Q. I am the copyeditor of my college newspaper. My question concerns incorporating elements of The Chicago Manual of Style into the college newspaper’s stylebook. To what extent, if any, does the copyright prevent the incorporation of Chicago’s style and usage guidelines into the house rules of individual publications?
A. Thank you for asking! We appreciate your use of CMOS. Any time you use paragraphs or verbatim examples from another source, you should put them in quotation marks or style them as block quotations and cite the source in notes. It just goes against the scholarly grain to do otherwise. There are also ways to acknowledge the use of CMOS more casually, once it’s been cited. For instance, you might write, “All examples in this section are from CMOS 17.” Or “All examples in blue are quoted from CMOS.” Even though you aren’t planning to publish your in-house guide, you should resist the temptation to use unattributed borrowings, which, after all, would be plagiarism. And you never know where your guide will end up—it could be emailed outside your college, scanned, or posted online.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I have multiple volumes to cite in my reference list which have (a) different dates per volume, (b) different copyright dates for “translation and editorial matter” and “additional editorial matter,” and (c) a series of dates for each in some cases, e.g.,
Freud, Sigmund. 1964a. “Instincts and Their Vicissitudes.” Translated by James Strachey. On Metapsychology: The Theory of Psychoanalysis. Edited by Angela Richards. Harmondsworth: Penguin. Vol. 11 of The Pelican Freud Library. 15 vols. 1973–1986.
A. Don’t worry about the publication history (its copyrights and editions) of the series and all its volumes; just cite the ones you used. You’ve made a good start on this one, but you should move Strachey’s name to indicate that he translated the entire volume. And add page numbers. Here’s a version that conforms to Chicago style, cobbled together from examples in chapters 14 and 15 of CMOS:
Freud, Sigmund. (1964a) 1984. “Instincts and Their Vicissitudes.” In On Metapsychology: The Theory of Psychoanalysis, translated by James Strachey; edited by Angela Richards, 000–00. Vol. 11 of the Pelican Freud Library. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. When an author is quoting a source in a foreign language (in this case German), is it permissible to translate the quote
into English without making mention of the fact that it has been translated? Or would it be sufficient to simply have a notice
at the end of the article that says something to the effect that all quotations have been translated into English from German?
A. Translations must be identified as such; otherwise you are implying that the English version appeared in the book you cite
and that the original author is responsible for something you actually wrote—including your mistakes
or misinterpretations. It’s fine to make a blanket statement that all quotations have been translated
by the author, preferably at the beginning of the notes or in the first translated note.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I’m applying the author-date system in my Ph.D. dissertation. When I have several references to the same source within the same paragraph, I have been attaching the date only for the first citation. For example: “. . . was introduced by Nasberg (1985). . . . The basic formulation in Nasberg’s model is . . .” Is this policy okay? A pre-examiner of my work disagrees on this.
A. Although Chicago style would allow the method you are using (please see CMOS 15.25), perhaps your university doesn’t. You should check with the dissertation secretary of your institution.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. How do I introduce a quote in a research paper if I am going to say: Randolph states that “blah-blah-blah
(Randolph 2002).” Would this be right, or can I just say: Randolph states that (if I put it in my own
words) slavery was unethical (Randolph 2002). With no quotes? With quotes? HELP!
A. If you use Randolph’s exact words, then you must use quotation marks. Don’t
put the citation inside the quote—after all, Randolph didn’t say “Randolph
2002.” If you use your own words, don’t use quotation marks. In either case,
include the page number you're quoting from.
Randolph says, “Blah-blah-blah” (2002, 32).
Randolph (2002, 32) states that the blah was blah-blah.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I am still trying to grasp the whole idea of footnotes using CMOS. Do I put a footnote after everything that I use out of a book even if it’s not a quote? For example,
I am writing a paper on Thomas Jefferson and in one of the books I’m using it states that he had six
sisters and a younger brother. Do I need to cite that in a footnote?
A. Not necessarily, if you believe that the information about Jefferson’s siblings is generally known
and mentioned in many sources. You should footnote information that you borrow from someone else that isn’t
common knowledge, whether you quote it or not; and if any of the information is disputed (for instance, if some sources say
that Jefferson had seven sisters), it’s a good idea to footnote the version that supports your statement.
Even if you don’t footnote general information about Jefferson in your text, you should list the source
you learned it from in your bibliography.
The idea of footnotes is to acknowledge where you got your information, both in order to give credit to the researchers who
did the work and in order to tell your readers where they can find the information. Everyone knows that George Washington
was the first president, so even if you read it somewhere, there are so many sources that say so that it doesn’t
make sense to give credit to a particular one.
It’s not always clear whether something should be cited or not, so until you develop some confidence,
be generous in your citations, without being silly.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Dear CM: I have read everything I could find on text citation and have one remaining question, re section 15.25 (“author-date citations are usually placed just before a mark of punctuation”). BUT, what if the text ends with a period and quotation marks? “. . . most of the time (Pynchon 1974, 313).” Is this the correct placement of the period and the quotation marks?
A. It depends. The way you’ve written it means that “(Pynchon 1974, 313)” is part of the quoted text. If you want Pynchon to be the source of the quotation, and not part of what’s quoted, do it this way: “. . . most of the time” (Pynchon 1974, 313).
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I am editing a book of invited papers, where the initials of names are used without periods. In the chapter opening page
the author names have the initials before the name and are separated by a space (T C Scott). In the reference list, the initials
follow the names and are closed up (Scott, TC). Should the same convention be followed in both places?
A. There are two issues here: (1) whether the initials are closed up, and (2) whether surnames and initials are inverted. Chicago
style puts a space between the initials in a person’s name and adds periods (T. C. Scott), but the style
without periods is acceptable in some publications, open or closed. It’s good to pick one style and
stick with it. The inversion of names, however, is a less flexible issue. Inverted names are unreadable anywhere except in
an alphabetical list like a bibliography or index. There the surnames must come first in order for the reader to scan easily
down the list.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Please help. I need to cite a few lines from a poem, but there are no page numbers in the book of poems. Do I make page numbers
up? Do I use poem 1, poem 2? My cites are to be author/date style. For example, after my quote I need to reference it, as
in (Grimes 1999, ???). No page numbers!
A. If you’ve already mentioned the poem’s title or number in the text, you can write
(Grimes 1999, n.p.), which indicates that there are no page numbers. If you haven’t mentioned a title
or number, you can add it to the citation: (Grimes 1999, “Something Will Happen”).
“N.p.” is optional in any case.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. What is the best way to give a concise citation within a text based on the bibliography at the end?
A. Chicago style puts the author’s name and the date in parentheses (Brown 2001). You can also add a page
reference or whatever else is relevant (Singer 1985, 155, table 6.1).
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]