WRITING HISTORY ESSAYS: THE CHICAGO MANUAL OF STYLE
Essay format:
1.
2.
3.
4.
title page (title, author, course; bold, not necessarily capitals)
body of text: typed, double spaced, font max. Times New Roman 12, or same size
paragraphs: one train of thought; first line indented, one empty line between them
spelling, underline, bold: no contraction (doesn’t); foreign words, names of ships, titles of
books, journals and newspapers must be italicized or underlined
5. if a quote is longer than five lines in the text you must make it a block quote: indent, and
NO quotation marks; quote within a quote: “…’…’…”
6. notes: either endnotes or footnotes
7. no bibliography or works cited needed (all info should go into notes)
Types of essay:
1. state your aim and unfold the argument
2. unfold the argument (usu. starting with a quote), and sum it up in the final paragraph
Noting:
Plagiarism, paraphrasing: you must footnote every bit of info not yours, regardless whether
you quote it word for word or sum it up. Overkill is better than cheating. Possible
consequences are listed in Academic Handbook, published every year.
Noting in text (MLA style): History journals discourage it for several reasons: continuity of
text, archival resources, losing the bracket () for comments, avoiding notes in text and
footnotes for explaining things (history articles often have special audiences)
Noting information (Chicago Manual of Style)
Article used for first time:
Manuel Fernandez, “Arbitrating Labor-Management Disputes,” North American
Labor Relations 12. no. 3. (1989), 28-31. Hereafter cited as: Fernandez, “Arbitrating.”
(alternatively you may simply say: 1989/3)
Article used again: as you have indicated in “hereafter”
Book used for the first time:
Single author:
Emery Blackfoot, Chance Encounters (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1993),
345-47. Hereafter cited as Blackfoot, Encounters.
Two or more authors:
Jane S. Merk, Ida J. Fogg, and Charles A. Snowe, Astrology for the Beginning
Meteorologist (Chicago: Darkweather and Clere, 1992), 12-27. Hereafter cited as
Merk, Fogg, and Snowe, Astrology.
Editor(s) of a book:
Peter Pastor, ed., Revolutions and Intervention in Hungary and the Neighboring
States, 1918-1919 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1986), 81-119. Hereafter
cited as: Pastor, Revolutions.
Chapter from a book, by same or different author:
Peter Pastor, “Allied Missions in Hungary,” Hungary Between Wilson and Lenin: The
Hungarian Revolution of 1918-1919 and the Big Three (New York: Columbia
University Press, 1976), 96-111.;
alternatively:
Zsuzsa L. Nagy, “The Hungarian Democratic Republic and the Paris Peace
Conference, 1918-1919,” Peter Pastor, ed., Revolutions and Intervention in Hungary
and the Neighboring States, 1918-1919 (New York: Columbia University Press,
1986), 261-77. Hereafter cited as: L. Nagy, “Hungarian Democratic Republic.”
Document:
Dwight D. Esienhower, “Farewell Address,” Tibor Glant, ed., American History
Documentary Reader (Debrecen: Kossuth egyetemi kiadó, 1993), 83-86. Hereafter
cited as Esienhower, “Farewell Address.”
Quote by someone else used in a book or article that you too want to quote: Quoted in
Pastor, “Allied Missions,” 87.
Quote that you yourself translated into English: give full reference, then add the sentence,
Translation mine. The same applies to added emphasis or italics: Emphasis/italics mine.
Something NOT in proper English in the original that you want to quote: [sic]
Books in languages other that English:
Zsuzsa L. Nagy, A párizsi békekonferencia és Magyarország, 1918-1919 [The Paris
Peace Conference and Hungary, 1918-1919] (Budapest: Kossuth kiadó, 1965), 89-115.
Hereafter cited as L. Nagy, A párizsi békekonferencia.
Short references, especially in longer pieces, are always more elegant than “ibid” and “idem”
etc.
Internet sources:
Must be cited as articles if author and title available, then website and date of access.