Turabian vs Chicago: What Students Need to Know

If your instructor says "use Turabian format" or "use Chicago style formatting," you might think they're interchangeable. They're closely related, but there are important Turabian formatting differences that matter when formatting a document for student papers.

Turabian Format vs Chicago Format

Turabian format is based on the Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS), but Turabian formatting is adapted specifically for student research papers. Kate L. Turabian wrote A Manual for Writers to simplify Chicago formatting rules for academic coursework.

• Chicago (CMOS): The full manual used by publishers, editors, and professional writers
• Turabian: A student-focused subset with additional guidance for theses and dissertations

Key Differences

1. Title Page

• Chicago: No standard title page format—publishers set their own
• Turabian: Specific title page format with title centered one-third down, student name, class info, and date

2. Page Numbers

• Chicago: Flexible based on publisher preference
• Turabian: Arabic numerals in the header, starting on the second page of text

3. Margins

• Chicago: No fixed margin requirements
• Turabian: 1 inch on all sides (may require larger left margin for bound theses)

4. Citation Systems

Both support two citation systems:

• Notes-Bibliography: Footnotes/endnotes + bibliography (humanities)
• Author-Date: Parenthetical citations + reference list (sciences)

The citation formatting rules are essentially identical between Turabian and Chicago.

Which One Should You Use?

• If your instructor says "Chicago style" — use CMOS rules
• If your instructor says "Turabian" — use Turabian's student-specific formatting
• If unclear — ask. Most instructors mean Turabian when assigning student papers

Automatic Turabian Format

SimpleFormat Pro supports both Turabian formatting and Chicago formatting, including the correct Turabian format title page, margins, and citation formatting for each style.