Turabian Footnotes and Endnotes: Format and Examples (9th Edition)

Turabian footnotes belong to the notes-bibliography system in Kate L. Turabian's A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (9th edition). Each time you quote, paraphrase or use an idea from a source, you add a numbered note. The number in your sentence points to a note with the source details and the exact page.

Most history, religion, theology and humanities courses use this system, and a bibliography at the end lists every source alphabetically. Our guide to the Turabian bibliography covers that page; the full guide to Turabian format covers margins, headings and spacing for the rest of the paper.

Try a source now

Paste a link, DOI or ISBN into the citation tool above to see a full note, a short note and the bibliography entry together. For a longer list, the Turabian Citation Machine formats every source in one place.

The Turabian footnote format comes down to nine rules. They apply to endnotes as well, except where the notes sit.

Where the number goes

Put the note number at the end of a clause or sentence, not after the author's name in mid-sentence. It follows a period, comma or closing quotation mark, but comes before a dash. If a sentence draws on two sources at different points, you may place two numbers, but never two numbers side by side.

How a note differs from a bibliography entry

A note gives the name in normal order and separates parts with commas, with the publication facts in parentheses. A bibliography entry inverts the name and uses periods. Union University's guide to notes-bibliography citations adds that page numbers are required in notes but not in bibliography entries.

Turabian 9 uses a full note the first time you cite a source and a short note every time after that.

The short note

A short note has the author's last name, a shortened title and the page. The official Turabian notes-bibliography quick guide shows "Kitamura, Separation, 91–92." The quick guide's companion guides describe the short title as up to four key words from the full title. Drop a leading A, An or The, keep italics or quotation marks as in the full note, and don't change the word order.

Author-only short notes

If you cite only one work by an author, Turabian allows a note with just the last name and page, such as "Kitamura, 91." Most instructors still expect the short title, so use it unless told otherwise.

When to start fresh

In a class paper, one full note for each source is enough. In a long thesis with chapters, give a full note again the first time a source appears in each new chapter.

What our tool does

The citation engine behind our Turabian citation tool drops a leading article and any subtitle in short notes, but it doesn't cut titles to four words. Check each one and trim long titles by hand, as with White's "Historical Roots" above. Check each one; for a very long title you may want to trim it further by hand, as with White's "Historical Roots" above.

Ibid., short for the Latin ibidem ("in the same place"), points to the source in the note just before.

What the 9th edition says

Turabian 9 discourages ibid. and prefers a short note instead, even for two notes in a row to the same source. Ibid. is still allowed if you use it consistently.

When your school requires it

Some schools keep ibid. as a house rule. Liberty University's Turabian quick guide requires it for consecutive notes to the same source on the same page and notes that this differs from the 9th edition. Follow your school's guide over the manual when the two differ.

How to write it

Write "Ibid." with a capital I and a period, followed by a comma and the page if it changed: 5. Ibid., 27. If the page is the same, write just "Ibid." Never use ibid. after a note that cites more than one source.

Turabian endnotes use exactly the same note format as Turabian footnotes. Only the location changes, so every rule and Turabian footnote example on this page works for either.

Where endnotes go

Endnotes collect every note on a separate page after the text, titled Notes and centered at the top. The Notes page comes after any appendixes and before the bibliography. The numbers in the text still run 1, 2, 3 through the paper.

Which to choose

Footnotes are the usual choice for class papers because readers see the source without flipping pages. Some instructors allow Turabian style endnotes for papers with many long discursive notes, and some schools, such as Liberty University, don't allow endnotes at all. When the assignment says "Chicago Turabian endnotes," it means this Notes-page format, not a different citation style.

A Turabian endnotes example

1. Katie Kitamura, A Separation (New York: Riverhead Books, 2017), 25.

2. Kitamura, Separation, 220.

3. Mary Rowlandson, "The Narrative of My Captivity," in The Making of the American Essay, ed. John D’Agata (Minneapolis: Graywolf Press, 2016), 20.

On the page, these notes sit under the centered title Notes, single-spaced with a blank line between them (page numbers illustrative).

Every note that points to a specific passage ends with the page number, with no "p." or "pp." before it.

Ranges and other locators

For a passage across pages, give a range with an en dash: 91–92. For a source with no pages, such as a web page or an ebook without fixed pages, give a chapter or section name if it helps readers find the passage, or leave the locator out. Don't use the page number your e-reader shows unless it matches the print edition.

Notes for a source quoted in another

If you found a quotation in a book but never saw the original, cite both. Give the original as fully as you can, then "quoted in" and the source you actually read, with its page. Only the source you read goes in the bibliography, unless your instructor says otherwise. Whenever you can, find and cite the original instead.

Students often search for the Turabian in-text citation rules, but in the notes-bibliography system there is no parenthetical citation at all: the superscript number in your sentence is the in-text part, and the note holds the details.

Author-date: the parenthetical option

Turabian's second system, author-date, does put citations in the text. You write the author's last name, the year and the page in parentheses, such as (Kitamura 2017, 25), and end with a reference list instead of a bibliography. This system is more common in the social sciences.

Which one to use

Use the system your instructor names, and check whether the syllabus says anything about a Turabian in-text citation or a parenthetical one. If the assignment just says "Turabian," it almost always means footnotes and a bibliography. Don't mix the two systems in one paper. Our Turabian citation tool switches between notes-bibliography and author-date with one click.

Turabian in-text citations compared

In notes-bibliography style, a sentence reads: …keeps readers at a distance.¹ In author-date style, the same sentence reads: …keeps readers at a distance (Kitamura 2017, 25). If your English class uses MLA instead, see our guide to the MLA in-text citation, which uses author-page parentheses with no year.

A discursive note adds a comment, explanation or side point instead of, or in addition to, a citation. Use one when a detail matters but would break the flow of your paragraph.

How to write one

A discursive note follows the same Turabian footnote format as any other note: single-spaced, first line indented. Write the comment as a normal sentence. If it also cites a source, put the citation first or work it in naturally. For example: 7. The narrator is never named, which keeps readers at a distance; see Kitamura, Separation, 3–5. (Example note, page numbers illustrative.)

Keep them short

A few discursive notes help; a page with more notes than text distracts. If a comment runs longer than a few lines, it probably belongs in the body of the paper.

Check your sample Turabian footnotes against this list before you hand in the paper.

A final check

Every source in your notes should appear once in your bibliography. The Turabian Title Page Generator sets up the first page of the same paper, and every guide, including the MLA works cited page, is on our student writing guides page. When you're ready to cite, let the free Turabian citation generator format each full note, short note and entry for you.