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Chicago Style Citations

Important Terms

Following is a list of terms with definitions that should be helpful in understanding the vocabulary that goes along with Chicago Style citation.  

Citing:

Recognizing the sources of information and ideas in your project.

Plagiarism:

Taking and using the words or ideas of someone else and representing them as your own.

Paraphrasing:

Taking information that you have read from another source and putting it into your own words. Paraphrased information is followed by a citation. 

Quoting: 

Taking text originally published elsewhere, and copying it. Direct quotations appear in quotation marks and end with a citation.

In-text citation:

A brief note describing the sources in your paper or project, within the text of the paper itself, to indicate where the information came from. An in-text citation should match more detailed information that is available in the reference list.

Bibliography: 

Contains details on all of the sources cited in a paper and is usually found at the end of the paper.  

Footnote:

A reference note that is found at the bottom of each page of text. 

Endnote:

A reference note that is found at the end of a section of text (i.e., at the end of a paragraph/chapter). 

Block quotation/extract:

A style of quotation that is used for five or more lines of quoted text, two or more lines or poetry, and two or more lines of dialogue. 

DOI (doi):

Some electronic content (i.e. online academic journal articles) is assigned a number called a Digital Object Identifier (DOI or doi). This system can be really helpful because items can be tracked down online using the doi.

Commonly Used Abbreviations

Appendix: app.

Article: art.

Chapter: chap. 

Division: div. 

Editor, Edited by, Edition: ed.

Editors: eds. 

et alii, et aliae (and others): from Latin- et al. 

Manuscript: MS

No date of publication: n.d.

Number(s): no. (nos.)

No place: n.p.

Page(s): p. (pp.)

Paragraph: para.

Part: pt. 

Revised: rev.

Section: sec.

Series: ser.

Supplement: Suppl.

Translator(s): trans. 

Volume : vol.