarely do the notes number all the way through a book. That said, there’s no single “correct” way; it’s simply a matter of style.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. How does one cite a translation of a translation?
A. You could model your citation after the examples in CMOS 14.99. If your data doesn’t fit into the example exactly, just try to make sure that (1) you get all the information in, (2) the format mimics other citations in your document, and (3) readers will be able to understand it and track it down for themselves.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. What is the difference between a discussion and an interview? I am putting endnotes into a book by an investigative journalist who has conducted several interviews, but it appears that the examples given in the manual under the interview section are for discussions. Is a discussion less formal? For instance, without a set time and date?
A. Generally speaking, a discussion is a less formal and less scripted talk or debate between two or more equal participants where either no one is in charge or there is a moderator, whereas an interview is more formally conducted by a person who asks questions, sometimes from a prepared list, although interviews can also be informal and spontaneous. There is no doubt some overlap between the two. CMOS 14.211 shows examples of citations of an interview (notes 8 and 9) as well as of a discussion.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I am copyediting a translation of a scholarly book. The translator and editor have decided to use two sets of notes: the author’s notes, set as footnotes and numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals; and the translator’s notes, set as endnotes and numbered consecutively in Roman numerals. Both the author’s and translator’s notes are quite lengthy, but especially the translator’s notes. The translator and editor do not wish to use symbols for the author’s notes, but having two sets of numbered references in the text seems awkward and somewhat confusing. Is there any other method one might use in such a case as this?
A. Although this isn’t an impossible arrangement, the vision of roman numeral note callouts is a bit icky.xxxviii A better option might be to suppress numbers/symbols for the translator endnotes and instead key them to phrases in the text (see CMOS 14.53). Or you could set all the notes (both author and translator) as endnotes (or footnotes) numbered in a single set, identifying notes written by the translator with a tag such as “—Trans.”
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. When citing a book, is it correct to list the state as part of the publication place, if it is not published in a major city? What about a city that shares a name with a more famous one, such as London, Ohio?
A. Include the state if you think it isn’t obvious. If the publisher is a state university, it’s obvious. Cincinnati is obvious; London, Ohio, is not. In many cases it will be a judgment call. The decision, like so many others in writing and editing, should not be made according to some idea of what is “correct.” Rather, it must be made according to what is logical and helpful.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. In an informal meeting with a colleague she mentioned a statistic that is of great help with my master’s thesis. How do I cite in text as well as in the bibliography this oral information?
A. A bibliography is better suited for published works than for conversations and informal sources. To cite your friend in the text or in a note, give her name and the date and place. Please see CMOS 14.214 for examples of such citations. (Ideally, you will also be able to explain why she is an authority on the subject.)
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I am editing a book that will be published as a series of individual chapters online. The author uses the author-date system for references and footnotes. Each chapter has its own bibliography that includes references cited and other works. What format should we use for this bibliography, author followed by date (as in a reference list) or author followed by title of the work (as in the notes-bibliography system)? In the second case should the list be called Bibliography? (It includes both works cited and others.)
A. If citations are author-date, then references must also be author-date. You can find samples of Chicago-style author-date reference list entries at our Citation Quick Guide. As you can see from the guide, what you have isn’t a bibliography, which takes a different form. Works Cited or Reference List is the conventional title. Although neither of these normally contains further reading, there’s no harm in their doing so. If you want to be very clear, use the title Reference List and Further Reading.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. How do you author-date cite multiple quotations by the author in one paragraph?
A. If it’s clear from the context that the quotations are all from the same source, you can combine the page citations at the end of the paragraph, in the order they appear (Charles 1991, 47, 212, 21). If the source is clear but the quotations are many and scattered, after the first author-date citation (Charles 1991, 47) you may put simple page citations at the end of each quote thereafter (212).
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Using the author-date system, how do I include an in-text reference to a website? What goes in the parens? The URL? The title of the page? There’s no author, and it’s not part of a journal or a book.
A. A website is not always a good candidate for an author-date citation, but you can find examples of how to cite them in our Citation Quick Guide (scroll to “Website content”).
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]