Turabian Citation Cheat Sheet
The Concord Review expects Turabian notes-bibliography style — the citation system of serious historical writing. Every source type takes three forms: the full note the first time you cite it, the shortened note every time after, and the bibliography entry at the end of the paper. Mixing the three up is the most common citation error in student submissions. This sheet gives all three forms, correctly, for the ten source types history students actually use.
Ten source types · A4 or Letter
Turabian Notes-Bibliography
The Concord Review · full note → shortened note → bibliography
01Book
1. Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Revolution: Europe 1789–1848 (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1962), 87.
2. Hobsbawm, Age of Revolution, 91.
Hobsbawm, Eric. The Age of Revolution: Europe 1789–1848. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1962.
Shortened notes use the author’s surname and a shortened title — Turabian discourages “ibid.” in favour of the shortened form.
02Chapter in an edited volume
3. Linda Colley, “Britishness and Otherness,” in A Union of Multiple Identities, ed. Laurence Brockliss and David Eastwood (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1997), 65.
4. Colley, “Britishness and Otherness,” 68.
Colley, Linda. “Britishness and Otherness.” In A Union of Multiple Identities, edited by Laurence Brockliss and David Eastwood, 61–77. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1997.
The bibliography entry gives the chapter’s full page range; the note gives only the page cited.
03Journal article
5. Joan W. Scott, “Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis,” American Historical Review 91, no. 5 (1986): 1067.
6. Scott, “Gender,” 1069.
Scott, Joan W. “Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis.” American Historical Review 91, no. 5 (1986): 1053–75.
Add a DOI or stable URL at the end if you accessed the article online.
04Historical newspaper article
7. “The Fall of Sebastopol,” The Times (London), September 11, 1855, 6.
8. “Fall of Sebastopol,” 6.
The Times (London). “The Fall of Sebastopol.” September 11, 1855.
Unsigned articles begin with the headline; add the city when the paper’s name doesn’t include it.
05Archival document
9. William Pitt to the Earl of Chatham, 4 March 1801, Chatham Papers, PRO 30/8/101, The National Archives, Kew.
10. Pitt to Chatham, 4 March 1801.
Chatham Papers. PRO 30/8/101. The National Archives, Kew.
Cite the item in the note; the bibliography lists the collection, not each document.
06Government document
11. U.S. Congress, Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations, Treaty of Peace with Germany, 66th Cong., 1st sess., 1919, S. Doc. 51, 12.
12. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Treaty of Peace, 14.
U.S. Congress. Senate. Committee on Foreign Relations. Treaty of Peace with Germany. 66th Cong., 1st sess., 1919. S. Doc. 51.
07Website
13. “Collections Overview,” Library of Congress, accessed July 17, 2026, https://www.loc.gov/collections/.
14. “Collections Overview.”
Library of Congress. “Collections Overview.” Accessed July 17, 2026. https://www.loc.gov/collections/.
Give an access date when the page shows no publication or revision date.
08Published interview or oral history
15. Dean Acheson, interview by Lucius Battle, April 27, 1964, transcript, Harry S. Truman Library, Independence, MO, 14.
16. Acheson, interview, 16.
Acheson, Dean. Interview by Lucius Battle, April 27, 1964. Transcript. Harry S. Truman Library, Independence, MO.
09Thesis or dissertation
17. Sarah Igo, “America Surveyed” (PhD diss., Princeton University, 2001), 44.
18. Igo, “America Surveyed,” 51.
Igo, Sarah. “America Surveyed.” PhD diss., Princeton University, 2001.
10Primary source in an edited collection
19. Olympe de Gouges, “Declaration of the Rights of Woman,” in The French Revolution and Human Rights: A Brief Documentary History, ed. Lynn Hunt (Boston: Bedford, 1996), 124.
20. de Gouges, “Declaration of the Rights of Woman,” 126.
de Gouges, Olympe. “Declaration of the Rights of Woman.” In The French Revolution and Human Rights: A Brief Documentary History, edited by Lynn Hunt, 124–29. Boston: Bedford, 1996.
Cite the collection you actually used, not the 1791 original you did not.
The three rules that cover most cases
- 01
First citation full, every later citation short
The first time a source appears, give the full note. Every citation after that uses the shortened note — surname, shortened title, page. Never repeat the full form.
- 02
Notes cite a page, bibliographies cite the work
A note points the reader to the specific page behind a specific claim. The bibliography entry describes the whole work — which is why a journal article’s bibliography entry carries the full page range while its note carries one page.
- 03
Notes read like sentences, bibliography entries like an index
Notes run First Last with commas, because they are read in the flow of the page. Bibliography entries run Last, First with periods, because they are scanned alphabetically.
Pairs with
Citations document the research; they do not replace it. Plan the paper itself with the Concord Review prospectus worksheet, find the sources worth citing in our directory of free primary source archives, and see how citation quality figures in selection in our guide to getting published in The Concord Review.
Writing for The Concord Review?
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