A Guide to Tricky Citations for Academic Authors & Editors

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By Cara Jordan

All academic writers know that they need to properly cite their sources. Whether you’re directly quoting from a text or speech, paraphrasing the thoughts of another scholar, or reprinting an image or table, you need to cite the original author in order to give them credit and provide breadcrumbs for readers to learn more.

While the Chicago Manual of Style’s (CMOS) guidelines for common bibliography and note citations are generally well known by scholarly writers, there are a number of other tricky formats that often confuse academic authors.

In this brief guide, assembled from recommendations by my expert team of citation editors at Flatpage, I’ll introduce you to the hardest types of citations for academics to get right using CMOS and provide you with sample notes so you can get them right next time!

Online Sources

While you may be familiar with citations for journal articles found online through a service like JSTOR, it can be more confusing when you need to cite a common website.

Importantly, you should know that following the 17th edition of CMOS, you no longer need to provide access dates if there is a publication date associated with the web page (CMOS 14.205–10).

You’ll want to format your citations for websites like these examples:

Notes

1. “Member Survey Results,” Northwest Editors’ Guild (blog), January 22, 2022, https://www.edsguild.org/blog/member-survey-results.

2. “Copyediting,” Flatpage, accessed April 26, 2022, https://flatpage.com/editing/manuscript-editing/copyediting/.

3. Jared Diamond, “Why Societies Collapse,” TED, filmed in February 2003, YouTube video, 19:48, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IESYMFtLIis.

Bibliography

“Member Survey Results.” Northwest Editors’ Guild (blog), January 22, 2022. https://www.edsguild.org/blog/member-survey-results.

Flatpage. “Copyediting.” Accessed April 26, 2022. https://flatpage.com/editing/manuscript-editing/copyediting/.

Diamond, Jared. “Why Societies Collapse.” TED. Filmed in February 2003. YouTube video, 19:48. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IESYMFtLIis.

Book Parts and Reprints

You may be familiar with the basic citation style for single- or multi-author books, but things get more complicated when you’re citing a chapter in an edited volume, a common part of a book, or a reprint.

Notes

1. Ruth A. Miller, “Posthuman,” in Critical Terms for the Study of Gender, ed. Catharine R. Stimpson and Gilbert Herdt (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2014), 325. (CMOS 14.107)

2. Christopher Hitchens, introduction to Civilization and Its Discontents, by Sigmund Freud, trans. and ed. James Strachey (New York: W. W. Norton, 2010), 5. (CMOS 14.110)

3. Jacques Barzun, Simple and Direct: A Rhetoric for Writers, rev. ed. (1985; repr., Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994), 152–53. (CMOS 14.114)

Bibliography

Miller, Ruth A. “Posthuman.” In Critical Terms for the Study of Gender, edited Catharine R. Stimpson and Gilbert Herdt, 325–43. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2014.

Hitchens, Christopher. Introduction to Civilization and Its Discontents, by Sigmund Freud, 3–20. Translated and edited by James Strachey. New York: W. W. Norton, 2010.
Barzun, Jacques. Simple and Direct: A Rhetoric for Writers. Rev. ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994. First published by the University of Chicago Press in 1985.

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Journal or Magazine?

Academic authors often use the journal citation format in place of the format used for a different type of source: the magazine, which is a type of periodical (see CMOS 14.166, 14.188). This is particularly tricky considering that, at different periods in history and languages other than English, periodicals often include the word “journal” in their titles.

While authors can use the journal format when they’re sure of the type of source, periodicals should use the following format:

Notes

1. Beth Saulnier, “From Vine to Wine,” Cornell Alumni Magazine, September/October 2008, 48.

2. Jill Lepore, “The Man Who Broke the Music Business,” New Yorker, April 27, 2015, 59.

Bibliography

Saulnier, Beth. “From Vine to Wine.” Cornell Alumni Magazine, September/October 2008.

Lepore, Jill. “The Man Who Broke the Music Business.” New Yorker, April 27, 2015.

Archival Documents

Finally, those performing primary-source research might be curious how to cite material consulted in an archive or research collection.

While CMOS itself admits that there is no one way to cite archival documents (14.221–31), as a rule of thumb, I recommend starting with the most specific detail of the manuscript (author, title, date) and moving toward the more general (collection number, name, and location).

Notes

1. George Creel to Colonel House, 25 September 1918, Edward M. House Papers, Yale University Library.

2. James Oglethorpe to the Trustees, 13 January 1733, Phillipps Collection of Egmont Manuscripts, 14200:13, University of Georgia Library (hereafter cited as Egmont MSS).

3. Burton to Merriam, telegram, 26 January 1923, box 26, folder 17, Charles E. Merriam Papers, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

Bibliography

Edward M. House Papers. Yale University Library.

Egmont Manuscripts. Phillipps Collection. University of Georgia Library.

Charles E. Merriam Papers. Special Collections Research Center. University of Chicago Library.