Citing Your Sources
Proper citation is an essential aspect of scholarship. Citing properly allows your reader or audience to locate the materials you have used. Most importantly, citations give credit to the authors of quoted or consulted information. Failure to acknowledge sources of information properly may constitute plagiarism. For an explicit definition of plagiarism, see the Boston University Academic Conduct Code.
For detailed instructions on how to cite within the text of your paper, please consult a style manual listed below. Please also note: some of the resources below do not cover every possibility you might encounter when trying to cite your sources. For this reason, it is suggested that you consult a style manual to create your bibliography.
BU Librarians often recommend 
RefWorks as the best tool to manage citations and most importantly RefWorks can automatically create a bibliography in hundreds of styles. Accounts are free for the BU community so only use your bu.edu email address when creating an account. There are other such tools.
Chicago Style
- Chicago Manual of Style Online This link opens in a new window The Chicago Manual of Style Online is a searchable guide the Chicago style of citation, editorial, and publishing practices. It includes both the 15th and 16th editions plus searchable Q&A content, sample forms, letters, and style sheets, and other tools.
- Citation Quick GuideA Chicago Style Q&A and a Tools section featuring sample forms, letters and style sheets.
- Citation Guide (HBS)This excellent guide in .PDF from the Harvard Business School covers citation within text as well as how to do a bibliography using Chicago style.
Print Book
Note:
1. Lynda Gratton, The Key: How Corporations Succeed by Solving the World’s Toughest Problems (New York: McGraw-Hill Education, 2014), 67-71.
Shortened note:
10. Gratton, The Key, 67-71.
Bibliography entry:
Gratton, Lynda. The Key: How How Corporations Succeed by Solving the Toughest Problems. New York: McGraw-Hill Education, 2014.
E-Book
Note:
13. Peter Weill and Stephanie L. Woerner, What's Your Digital Business Model?: Six Questions to Help You Build the Next-Generation Enterprise (Harvard Business Review Press, 2018), 21-23, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/bu /detail.action?docID=5180058.
Shortened note:
15. Weill and Woerner, What's Your Digital Business?, 21-23, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/bu /detail.action?docID=5180058.
Bibliography entry:
Weill, Peter and Stephanie L. Woerrner. What's Your Digital Business?: Six Questions to Help You Build the Next-Generation
Enterprise. Harvard Business Review Press 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central,
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/bu /detail.action?docID=5180058.
Journal Article from a database
Note:
19. Samson Nambei Asoba and Nteboheng Patricia Mefi , "Functional Strategies for Small Businesses During Crisis Situations," Academy of Entrepreneurship Journal 27, no. 3 (2021): 2-3. https://ezproxy.bu.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fscholarly-journals%2Ffunctional-strategies-small-businesses-during%2Fdocview%2F2565213471%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D9676.
Shortened note:
27. Asoba and Mefi, "Functional Stategies," Academy of Entrepreneurship Journal 27, 2-3. https://ezproxy.bu.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fscholarly-journals%2Ffunctional-strategies-small-businesses-during%2Fdocview%2F2565213471%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D9676
Bibliography entry:
Asoba, Samson Nambei and Nteboheng Patricia Mefi. "Functional Strategies for Small Businesses During Crisis
Situations." Academy of Entrepreneurship Journal 27, no. 3 (2021): 1-7. [place url here].
Electronic Databases (BU Databases)
Mergent Online (Electronic database)
Note:
25. Thomas Key, "Comprehensive Technical and Fundamental Analysis for AAPL," Mergent Online, Stock Trader's Daily (via Investext), Sept. 15, 2021, accessed 9-17-21, [place url here].
Bibliography entry:
Key, Thomas. "Comprehensive Technical and Fundamental Analysis for AAPL." Mergent Online.
Stock Trader's Daily (via Investext). Sept. 15, 2021, accessed 9-17-21, [place url here].
MarketLine Company Profile via Business Source Complete (Electronic database)
Note:
31.“Company Profile: Apple Inc., “Company Profile: Apple Inc.,” MarketLine Report via Business Source Complete, accessed October 17, 2014, [place url here].
Bibliography entry:
“Company Profile: Apple Inc., 19 September 2014.” MarketLine Report via Business Source Complete.
Accessed October 17, 2014. [place url here].
AI Generated Content (ChatGPT)
Note:
1. Text generated by ChatGPT, OpenAI, March 7, 2023, https://chat.openai.com/chat.
If the prompt hasn’t been included in the text, it can be included in the note:
1. ChatGPT, response to “Explain how to make pizza dough from common household ingredients,” OpenAI, March 7, 2023.
Bibliographic entry:
Unless you include a publicly available URL (accessible without your login credentials), the citation should be put in the text or in a note—not in a bibliography or reference list. This is similar to an email, phone, or text conversation—or any other type of personal communication. (Chicago Manual of Style)
The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th Edition by
Technologies may change, but the need for clear and accurate communication never goes out of style. That is why for more than one hundred years The Chicago Manual of Style has remained the definitive guide for anyone who works with words. In the seven years since the previous edition debuted, we have seen an extraordinary evolution in the way we create and share knowledge. This seventeenth edition of The Chicago Manual of Style has been prepared with an eye toward how we find, create, and cite information that readers are as likely to access from their pockets as from a bookshelf. It offers updated guidelines on electronic workflows and publication formats, tools for PDF annotation and citation management, web accessibility standards, and effective use of metadata, abstracts, and keywords. It recognizes the needs of those who are self-publishing or following open access or Creative Commons publishing models. The citation chapters reflect the ever-expanding universe of electronic sources--including social media posts and comments, private messages, and app content--and also offer updated guidelines on such issues as DOIs, time stamps, and e-book locators. Other improvements are independent of technological change. The chapter on grammar and usage includes an expanded glossary of problematic words and phrases and a new section on syntax as well as updated guidance on gender-neutral pronouns and bias-free language. Key sections on punctuation and basic citation style have been reorganized and clarified. To facilitate navigation, headings and paragraph titles have been revised and clarified throughout. And the bibliography has been updated and expanded to include the latest and best resources available. This edition continues to reflect expert insights gathered from Chicago's own staff and from an advisory board of publishing experts from across the profession. It also includes suggestions inspired by emails, calls, and even tweets from readers. No matter how much the means of communication change, The Chicago Manual of Style remains the ultimate resource for those who care about getting the details right.
Location: Music Library Reference Z253 .U69 2017Publication Date: 2017
A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations by Location: Pardee Reference X LB2369 .T8 2013Publication Date: 2013A little more than seventy-five years ago, Kate L. Turabian drafted a set of guidelines to help students understand how to write, cite, and formally submit research writing. Seven editions and more than nine million copies later, the name Turabian has become synonymous with best practices in research writing and style. Her Manual for Writers continues to be the gold standard for generations of college and graduate students in virtually all academic disciplines. Now in its eighth edition, A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations has been fully revised to meet the needs of today's writers and researchers. The Manual retains its familiar three-part structure, beginning with an overview of the steps in the research and writing process, including formulating questions, reading critically, building arguments, and revising drafts. Part II provides an overview of citation practices with detailed information on the two main scholarly citation styles (notes-bibliography and author-date), an array of source types with contemporary examples, and detailed guidance on citing online resources. The final section treats all matters of editorial style, with advice on punctuation, capitalization, spelling, abbreviations, table formatting, and the use of quotations. Style and citation recommendations have been revised throughout to reflect the sixteenth edition of The Chicago Manual of Style. With an appendix on paper format and submission that has been vetted by dissertation officials from across the country and a bibliography with the most up-to-date listing of critical resources available, A Manual for Writers remains the essential resource for students and their teachers.
