One of the first appointments I had as a new UCWbL tutor involved a writer who came in with a paper that needed to be done in Chicago Style. With my area of expertise being in APA and MLA style, I remember feeling the urge to learn more about Chicago style to not only help others in appointments, but to also add another citation style under my belt for the future.
My first piece of data that I collected was initiated more through pure curiosity; I wanted to see how many people had Chicago Style as an indicated area of expertise in their tutor bios. Of the 100 UCWbLers listed on the tutor information page, only 28 UCWbLers had this style on their profile. Although Chicago Style is definitely seen less often compared to MLA or APA, it never hurts to learn about a new skill that could eventually be applied.
What is Chicago Style?
Derived from the University of Chicago Press’s Chicago Manual of Style, Chicago Style citations are typically applied to research papers. I had a vague exposure to this style a few times, and from my understanding, Chicago Style seems to be referred to as “that citation style that uses footnotes.” While this is true, I was surprised to learn that there are actually two types of Chicago Style documentation styles. The “NB System” and the “AD System” both contain analogous content, but their way of organizing this content is completely different.
Notes-Bibliography (NB) System
The NB system—which stands for “Notes & Bibliography”—is the system that I was more familiar with. Using superscripts and footnotes, citations are incorporated throughout the text without using any parentheticals. A bibliography is usually included at the end to cite all the footnotes fully; if no bibliography is used, then each footnote is a “complete note” with more detail. The Purdue Owl and George Mason University’s Writing Center explained the difference between completed notes and shortened notes very well. Typically, concise notes are used when a bibliography is included at the end of a paper and completed notes are used when there is no bibliography.
Author-Date (AD) System
This version of Chicago Style was a newer to me; I initially thought that the only components to this style were the footnotes. Being a science major that writes in APA style often, I noticed a high amount of overlap between the AD system and APA style as I learned more about this system. The Chicago Manual of Style also highlights these styles’ analogous components. Both styles incorporate the author’s last name, the year of publication, and preferably the page number that the source was found. Formatting is where the two citation styles deviate; for the Chicago Style AD system, a comma isn’t used after the author’s surname.
When Do We Use Each System?
The Chicago Manual of Style discussion website brought up an intriguing hypothetical situation which puzzled me: “When do you use each system, especially when there is no clear indication from the assignment or professor?” After some investigating, I came across Highpoint University Writing Center’s Chicago Style Guide. They explained that the NB system is typically used in literature, history, and writing pertaining to the arts. The AD system is used more in scientific writing, which explains why its formatting is analogous to APA style.
This process of taking liberties to choose which citation style to use (if none are specified) reminded me of this UCWbL Core Practice: “Adopt & adapt specific strategies for each particular writer & their particular writing context.”
This core practice really highlights the idea of adaptability and flexibility when it comes to approaching a problem that you may not know how to solve.
For more information, feel free to check out my presentation on Chicago Style!