Style and Citation Manual Form

Instructions and help about Style And Citation Manual

When you use or present information and ideas from other sources, or analyze sources using direct quotes, citations give credit to the ideas of others and make you a more credible author. Citations can also indicate to your reader that you’re writing in an academic genre that provides information to help them find the same sources again. Citation styles are guidelines and conventions that different disciplines follow to present writing and sources in a consistent way. Chicago Style, from the Chicago University Press, is a citation style used in various disciplines. Chicago style has two variations: the notes and bibliography system and the author-date system. The notes and bibliography system is more common in the arts and humanities, while the author-date system is more common in the sciences and social sciences. If you're not sure which system to use, ask your professor. First, let’s look at the notes and bibliography system. When you cite a source in the body of your paper, add