Strategies for Working with Turabian Style University of Denver Writing Center

Consider your reader You are writing a complex text. You are writing this text for an ideal and/or actual reader. That reader is a person. People are busy and tired. Busy and tired people need help navigating the complexities of your text. Providing that navigational help is your responsibility.

One of the things that a citation system like Turabian does is provide guidelines and constraints that help readers read.

Under the microscope: Some strategies for doing Turabian well Understand the why of Turabian. Know your resources…and use those resources. Focus on process, not on “getting it right.” Adopt effective editing habits.

What’s valued? In all citation systems: predictability consistency transparency ease of reading ease of following up synthesis of texts In Turabian: giving (and getting) credit assuring readers about the accuracy of your facts showing readers the research tradition that informs your work helping readers to navigate, follow, and extend your work

Quoting, paraphrasing, citing In some ways, most citation style rules come down to how you quote, how you paraphrase, and how you cite. The rules: Cite when you quote exact words from a source Cite when you paraphrase ideas associated with a source, even if you don’t quote exact words Cite when you use any idea, data, or method attributable to any source you consulted

Some habits that help Editing tracking chart Search-based editing Vertical editing

Editing Tracking Chart Error Example of Original Example of Correction. Rule No introductory commas! Despite my attempts to keep up with my reading I was always behind. Despite my attempts to keep up with my reading, I was always behind. If the sentence begins with an introductory phrase of more than three words, I need a comma before the subject. (Purdue: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/exercises/3/5/53)

Simple Version What to Look for Sentences without an introductory comma when necessary

Targeted Editing In addition to your usual editing, do targeted editing for issues that can be tricky to keep track of. For example: Problem Targeted Edit You need to be sure that your parenthetical citations are consistent and correct. Have a template handy and do a search throughout your document for instances of parentheses. You sometimes string quotations together without integrating them Do a search for instances of a period followed by a space and a quotation mark, indicating that you have started a quotation without introducing it You sometimes struggle with coordinating commas Do a search for commas, or do a search for instances of and, but, or, and yet, and look at every instance. Yes, it takes more time. It’s usually worth it.

Most people’s usual habit: proofread each citation Beville, Maria, “The Unnameable Monster in Literature and Film.” Monster Quarterly 99.2 (2010). Clausen, Christopher. “From the Mountain to the Monsters.” The Sewanee Review 115.2 (2007): 239-50. Web. 2015 Feb. Heiner, Heidi Anne. “Fairy Tales, Monsters, and the Genetic Imagination Exhibit Preview.” Sur La Lune Fairy Tales Blog, February 26, 2012. Web. “The Fairy Tale World: Giants, Ogres, and Monsters.” Infoplease: Classic Mythology. Family Education Network. 2016. Web. 6 April 2016.

Most people’s usual habit: proofread each citation Beville, Maria, “The Unnameable Monster in Literature and Film.” Monster Quarterly 99.2 (2010). Clausen, Christopher. From the Mountain to the Monsters. The Sewanee Review 115.2 (2007): 239-50. Web. 2015 Feb. Heiner, Heidi Anne. “Fairy Tales, Monsters, and the Genetic Imagination Exhibit Preview.” Sur La Lune Fairy Tales Blog, February 26, 2012. Web. “The Fairy Tale World: Giants, Ogres, and Monsters.” Infoplease: Classic Mythology. Family Education Network. 2016. Web. 6 April 2016.

You see more if you edit by “zone” Beville, Maria, “The Unnameable Monster in Literature and Film.” Monster Quarterly 99.2 (2010). Print. Clausen, Christopher. “From the Mountain to the Monsters.” The Sewanee Review 115.2 (2007): 239-50. Web. 2015 Feb. Heiner, Heidi Anne. “Fairy Tales, Monsters, and the Genetic Imagination Exhibit Preview.” Sur La Lune Fairy Tales Blog. Blogger, February 26, 2012. Web. “The Fairy Tale World: Giants, Ogres, and Monsters.” Infoplease: Classic Mythology. Family Education Network. 2016. Web. 6 April 2016.

The Strategy: Gather all your citations, and sort them by type. Don’t worry about alphabetical order right now. Put all the journal articles together, all the blog and website articles together, all the books together. Get out your Turabian handbook. Have it handy so you can refer to it as you edit. Choose a type of citation (journal articles), and turn to the Turabian section that includes samples of journal article citations. Check the format of the names in every citation. Then move on to the format of article titles: have you capitalized all article titles correctly? Have you used quotation marks in the right places? Have you used periods where you need to? Then move on to the journal title. And so on

Recap A style like Turabian is a learning tool, useful for helping you to learn the values of the academic community you are a part of. The Writing Center is also a learning tool; please consider making an appointment with one of our consultants by calling 303-871-7456 or by going to du.mywconline.com. You can see which consultants take online appointments by looking directly under their names. You can also email the Writing Center at wrc@du.edu to set up a workshop for 4 or more students or just to get some advice on who to see in the Writing Center.