Students Writing Humanities Coursework Needs to Be Familiar with the Chicago Format
Students following courses in the humanities section may sometimes, consider writing essays in the Chicago format. This format is a bit complex although it is mandatory that you know a bit about its basic requirements. This is essential when you write essays, as without this knowledge you will not know how to write essay in the right manner. Therefore, provided below, are some basic information about the Chicago writing style.
Every essay format is different from the other. Chicago has two citation formats. These are the author-date referencing format and the bibliographic format. Those in the social sciences prefer using the author-date referencing format, while students in literature, arts and history prefer using the bibliographic format.
The Bibliographic Format NB
The bibliographic format of Chicago format uses footnotes and endnotes for citation purposes. A bibliography at the end of the essay provides detailed descriptions of the cited sources. Students who are assigned the writing of texts using the Chicago NB should go through The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th edition for further understanding. The bibliographic format requires you to include a footnote or endnote every time you use a source. Footnotes will be added at the end of the page and endnotes will be added at the end of the chapter. All relevant information about the source used should be included when using the source for the first time. This includes the source’s full name, title and publication facts. When the source is cited again, only the surname, a short version of the title, and page number(s) needs to be entered. The word “Ibid” is used when the same source and page number(s) are used consecutively. If the same source is used with a different page number, you will include “Ibid”, a comma, and a page number.
Apart from the NB there are a few general requirements you need to be familiar with.
• The page used should have margins on all four sides no less than 1” and no more than 1.5”.
• As with other formats the font should be Times Roman or Palatino, and the size should be 10 or 12.
• Double spacing text is essential except during certain circumstances. These exceptions are when using block quotations, figure captions and table captions.
• Page numbers begin from the first page and should be in Arabic numerals.
• Subheadings may be used for long texts.
• The title should appear centred in the title page a few paces down.
• The name of the student, class and date of submission should appear a few more paces below this.
There are many more requirements to be included when using the Chicago format. For example, the manner in which the content is placed, the number of blank spaces to use, the headings to be written in a specific manner etc. are some of the other requirements of this format. If you need to be more familiar with this format, you should go through some Chicago essay format examples. Familiarity with the format through a few good sample essays written in this format will provide you the knowledge require on how to write essay.