Works Cited / Bibliography

WR3 | Workshops

Works Cited or Bibliography

Accurately documenting sources is a vital aspect of any process of inquiry. If you fail to properly document your sources, your readers will be unable to follow your research, validate your claims, or judge the quality of your argument. Furthermore, failing to properly cite a source (whether summarized, paraphrased, or quoted) opens you to the charge of plagiarism, a serious academic offense.

Scholars avoid plagiarism and give credit to the thinking and writing of others using a variety of citation formats, or “styles.” As you work to complete your degree in college you will encounter a number of these citation formats. In fact, each discipline has a preferred style. The humanities use MLA, psychology uses APA, history and other social sciences use Chicago. There are many others. As you begin to specialize in a particular field of study, you will be expected to use the citation style of your discipline.

Although citation formats differ significantly, they all have two primary components: in-text citations and a bibliography. As the name suggests, in-text citations are used to reference the work of others within the text itself; the bibliography contains an ordered list of all the in-text citations contained within a piece of writing.

Most students have constructed an MLA Works Cited page before they arrive at college. This assignment is designed to help you learn the Chicago style bibliography by taking advantage of your familiarity with the MLA style.

Workshop

MLA to Chicago style translation

Take a few moments to scan though this student essay in the Chicago style.1 Familiarize yourself with the essay’s construction, noting especially how it differs from the MLA style essay. The following questions will help you notice some key features of the Chicago style:

  • How is the title page formatted compared to MLA?

  • Is there anything odd about the page numbering scheme?

  • Examine the in-text citations. How are they inserted?

  • How is the block quote handled differently in Chicago compared to MLA?

  • What is the relationship between the following entries on the Notes page: 3 and 11? 9 and 10? 3 and 4?

The Open Handbook has detailed information on formatting of both the MLA and Chicago bibliography to guide you.

  1. This student essay uses section headings to organize the essay. This is a personal choice, not a strict element of the Chicago style. ↩︎