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Turabian citation generator
Get the Turabian footnote, short footnote and bibliography entry for a source you describe.
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Turabian style is the student version of Chicago style, set out in Kate L. Turabian's A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. It uses the same footnote and bibliography patterns, adapted for class papers. Enter your source details and this free Turabian citation generator returns the full footnote, the short footnote and the bibliography entry, plus the author-date in-text form and a list of anything missing.
Turabian style citation and how it relates to Chicago
Kate L. Turabian wrote her manual for students at the University of Chicago, and the University of Chicago Press still publishes it. Its citation rules follow The Chicago Manual of Style closely; what Turabian adds is guidance on researching, writing and formatting a student paper, thesis or dissertation. Like Chicago, it has two systems. Notes-bibliography style uses numbered footnotes or endnotes plus a bibliography and is common in history, literature and the arts. Author-date style uses parenthetical citations such as (Rivera 2019, 45) plus a reference list and is common in the sciences and social sciences. Your instructor chooses the system.
Turabian footnote and bibliography patterns
Book, Turabian footnote: 1. Jordan A. Rivera, Example Towns of the North (Springfield: Example Press, 2019), 45. Short footnote: 2. Rivera, Example Towns, 52. Turabian bibliography entry: Rivera, Jordan A. Example Towns of the North. Springfield: Example Press, 2019. Journal article, footnote: 3. Mei L. Chen, "Market Days in an Example Village," Journal of Example Studies 12, no. 3 (2021): 50. Bibliography: Chen, Mei L. "Market Days in an Example Village." Journal of Example Studies 12, no. 3 (2021): 45-67. Thesis, footnote: 4. Mei L. Chen, "Trade Routes of an Example Region" (PhD diss., Example University, 2018), 88. Titles of books and journals are in italics; titles of articles, chapters and theses are in quotation marks.
How to use this Turabian citation generator
Choose the source type and enter what you have: authors, title, the journal, publisher, website or university, the year, and details such as city, volume, issue, page range, the page you are citing, DOI or URL. Only the title is required. The tool formats the details you enter. It does not look sources up, open links or search a database. If a needed element is absent, you get a bracketed placeholder such as [year] and a Missing details list telling you what to find. If your assignment says Chicago rather than Turabian, the Chicago Style Citation Generator gives the same notes plus a full author-date reference. The Essay Title Generator can help once the paper itself is drafted.
Common Turabian citation mistakes
Writing the author as Last, First in a footnote: that order belongs only in the bibliography. Using periods inside a footnote, which takes commas and parentheses. Citing the whole page range of an article in a note instead of the page you used. Repeating a full footnote when the source was already cited and a short footnote would do. Italicizing a thesis or article title, which should be in quotation marks. Forgetting the access date for a web page that shows no publication date. Mixing notes-bibliography citations with author-date citations in the same paper.
Questions
Is Turabian the same as Chicago style?
The citation patterns are essentially the same. Turabian is the version written for students, with added guidance on preparing class papers, theses and dissertations. If your instructor asks for either, the footnotes and bibliography will look alike.
How do I format a Turabian footnote?
Number it to match the superscript in your text, give the author in normal order, then the title, the publication details in parentheses and the page cited, separated by commas. Later notes for the same source use the short form: surname, short title, page.
How do I cite multiple authors in Turabian?
Name two or three authors in full in the note. For four or more, the note gives the first author followed by et al. In the bibliography only the first author's name is inverted. Check the edition your instructor uses for the exact cutoffs.
How do I cite a website in Turabian style?
Give the author if there is one, the page title in quotation marks, the website name, the date it was published or modified, and the URL. If the page shows no date, give the date you accessed it.
Do I need a DOI?
For a journal article read online, add the DOI as a link beginning https://doi.org/ followed by the number. If there is no DOI, give the URL.
Does the tool look up my source?
No. It formats what you type and flags what is missing. Check the result against the Turabian manual or your instructor's guide.