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United States History Research Guide

Primary and secondary sources for the study of US History.

Avoiding Plagiarism

Not citing appropriately - intentionally OR unintentionally - amounts to plagiarism, a serious offense in academia.

See the Emory Honor Code's Plagiarism Statement

 

For tips on avoiding plagiarism:

Citing your Sources

Style manuals provide detailed guidance in formatting footnotes/endnotes and bibliography entries.  Your course instructor will generally specify which citation style he/she prefers - if not, ASK!

Historians generally use the Chicago Manual of Style or its derivative, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (commonly known as Turabian, after its author). Though not identical, the two styles are very similar.

The Chicago/Turabian style offers two different citation options:

  1. footnotes or endnotes and bibliography ("Humanities" style) - generally preferred by historians
  2. author-date

TURABIAN, KATE L. A MANUAL FOR WRITERS OF RESEARCH PAPERS, THESES AND DISSERTATIONS      

   

 

TURABIAN is a short-hand, easier-to-use version of The Chicago Manual of Style. Most commonly used style manual for historical research & writing    

 

Print version:    RECOMMENDED

CALL NUMBER: LB2369 .T8 2007  

LOCATION: Counter-height shelves next to the Woodruff Library Level 2 (Main) Reference Desk

See Chapters 15 and 16 for basics. See Chapter 17 for how to cite specific types of sources (like these that typically give researchers trouble):

  • 17.2.7: Articles published online
  • 17.5.9: Online (i.e. library-type) databases
  • 17.7: Informally published electronic resources (i.e. materials found via free websites, blogs, listservs)
  • 17.9: Public (government) documents

Online version: no complete version online, but quick guides like the following abound:

Turabian Citation Style (Emory Writing Center)

Turabian Quick Guide (U of Chicago Press)

Chicago/Turabian Documentation (University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center)

 

CHICAGO MANUAL OF STYLE

 

 

Print version:

CALL NUMBER:  Z253 .U69 2003

LOCATION: Counter-height shelves to left of the Woodruff Library Level 2 (Main) Reference Desk

 

Online version:  RECOMMENDED

COMPLETE electronic version of the Chicago Manual

See especially the Citation Quick Guide - examples labeled "N" and "B" are Notes/Bibliography style

 

OTHER USEFUL CITATION GUIDES

Complete Guide to Citing Government Information Resources [print resource]

Call Number: Z7164 .G7 G37 2002  

Location: Woodruff Library Level 2 (Main) Reference 

Very useful for determining what elements of information to include, but leaves it to you to employ proper punctuation and order based on whatever style you're using.

Citation Manager Tools: Zotero & EndNote

Save yourself hours and headaches by using citation manager software to automate the work of collecting and organizing your research sources and format footnotes/endnotes and bibliographies in your research papers.

Woodruff Library offers workshops and tech support for these citation manager programs:

Zotero - free, easy-to-use Firefox plugin  RECOMMENDED

EndNote and EndNote Web - available at no cost to Emory students, faculty and staff

 

Which citation manager is right for you?  See our Citation Manager Comparison Guide

 

 

TIP: Citation software does NOT  eliminate the need to double-check all your footnotes/endnotes and bibliography entries.  Your course instructor will not be sympathetic if you blame formatting errors on your computer!