The use of Turabian writing format in humanities and social sciences has increased over the years. Many professors find this as a great way to introduce their students to the world of serious academic writing. The format based on Chicago writing format focuses on research papers and this makes it perfect for college students. If you have a research paper project requiring you to follow Turabian style, you need to understand the guidelines to ensure you submit a properly formatted paper.
In this article, you will find the key considerations when using the Turabian paper format by My Dissertations. Keep reading.
Learn the Two Distinct Citation Styles
Before getting started on your paper, it is important to understand the two main citation styles falling under Turabian format. These are:
- Notes/bibliography style(Humanities style): In this style, you will cite sources through footnotes and a bibliography. The footnotes and endnotes are inside the text while the bibliography comes at the end of your paper.
- Author/date style (Scientific/Social Sciences style): You will cite sources using parenthetical author/date references in the text similar to MLA and a reference list at the end of the paper.
It is important to note that you cannot mix these two distinct citation styles in your paper. This is the most important rule to remember when learning how to write a paper in Turabian format.
General Formatting Rules
A title page is an essential part of any academic paper and when writing in Turabian style, you have to include it. A title page gives the reader an idea of what to expect and also includes other crucial details your professor requires for identification. In the Turabian writing style, you should include the title of your paper, your name, the name of your course, institution name and the date the paper is due.
Make sure you center the text of the title page horizontally. You should also write the title of your paper in all capital letters. There should be no page number for a title page.
For the margins in all your research paper, you need least 1 inch all around each page. You should double-space all the paper except the title page, block quotations, table titles and figure captions, footnotes or endnotes and bibliographies or reference lists.
Your paper should have page numbers except for the title page. You can place the page numbers centered in the footer, centered in the header, or flush right in the header.
Footnotes, Endnotes, Citations and References
As a rule of thumb, you must include a citation of the work whenever you directly cite or paraphrase another person’s thoughts and ideas. This ensures you avoid plagiarism when using the Turabian research paper format. For a quotation that is four lines or fewer, let the quotation run into your text and enclose it with quotation marks. For a quotation that is five lines or longer, use ablock quotation with no quotation marks.
When you paraphrase or cite a source directly, you have to include a footnote or an endnote. This is one of the distinguishing features of the Turabian writing style. In addition to the footnote or endnote for each reference, you also include a list of all your sources at the end of the document in the bibliography.
Headers in Turabian Writing Style
Headings are crucial in academic papers as they help readers to go through your work. It is a great way to organize your ideas and in the Turabian style paper format, there are specific rules you need to consider.
- First level header: On its own line, centered, boldface or italic type, title case
- Second level header : On its own line, centered, regular type, title case
- Third level header :On its own line, left-justified, boldface or italic type, title case
- Fourth level header: On its own line, left-justified, roman type, sentence-style capitalization
- Fifth level header: Not on its own line, run in at beginning of paragraph, boldface or italic type, sentence-style capitalization, ending with period.
To understand these guidelines, it is advisable to have a look at a good Turabian style format example from an established writing service or, online library or your school library. This will help you apply the formatting rules as required by counterchecking with works done by other writers. You can also seek assistance from a professional writer to come up with the best paper.