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LALS/HIST 290: A Guide to Special Collections Research: Citing Primary Sources

This guide will suggest collections and research strategies for students conducting primary source research and document analysis on the topic of Mexican American History in Chicago.

Chicago (Turabian) One Page Style Guide

This style guide handout contains general Chicago (Turabian) documentation style guidance and examples of common formats.  The document is one page, double sided.

The handout should not be used as a substitute for consulting with the official style guide manuals.

Chicago Style Online

When citing a primary source from UIC collections, the citation needs to have enough information so that the information can be found again easily. Specific information will depend on the source, but you will generally need to include:

  • Author, title or identifier
  • Date
  • Collection
  • Box and folder number
  • Repository

It's better to include too much information than not enough. Here are some examples based on the Chicago Manual of Style citation format, a style commonly preferred for use in History and the Humanities.

Manuscripts

Chicago Citation Format (Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed., sections 17.207, 17.222-33)

Last name, First name Middle initial. Title of Work. Format. City: Publishing Company, copyright date. Source, Collection.

Example: "Fighting Police Abuse: Coalition Plans Citizen Hearings and Organizing Workshops." Press release. 1992. University of Illinois at Chicago Special Collections, Citizens Alert records, Box 22, Folder 377.

Newspapers

Chicago Citation Format (Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed., sections 17.270,17.188)

Last name, First name Middle Initial. Title of Work. Format. City: Publishing Company, copyright date. Source, Collection. Medium, http://...(access date.)

Example: The Stars and Stripes, " Services Plan to Aid Returned Men in Securing Jobs." Dec. 13, 1918. From Library of Congress. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/np_item.pl?collection=sgpsa&iss=19181213&page=1 (accessed Feb. 10, 2012.)

Photographs

Chicago Citation Format (Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed., sections 17.270, 8.206)

Last name, First name Middle initial. Title of Work. Format. City: Publishing Company, copyright date. Source, Collection. Medium, http://...(access date.)

Example: Kirkland, Wallace, photographer. "JAMC_0000_0066_0604." Photograph. Near West Side, Chicago, IL c1920s-1930s. From University of Illinois: Seven Settlements: Database of Photos. http://collections.carli.illinois.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/uic_7sh&CISOPTR=3467&CISOBOX=1&REC=1 (accessed July 26, 2014.)

Maps 

Chicago Citation Format (Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed. sections 17.270, 17.141)

Last name, First name Middle initial. Title of Work. Format. City: Publishing Company, copyright date. Source, Collection. Medium, http://...(access date.)

Example: Ashmun, Jehudi. Map of the West Coast of Africa from Sierra Leone to Cape Palmas, including the Colony of Liberia. Map. Philadelphia: A. Finley, 1830. From Library of Congress, Map Collections. http://www.loc.gov/item/96680499 (accessed Jan. 9, 2006.)

Credit: The examples using the Chicago Manual of Style  above were adapted from the Library of Congress' Citing Primary Sources page http://www.loc.gov/teachers/usingprimarysources/citing.html (accessed September 26, 2016.)