Chicago / Turabian Format Checklist
This covers Turabian (9th ed.), the student version of Chicago that uses footnotes and a Bibliography. Run down the list before you submit.
Page formatting
- Margins: 1 inch on all sides.
- Font: a readable font (such as Times New Roman) at 12 pt.
- Spacing: double-space the body. Block quotes, notes, and bibliography entries are usually single-spaced.
- Indent: first line of every body paragraph indented 0.5 inch.
- Page numbers: included (often top-right; the title page has none).
Title page
- A centered title, with your name, course, and date below it.
Bibliography
- Starts on a new page with a centered heading: Bibliography.
- 0.5-inch hanging indent, alphabetical by the author's last name.
- Entries are usually single-spaced, with a blank line between them.
- Each entry formatted correctly — see Chicago bibliography examples.
Want to know which of these your paper gets wrong?
Check my Chicago paper — free →FAQ
Is it "Chicago" or "Turabian"?
Turabian is the student-friendly version of Chicago. For class papers they're effectively the same; this checklist follows Turabian 9.
Footnotes or author-date?
This covers the notes-and-bibliography system (footnotes + a Bibliography), which is the form most students use.