Begun in the 1890s as a simple list of style rules jotted down on a sheet of paper by a proofreader at the University of Chicago Press, this style guide was expanded and published in book format in 1906, as A Manual of Style. Since then, the Chicago Manual of Style has become a highly regarded and widely used resource for writers and editors in the publishing field.
In 1937, Kate Turabian (a dissertation secretary at the University of Chicago) created a simplified guide to Chicago style intended for students. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations is still regularly published as a separate book, and Turabian is often used as a synonym for Chicago style.
Chicago/Turabian actually offer two styles of documentation, each one favored by different groups of scholars. The humanities or documentary-note style is favored by those in literature, history and the arts, while the author-date style is widely used by those in the natural or social science fields.
Names: Author names should appear as they do on the title page, whether spelled out or using initials. The first author is listed last name first, but any other authors appear in normal order.
Titles: Use sentence-like capitalization: only the first word and proper nouns. Journal titles are fully capitalized.
Dates: Use the order: month day year, spelled out.
When citing EBSCOhost, EBSCO is always uppercase; host is always lowercase italics.
Pattern:
Journal Title VolumeNumber, no. IssueNumber:StartPage-EndPage. Database Name, EBSCOhost (accessed Month Day, Year).
Example:
Crainer, Stuart, and Des Dearlove. 2003. "Windfall economics." Business Strategy Review 14, no. 4: 68-72. Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed November 5, 2005).
Pattern:
FirstAuthorLastName, FirstAuthorFirstName, and SecondAuthorFirstName SecondAuthorLastName. PublicationYear. "Title of the article." Magazine Title, PublicationMonth Day, StartPage-EndPage. Database Name, EBSCOhost (accessed Month Day, Year).
Example:
Grossman, Lev. 2005. "The geek shall inherit the earth." Time, October 3: 98-98. Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed November 5, 2005).
Pattern:
FirstAuthorLastName, FirstAuthorFirstName, and SecondAuthorFirstName SecondAuthorLastName. PublicationYear. "Title of the article." Newspaper Title, PublicationMonth Day, Edition. Database Name, EBSCOhost (accessed Month Day, Year).
Example:
Kolata, Gina. 2005. "Experts unlock clues to spread of 1918 flu virus." New York Times, October 6: A1-A20. Academic Source Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed November 5, 2005).
Pattern:
FirstAuthorLastName, FirstAuthorFirstName, and SecondAuthorFirstName SecondAuthorLastName. PublicationYear. "Title of the chapter." In Book title, StartPage-EndPage. PublishersLocation: PublisherName. Database Name, EBSCOhost (accessed Month Day Year).
You can get the publisher's name and location from the Publication Details page, found by clicking the Source field in the citation.
Example:
Freedman, Maurice J. 2004. "Libraries in today's world." In World almanac & book of facts, 16-17. New York: World Almanac Education Group Inc. MasterFILE Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed November 5, 2005).
These are only basic examples of the Chicago style. More detailed information is available through The Chicago Manual of Style (15th edition), A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (6th edition), and http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/cmosfaq/. In addition, a variety of third-party style guides and web sites can provide further assistance.