HIST 213: World History, 600-2000

Why should you cite your sources?

Proper citations are very important to historians, who rely on the written word as their primary form of evidence. Citations:

• Provide credit, recognition, respect, and acknowledgement to the person(s) responsible for the ideas (h/t)
• Allow someone else to find your sources of evidence to see if they reach the same conclusions
• Clearly identify sources, so that they can be readily located by any other scholar in any other well-equipped library

How do you cite your sources?

Academics use a manual of style to provide the rules for how they cite sources. Historians use the Chicago Manual of Style. This page includes templates for the types of sources you will likely use for this assignment, as well as more resources to learn more about Chicago style. In general:

• Use footnotes, not endnotes 
• Give the full citation of a source the first time it is cited
• Use a shortened version after the first citation of a source
• Always double-check pre-made citations from tools such as Zotero or the Library Catalogue
• The bibliography citation is different from the citation in the footnotes 

Newspaper Article

See Chicago Manual of Style 14.191

Bibliography:
Heinrich, Jeff. "Businessmen Offer Berlin Wall Souvenirs." The Gazette, November 23, 1989. ProQuest: Montreal Gazette.

Last, First. "Article Title." Newspaper Title, Month DD, YYYY. Name of Database OR URL.

First Footnote:
Jeff Heinrich, "Businessmen Offer Berlin Wall Souvenirs," The Gazette, November 23, 1989, ProQuest: Montreal Gazette.

Shortened:
Heinrich, "Businessmen," #.

Magazine Article

See Chicago Manual of Style 14.188

Bibliography:
Moberg, David. "East Europe's Metamorphosis Will Reshape U.S. Politics." In these Times, November 22, 1989. https://proxy.library.mcgill.ca/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/magazines/east-europes-metamorphosis-will-reshape-u-s/docview/1936528729/se-2.

Last, First. "Article Title." Magazine Title, Month DD, YYY. URL.

First Footnote: 
David Moberg, "East Europe's Metamorphosis Will Reshape U.S. Politics," In these Times, November 22, 1989, https://proxy.library.mcgill.ca/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/magazines/east-europes-metamorphosis-will-reshape-u-s/docview/1936528729/se-2.

Shortened: 
Moberg, "East Europe's Metamorphosis," #.

Broadcast News

See Chicago Manual of Style 14.267

Bibliography:
Lehrer, Jim and Robert MacNeil. The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour. Aired November 10, 1989. NewsHour Productions, American Archive of Public Broadcasting. https://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-507-f47gq6rq38.

Creator Last, First. Title of Program/Series. Aired Month DD, YYYY. Entity that Produced the Work, Holder of Work. URL.

First Footnote: 
Jim Lehrer and Robert MacNeil, The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, aired November 10, 1989 (NewsHour Productions, American Archive of Public Broadcasting), https://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-507-f47gq6rq38.

Shortened: 
Lehrer and MacNeil, MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, November 10, 1989.

More information, such as the host's name, can be added. Some news stories will have a named author who should be credited in the same way as for newspaper or magazine articles with Last, First appearing at the beginning.

Monograph (Scholarly Book)

See Chicago Manual of Style 14.101

Bibliography:
Sarotte, M.E. The Collapse: The Accidental Opening of the Berlin Wall. New York: Basic Books, 2014.

Last, First. Title. City: Publisher, YYYY.

First Footnote: 
M.E. Sarotte, The Collapse: The Accidental Opening of the Berlin Wall (New York: Basic Books, 2014).

Shortened: 
Sarotte, The Collapse, #.

Journal Article

See Chicago Manual of Style 14.171

Bibliography:
Harrison, Hope M. "The Berlin Wall and its Resurrection as a Site of Memory." German Politics & Society 29, no. 2 (August 2011): 78-106.

Last, First. "Title of Article." Title of Journal #, no. # (Month Year): pages-pages.
*The first # is for volume number. The second # after "no." is for issue number. So read this as: Title volume number, issue number (date).

First Footnote:
Hope M. Harrison, "The Berlin Wall and its Resurrection as a Site of Memory," German Politics & Society 29, no. 2 (August 2011): 78-106.

Shortened:
Harrison, "The Berlin Wall," #.

Social Media Post

See Chicago Manual of Style 14.209

Bibliography:
Colbourn, Susie (@secolbourn). "'From the perspective of 2012 the Cold War seems almost as distant as Charlemagne. The physical reminders of the long division are gone, with pieces of the Berlin Wall to be found scattered around the globe.' What a difference a decade makes." X Post. October 12, 2022, 10:27 a.m. https://twitter.com/secolbourn/status/1580203616765640704.

Last, First (handle/screen name). "Instead of a title quote as much as the first 160 characters, including spaces, capitalized as in the original post." Name of social media service. Month, DD, YYYY, time. URL.

First Footnote:
Susie Colbourn (@secolbourn), X post, October 12, 2022, 10:27 a.m. https://twitter.com/secolbourn/status/1580203616765640704.

Shortened:
Colbourn, X post, October 12, 2022.

*Note: Include the author's real name if known. If only the screen name or handle is known, use that in place of the author's name.

History as a discipline uses the Chicago Manual of Style (18th edition) for citations, and usually the Notes-Bibliography form. This requires creating properly formatted footnotes footnotes and a Bibliography for your assignments. Resources to understand the Chicago style of citations are included below.

Note: Chicago Manual of Style updated to the 18th edition in September 2024.

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