Turabian Citation Generator
Your bibliography
0 sourcesTurabian citation generator is a free tool that builds accurate Turabian (9th edition) footnotes, bibliography entries, and author-date references from details you enter, formatting authors, titles, and publication data so your thesis or research paper cites sources correctly.
How do you use this Turabian citation generator?
Choose your source type, enter the author, title, and publication details, and the generator returns a formatted Turabian reference you can copy into your paper. Select whether you need a note, a bibliography entry, or an author-date reference before you build.
- Pick the source type: book, journal article, website, chapter, or video.
- Type or paste the author name, title, publisher, year, and page numbers.
- Choose Notes-Bibliography or Author-Date to match your instructor’s requirement.
- Copy the formatted footnote, bibliography line, or reference-list entry.
What is Turabian style?
Turabian is a student-focused citation style published as A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, now in its 9th edition (2018). Kate L. Turabian created it at the University of Chicago, and it adapts the Chicago Manual of Style for coursework.
Because Turabian derives directly from Chicago, the formatting is nearly identical, but Turabian trims Chicago’s publishing-industry rules and adds guidance on theses, margins, and page numbering that students actually need. Instructors in history, religion, and the humanities most often assign it.
What are the two Turabian documentation systems?
Turabian offers two systems, and you use only one per paper. Notes-Bibliography (NB) uses numbered footnotes or endnotes plus a bibliography, favored in history and the humanities. Author-Date uses parenthetical citations plus a reference list, favored in the sciences.
| Feature | Notes-Bibliography | Author-Date |
|---|---|---|
| In-text marker | Superscript number | (Author Year, page) |
| Source list title | Bibliography | References |
| Date position | End of entry | After author name |
| Typical fields | Humanities | Sciences, social sciences |
How do Turabian notes and in-text citations work?
In Notes-Bibliography, a superscript number in the text points to a footnote. The first note gives full details; later notes to the same source use a shortened form with author surname, short title, and page. Author-Date instead places author and year in parentheses.
A full first note reads: 1. Michael Pollan, The Omnivore's Dilemma (New York: Penguin, 2006), 99. A later reference to it shortens to 2. Pollan, Omnivore's Dilemma, 3. Turabian 9th edition discourages the Latin ibid., preferring the shortened note. Author-Date in-text looks like (Pollan 2006, 99), with no comma between name and year.
How do you format a Turabian bibliography entry?
A bibliography entry lists the author surname first, followed by given name, then the italicized title, and finally publication facts, each block separated by periods. Entries are alphabetized by author surname and formatted with a hanging indent so the first line sits flush left.
For a book the pattern is: Last, First. Title. Place: Publisher, Year. For a journal article you add the article title in quotation marks, the journal name in italics, the volume, issue number, year, page range, and a DOI when one exists. Titles use headline capitalization in both systems.
Anatomy of a Turabian reference
- Author — surname first, then given name and initial, ending in a period.
- Article title — headline case, inside quotation marks.
- Source — journal name italicized, then volume and issue number.
- Year and pages — year in parentheses, colon, then page range.
- DOI — full https link, listed when the article has one.
How does Turabian handle multiple authors?
In a bibliography, invert only the first author’s name; all remaining names appear in normal order. List up to three authors in full. For four to ten authors, list every name in the bibliography but use only the first author plus et al. in notes and parenthetical citations.
- One author: Pollan, Michael.
- Two authors: Pollan, Michael, and Judith Jones.
- Three authors: Pollan, Michael, Judith Jones, and Ann Patchett.
- Note with many authors: Pollan et al., Title, 42.
Turabian examples by source type
The examples below show correct 9th-edition formatting; italics mark titles that must be italicized in your document.
Book (bibliography)Pollan, Michael. The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. New York: Penguin, 2006.
Book (author-date)Pollan, Michael. 2006. The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. New York: Penguin.
Full note1. Michael Pollan, The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (New York: Penguin, 2006), 99–100.
Shortened note2. Pollan, Omnivore’s Dilemma, 3.
Journal articleWeinstein, Joshua I. “The Market in Plato’s Republic.” Classical Philology 104, no. 4 (2009): 439–58. https://doi.org/10.1086/650979.
Chapter in edited bookThoreau, Henry David. “Walking.” In The Making of the American Essay, edited by John D’Agata, 167–95. Minneapolis: Graywolf Press, 2016.
WebsiteBouman, Katie. “How to Take a Picture of a Black Hole.” TED. Filmed April 2016. Accessed July 18, 2026. https://www.ted.com/talks/katie_bouman.
Newspaper articleManjoo, Farhad. “Snap Makes a Bet on the Cultural Supremacy of the Camera.” New York Times, March 8, 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/08/technology/snap-makes-a-bet.html.
YouTube videoComputerphile. “AI Safety.” YouTube video, 12:04. December 3, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=example.
Thesis or dissertationRutz, Cynthia Lillian. “King Lear and Its Folktale Analogues.” PhD diss., University of Chicago, 2013.
How do you format a Turabian paper?
Turabian sets one-inch margins on all sides, a readable serif font such as 12-point Times New Roman, and double-spaced body text. Block quotations, notes, and bibliography entries are single-spaced internally, with a blank line between entries. Page numbers appear in the header or footer.
The bibliography or reference list starts on a new page with a centered heading. Entries carry a hanging indent, and the list is alphabetized by author surname. A separate title page is standard for theses; class papers may use a title block instead.
What are common Turabian mistakes?
The most frequent errors mix the two systems, confuse note and bibliography punctuation, and mishandle capitalization. Notes separate elements with commas and wrap publication facts in parentheses; bibliography entries separate the same elements with periods and drop the parentheses.
- Using superscript notes and parenthetical author-date citations in the same paper.
- Placing the year after the author in a Notes-Bibliography entry, where it belongs at the end.
- Forgetting the hanging indent or the alphabetical order in the bibliography.
- Applying sentence case to titles; Turabian uses headline capitalization.
- Adding ibid., which the 9th edition advises replacing with shortened notes.
How accurate is this generator?
The generator formats structured data reliably, but it cannot judge the quality of what you enter. It reproduces Turabian 9th-edition punctuation, italics, and ordering faithfully, yet a misspelled author name, a missing issue number, or a wrong source type will pass straight into the output unchecked.
Always proofread the result against a real copy of the source. Confirm the edition, verify page ranges, and check that DOIs resolve. Automated tools handle the mechanics; you remain responsible for the substance. Treat every generated citation as a strong draft rather than a final answer.
Frequently asked questions
Is Turabian the same as Chicago style?
Turabian is based on the Chicago Manual of Style and shares almost identical formatting, but Turabian is written for students and removes publishing-industry rules while adding thesis and coursework guidance.
Which Turabian system should I use?
Use Notes-Bibliography for humanities subjects like history and religion, and Author-Date for scientific and social-science writing. Follow your instructor’s stated preference over any default.
Does Turabian still use ibid.?
The 9th edition discourages ibid. and recommends a shortened note instead, giving the author surname, a short title, and the page number for repeat citations.
How do I cite a website in Turabian?
List the author or organization, the page title in quotation marks, the site name, an access or revision date, and the full URL. Include an access date when no publication date is shown.
What edition of Turabian is current?
The 9th edition, published in 2018, is current. It aligns with the 17th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style.
Is this Turabian citation generator free?
Yes. The tool is completely free, and requires no account to build or copy Turabian citations.