A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations

Indispensable for the writer in the Humanities, especially history. Not as comprehensive as Chicago, but short and easy to use. The newest edition has two color fonts that helps subject headings and citation examples stand out, but the new numbering system is a bit unhandy. (I mean, at one point: "17.8.3.5"! That's unhandy!) The internet citations are spruced up a bit. (I still hate the inclusion of the "author-date" system, but it appears only history and art history still use bibliographies and footnotes.) For the first time the index references the subject headings and not page numbers. Why still a four-star review? I looked up how to cite a map: 16.2.3, 16.4.3.1, 17.8.1 - in none of those are maps specifically mentioned or treated. show more And still, maps are treated as ephemeral reference works, and not true sources. (This angers a map historian like me, and most cartographic history journals have their own citation style for maps.)

Still, even with citation programs like Zotero out there, you must have Turabian on the shelf (not just for citations, but pesky grammar and style issues.) show less

The Bible for History majors and those in grad school, often tedious, often almost contradicting itself in its format, for example, why the last name first in a bibliography but first name first in the first citation? This edition is made rather obsolete by the new one with sections for advanced electronic citations, and the fact that so much is available on the internet so you don't have to have that old red, yellow, black and white volume handy at all times!

I have owned the Sixth Edition of Turabian for about five years and it has been used to the point of disintegration. I was excited about the new edition and when I received it I was elated to find that the Chicago Style Manual was included with the writer's manual. The editors have updated the manual to include citation of electronic sources which, if you have been doing any academic writing recently, has been a matter of preference. The two-color priniting makes section headings easier to find as you are leafing through the pages. The editors have included a bibliography divided into various disciplines that provides some suggestions for further research. Overall, I am enjoying using the new manual. The biggest downside is that I am show more having to relearn the section headings that I have grown familiar with over the past five years. Small price to pay for the added advantage of having the Chicago Style Manual at my fingertips.

Nerds, do yourselves a favor and update your Turabian manual. You won't be sorry. show less

Indispensable if you're working in the humanities. It's much less unwieldy to use than the full Chicago manual of style, though it doesn't contain everything; much of its references are confined to either UK or US contexts, and if you're writing about other areas, you may need to seek out another resource.

Turabian is the norm for citation in most North American post-graduate institutions. It is also garbage. Poorly arranged and deeply counter-intuitive, finding the entry you want takes far too much time--assuming it appears in the book at all. Kate Turabian died years ago and every grad student in America is the victim of her family's nest egg. Still, it's a standard.

I'm not really done, done, as this is one of those reference books I'll continue to go back to. But it is written in an inviting manner.

This is a MUST HAVE for anyone who is in college, especially for history majors. I used this cover to cover throughout my MA program and it was so helpful. I think the 7th edition is out now and is even better than the 6th. It is so incredibly helpful when trying to footnote something properly.