MUSC 1201: Introduction to Western Art Music History

Citation Styles: Chicago Manual of Style and others

Citations are formatted according to various style guides. The most common you will encounter during your time at university include:

• APA (created by the American Psychological Association)
• MLA (created by the Modern Languages Association)
• Chicago Manual of Style

For nearly all of the writing you will do as a music student, you will use the Chicago Manual of Style so it is worthwhile getting to know the rules well to save yourself time while writing!

Notes & bibliography vs. author-date?

Within Chicago style, there are two variations: notes & bibliography vs. author-date. There are some key differences:

Notes & bibliography

• This variation is the one you will be using in MUSC 1201 and for your assignment
• It uses footnotes for in-text citations with a full list of all cited material at the end in a bibliography
• This variation is used most commonly in music history and musicology writing

Author-date

• This variation uses parenthetical citations in the body of the text to create citations with a reference list at the end of the document
• The format of reference list entries is almost identical to the notes & bibliography style, except that the publication date is found after the name(s) of the author(s), not with the rest of the publication information
• This variation is used more commonly for music theory writing

Important resources for creating citations

While the complete rules for Chicago-style citations are too lengthy fit into this guide, there are a number of important resources which can help you build a good citation!

The Chicago Manual of Style

We have access to the complete Chicago Manual of Style through the library, either in paper copy or online. During your assignment, you will only be concerned with Part III Chapter 14 which covers the Notes and Bibliography style.

Music Library Chicago Citation Guide

The Music Library has prepared a citation guide which gives properly formatted examples of nearly all formats of materials you will be commonly citing during your studies. This should be your main reference when completing Part 2 of your assignment, paying special attention to the formats which you were required to find in Part 1. Other useful Chicago style information from the library is on the Music Subject Guide.

Building blocks of citation

The following presentation walks you through where to find the pieces of bibliographic information need to create a proper citation and how to put them together with the required formatting. Note: you might need to log in below with your MtA credentials to view the Powerpoint presentation. If you can't view it, a PDF version is available here. 

Rules of thumb for Chicago Style

Footnotes

• List the author, title, and facts of publication (in that order)
• Elements are separated by commas
• Facts of publication are enclosed in parentheses
• Author names are presented in standard order (first name first)
• Titles of larger works are italicized (e.g., book titles, journal titles, album titles)
• Titles of smaller works are "in quotation marks" (e.g., book chapter, journal article, tracks on an album)
• Terms like editor/edited by, translator/translated by, volume, and edition are abbreivated

Bibliographies

• List the author, title, and facts of publication (in that order)
• Elements are separated by periods
• Facts of publication are not enclosed in parentheses
• The first author's name is inverted (last name first)
• Titles of larger works are italicized (e.g., book titles, journal titles, album titles)
• Titles of smaller works are "in quotation marks" (e.g., book chapter, journal article, tracks on an album)
• Words like editor, translator, volume, edition are abbreviated. Their verb forms (e.g., edited by) are not.

Still need help?

Citation styles are complicated and frequent use of citation is not an expectation prior to university, so it's ok to ask for help!

You can always send me an email (alepage@mta.ca), book an appointment with me for help, or drop by the Music Library to chat with me in-person!

All of my contact information can be found on the Music Subject Guide