General Research Subject Guide: Basic Rules

Authors

One Author

Core Elements:

Last name, then comma, and then first name.

Example:

Ocean, Frank

Two to Three Authors

Core Elements:

Last name, then comma, and then first name (for leading author), and first name then last name (for co-authors).

Examples:

Molina, Juana, and Stephen Wilkinson

Molina, Juana, Stephen Wilkinson, and Moses Sumney

Four or More Authors

Core Elements:

Only list the leading author's name followed by et al.

Example:

Gibbons, Beth et al.

Organization as Author

Core Elements:

For a corporation, government department, university, or any organization that takes authorship responsibility, simply list their name in full.

Example:

World Wide Fund for Nature

No Author

Core Elements:

Begin the citation with the title of the resource.

Example:

"Adele Left Devastated by Pizza Ban." 2016. World Entertainment News Network, August 12, 2016, https://libproxy.howardcc.edu/login?url=https://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=PPTH&sw=w&u=colu91149&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA460503421&asid=3e652e44cab8904e8f7b0fc0006d6e2f.

Titles

Titles for Smaller Works

Core Elements:

Put quotation marks around, and type smaller works (e.g., articles, chapters, television episodes, songs, poems, etc.) in title case (the first letter of each word is capitalized--except for conjunctions, articles, and prepositions that are not the first words in either the title and/or subtitle). Follow the original capitalization of organizations with their names (e.g., WebMD).

Example:

"Cognition and the Assessment of Interaction Episodes in Jazz Improvisation."
"Building Steam with a Grain of Salt."

Titles for Larger Works

Core Elements:

Italicize and type larger works (e.g., academic journals, magazines, newspapers, books, television shows, etc.) in title case (the first letter of each word is capitalized--except for conjunctions, articles, and prepositions that are not the first words in either the title and/or subtitle). Follow the original capitalization of organizations with their names (e.g., WebMD). Websites, however, are not italicized.

Examples:

Mo' Meta Blues: The World According to Questlove
Last Night the Moon Came Dropping Its Clothes in the Street
Resident Advisor
HuffPost

Publication Dates

Date Is Available

Core Elements:

Year [...] Month Day, Year
Year appears after authors in the citation. The month and day often do not appear until much later in the citation, with the year repeated afterwards. Journals and books, include year only.

Example:

Sandoval, Lapacazo, and Art Shrian. 2016. "Roxane Gay Becomes First Black Woman to Write for Marvel." New York Amsterdam News, September 8, 2016. https://libproxy.howardcc.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=118092509&site=ehost-live.

No Date

Core Elements:

n.d.
Use n.d. (for "no date") in place of the year. If it is a website or a database resource with no publication or revision date (copyright dates are not considered relevant for resources accessed online with Chicago), then include an access date before the URL.

Example:

The History Teaching Institute. n.d. "Loyalists and Loyalism in the American Revolution." The History Teaching Institute @ The Ohio State University. Accessed November 8, 2017. https://hti.osu.edu/history-lesson-plans/united-states-history/loyalists.

Page Numbers

Core Elements:

Chicago does not use p. or pp. for footnote citations. Simply list the page numbers--however, when supplying page ranges, forgo the larger repeated digits (e.g., 150-60 instead of 150-160).

Examples:

78-83
84-9
1002-7

Web Addresses (URLs) and Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs)

URLs for Database Resources

Core Elements:

Provide a direct link to the resource complete with the library portal preceding it (i.e., https://libproxy.howardcc.edu/login?url=).

Examples:

https://libproxy.howardcc.edu/login?url=https://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=PPGB&sw=w&u=colu91149&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA361713542&asid=66c8c5c108faef76c946daa80d08d0a4

URLs for Websites

Core Elements:

Provide a direct link to the resource when obtained from a website.

Example:

https://pitchfork.com/features/article/10018-does-college-radio-even-matter-anymore/

DOIs

Core Elements:

DOIs (when available) are preferred to URLs. Put "doi:" before a DOI with no space in-between them.

Example:

doi:10.2307/823452