HIST 199: FYS History

Why should you cite your sources?

• To give credit to the person(s) responsible for the ideas you are using, 
• To reassure readers about the accuracy of your facts,
• To show readers the research tradition that informs your work (historiography),
• To help readers follow or extend your research,
• To allow readers to easily identify the types of sources you're using,
• To guard against accidental plagiarism.

How do you cite your sources?

History as a profession uses the Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition). For this (and most) courses, you will use Chicago: Notes and Bibliography Style. It is called "Chicago" because it was developed by the University of Chicago Press.

For most secondary sources, as well as some primary sources, you can easily follow the instructions and examples available on the Chicago Quick Guide.

Primary sources are notoriously more challenging to cite. However, you can find guides for most types of primary sources in the Chicago Manual of Style. 

Not sure how to start with Chicago?

The Library offers two virtual Chicago Citation Style workshops a term -- this is a great place to learn Chicago basics, how to make footnotes, and how to cite sources.

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.

Guides

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