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To cite a book in Turabian notes-bibliography style, give a numbered footnote the first time you use the book: First Last, Title (Place: Publisher, year), page. Then list it in the bibliography with the name inverted and periods in place of the commas and parentheses: Last, First. Title. Place: Publisher, year. The page number belongs only in the note. This guide follows Turabian’s A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 9th edition, and uses one fictitious book throughout so you can compare the three forms side by side.
The format: how to cite a book in Turabian
A book appears in up to three places in a paper that uses notes and a bibliography. Each form uses the same elements in a slightly different arrangement.
| Form | Pattern |
|---|---|
| First footnote | 1. First Last, Title of Book (Place: Publisher, year), page. |
| Shortened note (later citations) | 2. Last, Short Title, page. |
| Bibliography entry | Last, First. Title of Book. Place: Publisher, year. |
The elements are the author, the title (with subtitle after a colon), the place of publication, the publisher, the year and, in notes only, the page or pages cited. Both the Northwest Missouri State University and Covenant Theological Seminary library guides give the first-note and bibliography patterns in exactly this form. The shortened note comes from the Northwest Missouri State guide.
The differences between note and bibliography are small but consistent: the note keeps the author’s name in natural order and wraps the publication details in parentheses, separated by commas; the bibliography inverts the first author’s name and separates the parts with periods.
Examples
All sources below are fictitious and exist only to show the pattern.
One author, first edition
Footnote: 1. Maria Alvarez, Reading Field Notes: A Method for Early Researchers (Springfield: Example Press, 2018), 45.
Shortened note: 2. Alvarez, Reading Field Notes, 52.
Bibliography: Alvarez, Maria. Reading Field Notes: A Method for Early Researchers. Springfield: Example Press, 2018.
Later edition
Only name the edition if it is not the first. Use abbreviations such as 2nd ed. or rev. ed. (Covenant Seminary guide). In the note the edition follows the title, before the parentheses:
Footnote: 3. Maria Alvarez, Reading Field Notes: A Method for Early Researchers, 2nd ed. (Springfield: Example Press, 2022), 12.
Bibliography: Alvarez, Maria. Reading Field Notes: A Method for Early Researchers. 2nd ed. Springfield: Example Press, 2022.
Two or three authors, and four or more
For two or three authors, list all of them in the note and in the bibliography; a shortened note uses the surnames joined by “and” (for two authors: Berlin and Hardy). With four or more authors, the note gives the first author followed by “et al.”, while the bibliography lists all of them (Northwest Missouri State and Covenant Seminary guides agree on this).
Footnote: 4. Lena Ortiz et al., Archives and Method (Springfield: Example Press, 2020), 88.
Edited book
Bibliography pattern: Last, First, and First Last, eds. Title. Place: Publisher, year. The Northwest Missouri State guide shows this with “eds.” after the editors’ names.
Chapter in an edited book
Bibliography pattern: Last, First. “Chapter Title.” In Book Title, edited by First Last, page range. A shortened note gives the chapter author, the chapter title in quotation marks and the page, for example: Ortiz, “Reading Archives,” 130.
E-book without page numbers
When an e-book has no fixed pages, cite the chapter or section instead of a page, for example “chap. 3, sec. 2”. The Northwest Missouri State Kindle example ends its bibliography entry with “Kindle”. For an e-book read online, the Northwest Missouri State example adds the URL at the end of the bibliography entry.
In-text citation version
In notes-bibliography style the “in-text” signal is the superscript note number placed after the sentence or quotation it supports. The footnote at the bottom of the page carries the citation. Turabian also has an author-date system, in which the citation sits in parentheses in the text; that system is covered in Turabian in-text citation, so it is not repeated here. If you are unsure which system your department expects, confirm it before you start formatting, because the two systems change every book entry.
Common errors
- Page number in the bibliography. In the patterns above only the note carries a page; the bibliography entry ends after the year.
- Note punctuation in the bibliography (or the reverse). Notes use commas and parentheses; bibliography entries use periods and an inverted first author.
- Edition for a first edition. Name the edition only when it is later than the first.
- Listing “et al.” in the bibliography. With four or more authors, “et al.” is for the note; the bibliography names all authors.
- Using a page number for an e-book with no fixed pages. Cite the chapter or section instead.
- Copying a guide’s example without checking it. Build each entry from the pattern and your own title page, not by copying another paper’s entry, so the edition, publisher and year match the book you used.
For a book in a manuscript or thesis, run through every note and bibliography entry once against the pattern table above, then confirm the format with your department or journal. Related background: bibliography, thesis and quoting and citing sources correctly.
Style-guide edition
The manual is A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations; this guide is based on its 9th edition, as of 2026-10. It is a separate book from The Chicago Manual of Style (currently the 18th edition, 2024), so do not carry Chicago 18 rules over to a Turabian paper without checking. If you also need the book pattern in other styles, see how to cite from a book in APA, MLA, Chicago and more.
FAQ
How do I cite a book in Turabian?
Use a footnote at the point of citation: First Last, Title (Place: Publisher, year), page. Add a bibliography entry in the form Last, First. Title. Place: Publisher, year. In later notes, use the shortened form: Last, Short Title, page.
Do I need a bibliography if I have footnotes?
Turabian’s notes-bibliography style pairs a note with a bibliography entry for each book, as the patterns above show, so plan for both unless your instructor or department says otherwise.
How do I cite a book with many authors?
With four or more authors, the note names the first author followed by “et al.”; the bibliography lists every author.
When do I include the edition?
Only when you are citing an edition other than the first, abbreviated as in 2nd ed. or rev. ed.
Sources
- Northwest Missouri State University, B.D. Owens Library, “Chicago/Turabian Style Citation Examples: Books/eBooks”, libguides.nwmissouri.edu/turabian/books (page updated 8 July 2026; checked 29 October 2026).
- Covenant Theological Seminary, J. Oliver Buswell Jr. Library, “Turabian: Books”, covenantseminary.libguides.com/turabian/books (page updated 5 June 2024, based on the 9th edition of Turabian’s manual; checked 29 October 2026).
The first-note and bibliography patterns above are those given in both guides; the shortened-note form is from the Northwest Missouri State guide. All example sources are fictitious.
