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A Turabian in-text citation in author-date style is the author’s last name and the year of publication, usually in parentheses, with a page number added after a comma when you point to a specific passage: (Larson 2018, 121). There is no comma between the name and the year, and no “p.” before the page. Every parenthetical citation must match an entry in your reference list.
This guide covers the author-date system of Turabian’s A Manual for Writers (9th edition), the style more common in the physical, natural and social sciences. Turabian also has a notes-bibliography system that uses footnotes instead of parenthetical citations; it is not covered here. The University of Chicago Press describes the split on its Turabian Citation Quick Guide: author-date is “more common in the physical, natural, and social sciences,” and is set out in chapters 18 and 19 of the 9th edition.
The format
Each in-text citation has three elements, in this order:
- Author’s last name, spelled exactly as it appears at the start of the reference-list entry.
- Year of publication, separated from the name by a space only.
- Page number or numbers, preceded by a comma, when you quote or point to a specific passage.
Template: (Last name Year, page). The name in the citation must be exactly the name that begins the matching reference-list entry.
Examples
The names and works below are invented to show the pattern; they are not real sources. The patterns follow the author-date examples in the Northwest Missouri State University and Union University library guides for Turabian 9th (see Sources).
| Authors | In-text citation (example) | Rule shown |
|---|---|---|
| One | (Alder 2019, 44) | Last name, year, comma, page |
| Two | (Alder and Brandt 2021, 112) | Both last names joined by “and” |
| Three | (Alder, Brandt, and Castell 2020, 57-58) | Commas, then “and” before the last name |
| Four or more | (Alder et al. 2022, 20) | First author plus “et al.” only at four or more authors |
| Group author | (Example Health Agency 2023) | Organization name as it opens the reference entry |
The in-text citation uses last names only. For a web page or newspaper article with no page numbers, the Northwest Missouri State guide gives the citation with name and year alone, for example (Swaim 2023).
In-text citation version
In a thesis or manuscript, the citation sits inside the sentence. Example sentence, with an invented source:
Sampling error shrinks as the sample grows (Alder and Brandt 2021, 112).
For a thesis or manuscript, the working rule from the Quick Guide is that each citation in the text matches up with an entry in the reference list, so check every parenthetical against the list before you submit. For the general concept, see parenthetical citation.
When a source has both an author and an editor or translator, cite the author only. The editor or translator takes the author’s place in the citation only when the source has no author (Union University guide).
Common errors
- Listing every author past three. At four or more authors, the in-text citation names the first author followed by “et al.” The reference-list entry still lists all of them.
- Writing “et. al”. “Et” is a whole word and takes no period; only “al.” is abbreviated: Alder et al. 2022.
- Adding a comma between name and year. The author-date pattern in the library guides is name, space, year; the comma comes only before the page number.
- Naming the edition in the parenthetical. A book’s edition (such as “4th ed.”) belongs in the reference-list entry. The in-text citation needs only author, year and page (Union University guide).
- A name that does not match the reference list. The in-text name must be exactly the name that starts the reference entry; a mismatch breaks the link between text and reference list.
Style-guide edition
The patterns above are for the 9th edition of Turabian, the edition named on the University of Chicago Press quick guide (checked 2026-10-29). Turabian is a separate book from The Chicago Manual of Style, whose current edition is the 18th (2024). They share the author-date approach but do not set the same threshold for “et al.”: Chicago’s what’s-new page for the 18th edition says author-date text citations list up to two authors and use the first author plus “et al.” for more than two, while the Turabian 9th library guides use “et al.” from four authors. If your department tells you to follow Chicago rather than Turabian, use the Chicago rule. See our guide to et al. citation rules across styles for the comparison with APA, MLA and Vancouver.
FAQ
What does a Turabian in-text citation look like?
Author-date: (Larson 2018, 121). The last name, the year, and a page number after a comma when you cite a specific passage.
Is Turabian author-date the same as footnotes?
No. Turabian offers two systems. Notes-bibliography uses numbered footnotes or endnotes; author-date uses the parenthetical citations covered here plus a reference list.
Do I always include a page number?
Include it when you quote or refer to a specific passage. A source without page numbers, such as a web page, can be cited with name and year alone.
How do I cite an organization as author?
Use the organization name that opens the reference-list entry, then the year, for example (World Health Organization 2023) in the Northwest Missouri State guide.
Where do I find the full reference-list formats?
See chapters 18 and 19 of the Turabian manual for the author-date style, including reference-list entries. For books specifically, our how to cite from a book guide compares the major styles, and the citation styles overview places Turabian and Chicago among the other systems. For web sources in Chicago style, see cite a website in Chicago style.
Sources
- University of Chicago Press, Turabian Citation Quick Guide, checked 2026-10-29. Author-date description, 9th edition, chapters 18 and 19.
- B.D. Owens Library, Northwest Missouri State University, Chicago/Turabian Style Citation Examples: Author-Date style (page updated 2026-07-08), checked 2026-10-29.
- Union University Library, Turabian 9th edition Style Guide: Author-Date citations (page updated 2026-05-26), checked 2026-10-29.
- University of Chicago Press, The Chicago Manual of Style, 18th edition: What’s new, checked 2026-10-29, for the Chicago author-date “et al.” rule.
