When writing a research paper, journal article, dissertation, or thesis, you will also be required to conduct a critical review of the literature. You will need to select a particular style of referencing so that when you discuss the work of another scholar, you could give due credit to the original author through citations and referencing.
Chicago Referencing is a style guide for American English, and it is mainly used in the engineering, agriculture, humanities, education, medical sciences, and social sciences disciplines. The style supports both author-date format and notes-bibliography format. The Chicago Manual of Style can be accessed online through its official website (some parts of the manual are available on subscription). The current edition of Chicago Referencing is edition 17, which was published in 2017. Microsoft Word also offers the option of using referencing styles. However, in Microsoft Office 2013 Edition, Chicago Referencing is used as per the sixteenth edition as shown in the figure below:
There are numerous details and explanations presented in The Chicago Manual of Style, and I will limit the discussion to the basic features that will get you started.
Heading 1 in Chicago Style is centered and bold. Heading 2 is centered in regular font. Heading 3 is left-aligned and italic.
This is My Heading 1
This is My Heading 2
This is My Heading 3
The next thing you need to know is how to do in-text citations and type the references in the Reference List. For the sake of simplicity, I am listing only the notes-bibliography format. References page in Chicago Style is known as Bibliography. The works that are cited most frequently include journal articles, books, websites, and dissertations/theses. Their syntax and format are as follows:
Journal Article:
Last Name, First Name. “Article Title.” Journal Name Volume, Issue (Year): Pages.
Bibliography:
Zagona, Alison L., Jennifer A. Kurth, and Stephanie ZC MacFarland. “Teachers’ views of their preparation for inclusive education and collaboration.” Teacher Education and Special Education 40, no. 3 (2017): 163-178.
Footnote:
Alison L. Zagona, Jennifer A. Kurth, and Stephanie ZC MacFarland, “Teachers’ views of their preparation for inclusive education and collaboration,” Teacher Education and Special Education 40, no. 3 (2017): 165.
For the footnote, page number refers only to the cited material; the bibliography includes the first and last pages of the article.
Book:
Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Publisher City: Publisher Name, Year Published.
Bibliography:
Redman, Peter, and Wendy Maples. Good essay writing: A social sciences guide. London: Sage, 2017.
Footnote:
Peter Redman and Wendy Maples, Good essay writing: A social sciences guide (London: Sage, 2017), 10-12.
Website:
Last Name, First Name. “Page Title.” Website Title. Web Address (Date Accessed).
Bibliography:
Porter, Michael E., and Mark R. Kramer. “Strategy and society: The link between competitive advantage and corporate social responsibility.” Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2006/12/strategy-and-society-the-link-between-competitive-advantage-and-corporate-social-responsibility (accessed April 23, 2019).
Footnote:
Michael E. Porter and Mark R. Kramer, “Strategy and society: The link between competitive advantage and corporate social responsibility,” Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2006/12/strategy-and-society-the-link-between-competitive-advantage-and-corporate-social-responsibility (accessed April 23, 2019).
Thesis/Dissertation:
Last Name, First Name. “Title.” master’s thesis or PhD diss., Institution Name, Year Published.
Bibliography:
Richmond, J. “Customer expectations in the world of electronic banking: A case study of the Bank of Britain.” PhD diss., Anglia Ruskin University, 2005.
Footnote:
J. Richmond, “Customer expectations in the world of electronic banking: A case study of the Bank of Britain” (PhD diss., Anglia Ruskin University, 2005), 10.
With this information and basic understanding, you are all set to begin writing your research paper, thesis, dissertation, and journal article. Good luck and all the best 🙂