What You Need to Know About Turabian 9th Edition Updates

= incorrect/old method = correct/new method

Torey J. S. Teer Last modified 1/9/19

TURABIAN 9TH EDITION UPDATES Introduction Not too long ago, the 9th edition of our best friend, A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, otherwise known as Turabian, came out. And with the new edition comes a few changes that you should be aware of as you write your properly formatted papers. line separator

1. “Ibid.” Is Discouraged Turabian 8th ed. encouraged academic writers to use “Ibid.” for subsequent references to the same source. Your footnotes would have looked like this:

1

Gregg R. Allison, Sojourners and Strangers: The Doctrine of the Church, Foundations of Evangelical Theology (Wheaton: Crossway, 2012), 112.

2

Ibid., 113. [old method = bad]

Now, however, Turabian 9th ed. discourages the use of “Ibid.” in footnotes. Instead, after you have given full citation (long form), you should use the short form (“last name-shortened title-page number”) for all subsequent citations to the same source. You may use “last namepage number” (super short form) only below a single short form citation of the same source.

Your footnotes should now look like this:

1

Gregg R. Allison, Sojourners and Strangers: The Doctrine of the Church, Foundations of Evangelical Theology (Wheaton: Crossway, 2012), 112.

2

Allison, Sojourners and Strangers, 113.

3

Jonathan T. Pennington, The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2017), 93.

4

Allison, Sojourners and Strangers, 113.

5

Allison, 114-15.

6

Pennington, Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing, 96.

7

Pennington, 97.

*NOTE: If you cite multiple sources by the same author, then you must always include the shortened title in subsequent references to the same work so as to not confuse the reader.

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Torey J. S. Teer Last modified 1/9/19

**NOTE: Omit the page number in subsequent citations to the same page location as the previous citation of the same source. In such instances, your footnotes would look as follows:

1

Gregg R. Allison, Sojourners and Strangers: The Doctrine of the Church, Foundations of Evangelical Theology (Wheaton: Crossway, 2012), 112.

2

Allison, Sojourners and Strangers.

3

Allison, 112-13.

[same page number as above, so omit]

[page number overlaps with above note, so include]

For more information, see Turabian (9th ed.), 16.4.1, “Shortened Notes” and 16.4.2, “Ibid.”

2. New Rules for Access Dates in Online Sources Turabian 8th ed. required that academic writers include access dates after publication or last modified dates for all online sources cited (full citation only). Those sources would have looked like this:

Michael J. Svigel, “Should Unbaptized Believers Be Invited to the Lord’s Table?,” RetroChristianity, June 24, 2018, accessed October 30, 2018, http://www.retrochristianity.org/ 2018/06/24/should-unbaptized-believers-be-invited-to-the-lords-table/. [old method = bad] 1

Now, however, Turabian 9th ed. discourages the use of access dates for online source unless there is no publication date or last modified date posted. Examples of such instances are as follows:

Michael J. Svigel, “Should Unbaptized Believers Be Invited to the Lord’s Table?,” RetroChristianity, June 24, 2018, http://www.retrochristianity.org/2018/06/24/shouldunbaptized-believers-be-invited-to-the-lords-table/. [yes pub. date, so no access date] 1

Michael J. Svigel, “Orthodoxy in Retrospect,” RetroChristianity, accessed October 30, 2018, http://www.retrochristianity.org/orthodoxy-in-retrospect/. [no pub. date available] 2

For more information, see Turabian (9th ed.), 15.4.1.5, “Access Dates.”

3. E-Book “Locations” are Discouraged Oftentimes, the electronic version of a particular book (e.g., Kindle) does not contain stable, consistent page numbers but, instead, features locations numbers that can vary depending on a number of factors (e.g., font size, device type, format type). Thus, it is often difficult for readers to verify a quotation taken from an E-book. Technically, both Turabian 8th and Turabian 9th discourage the use of “locations” (e.g., Loc 241) in footnotes. Instead, Turabian urges writers to “cite by chapter or section number” or, “if they are unnumbered, by the name of the chapter or section” (2018, p. 186).

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Torey J. S. Teer Last modified 1/9/19

Students are often unaware of these recommendations and, consequently, list location numbers in their footnotes. An example of an improperly formatted E-book citation is as follows:

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Eugene H. Peterson, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society, 2nd ed. (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2000), Loc. 484, Kindle.

Now, implementing Turabian’s recommendations, the correct way to cite this source would be like this:

1

Eugene H. Peterson, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society, 2nd ed. (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2000), chap. 3, “Traveler’s Advisory,” para. 2, Kindle.

2

Peterson, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, chap. 4, sec. 1, para. 5.

In the first correctly formatted example above (1), there are no section numbers, so I listed the section title instead. Also, for greater specificity, I added the number for the paragraph I am referring to. In the second example (2), the first section of chapter 4 is untitled, so I simply listed the number.

Use the following abbreviations: “book” = bk., “part” = pt., “section” = sec., and “paragraph” = para. For more information concerning how to properly format electronic book sources in footnotes and bibliographies, see Turabian (9th ed.), 17.1.10, “Electronic Books.”

4. Updates concerning Online Sources Turabian 9th ed. “responds to developments in information literacy, including the use of digital materials. … Thoroughly updated guidance related to online citation practices has been supplemented throughout by new examples featuring the types of sources students are most likely to consult” (2018, p. xiv).

For specific information concerning how to properly format online sources in footnotes and bibliographies, see Turabian (9th ed.), 15.4, “Electronic Sources” and 17.5, “Websites, Blogs, and Social Media.”

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