If you are writing a research paper or a book that follows the Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS), you may encounter the challenge of citing multiple authors and editors in your references and notes. How do you format their names, order them, and use abbreviations? In this article, you will learn some tips and rules to deal with this common issue in academic research.
The first thing you need to know is that CMOS has two systems for citing sources: the notes and bibliography system and the author-date system. The former uses footnotes or endnotes to provide information about the sources, and a bibliography at the end of the paper to list them alphabetically. The latter uses parenthetical citations in the text to indicate the author and date of the sources, and a reference list at the end of the paper to provide full details. Depending on your discipline and preference, you can choose either system, but be consistent throughout your paper.
Formatting citations and references manually is not an easy task. I recommend using a reference management tool such as EndNote (EN) to do so automatically. For correctly formatted references, the output style must be set to "Chicago" or "Chicago 17th Footnote" offered by EN in Word, Mac or more recently GoogleDocs with EN21
The basics of Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS) encompass a set of guidelines for writing, citation, and formatting commonly used in academia, publishing, and professional writing. It provides rules and recommendations for grammar, punctuation, capitalization, citation styles, and manuscript preparation. Understanding CMOS basics involves familiarity with its two main citation systems: the notes and bibliography system, which uses footnotes or endnotes for citations, and the author-date system, which incorporates parenthetical author-date citations within the text. Additionally, CMOS outlines conventions for formatting elements such as titles, headings, tables, and figures.
If you are using the notes and bibliography system, you need to follow certain rules when citing multiple authors in your notes and bibliography. For sources with up to three authors, list all of them in the same order as they appear on the title page, separated by commas and with "and" before the last author's name. Sources with four or more authors should only list the first author's name followed by "et al." (meaning "and others") in both the notes and the bibliography. When citing sources with two or more editors, use "ed." or "eds." after their names. This will help ensure that your citations are accurate and consistent.
Reference management softwares, like EndNote, offer thousands of output styles to choose from. EndNote also offers the ability to edit output styles if these styles don't match your requirements. One can specify the maximum number of authors to be listed (for instance 3, separated by commas and with "and" before the last one), in both the notes and the bibliography. In this case, if the reference has more than 3 authors, the first one would be mentioned followed by "et al."
In Chicago style's notes and bibliography system, handling multiple authors involves listing all authors' names in the same order as they appear on the title page or cover. Each author's name is inverted, with the last name appearing first, followed by a comma and then the first name or initials. When citing a source with three or more authors, include only the name of the first author followed by "et al." ("et al." is an abbreviation of the Latin phrase "et alii," meaning "and others"). This method maintains clarity while efficiently acknowledging all contributors in the reference list.
If you are using the author-date system, you should adhere to certain rules for citing multiple authors in your parenthetical citations and reference list. For sources with up to three authors, list them in the same order as they appear on the title page, separated by commas and ending with “and” before the last author's name (e.g., Smith, Doe, and Lee 2020). If the source has four or more authors, list only the first author's name followed by “et al.” in both the parenthetical citations and the reference list (e.g., Smith et al. 2020). When citing two or more editors instead of authors, use “ed.” or “eds.” after their names in the reference list but not in the parenthetical citations (e.g., Smith, John, and Jane Doe, eds. 2020).
In the author-date system of Chicago style, citing sources with multiple authors involves listing the last names of all authors in the same order as they appear on the source, followed by the publication year within parentheses. If there are two authors, list both last names separated by an ampersand ("&"). For sources with three or more authors, include only the last name of the first author followed by "et al." and the publication year. This concise format efficiently attributes credit while maintaining clarity in in-text citations.
Similarly, multiple authors in author-date are also handled by reference management softwares like EndNote. The output styles can also be edited to suit one's needs.
When citing multiple works by the same author or authors, you may need to distinguish them and avoid repetition. For the notes and bibliography system, you can use a shortened form of the citation in your notes after the first full citation, omitting the author's name and using only the title (or a shortened version of it) and the page number. For example: John Smith, How to Write a Book (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2020), 10. Smith, How to Write, 15. In contrast, if you are using the author-date system, you can add a letter after the date to differentiate the works by the same author or authors in the same year. For instance: (Smith 2020a), (Smith 2020b). Additionally, this letter should be added to your reference list and arrange the works alphabetically by title.
Multiple works by the same author(s) are also cited correctly by reference management softwares. Adding a letter next to the publication year is also done automatically by such software to distinguish works of the same author(s) published in the same year.
When citing multiple works by the same author in Chicago style, include the author's last name, a shortened version of the title (if necessary for clarity), and the page number for direct quotations, all within parentheses. Use a comma to separate multiple works, and arrange them chronologically by publication year. This approach succinctly distinguishes between the author's various works while providing precise citation information.
Finally, if you need to cite multiple sources in one citation to support your argument or show different perspectives, you can do so in CMOS by separating the sources with semicolons in the notes and bibliography system, or by commas in the author-date system. For instance, if you are using the notes and bibliography system, you could cite John Smith's How to Write a Book (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2020) and Jane Doe's How to Read a Book (New York: Random House, 2019) as follows: "John Smith, How to Write a Book (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2020), 10; Jane Doe, How to Read a Book (New York: Random House, 2019), 5." Similarly, if you are using the author-date system, your parenthetical citation would look like this: "(Smith 2020, 10; Doe 2019, 5)."
In Chicago style, when citing multiple sources within a single citation, separate each source with a semicolon within the same set of parentheses. This method succinctly combines multiple references into one citation while maintaining clarity and adherence to citation standards.
The cases listed in this article show that it's easy to make mistakes when dealing manually with hundreds of citations and references. From my experience, I recommend using a reference management software to: - avoid making mistakes - save time - be more efficient - and stay sane Some softwares have free versions (EndNote online/web). The paid versions offer more advanced functionalities