Your professor assigned a research paper and specified Turabian style. You open the style guide and immediately feel overwhelmed by footnotes, bibliography formats, and heading systems that look different from the APA you used last semester.

Turabian is essentially the student-oriented version of the Chicago Manual of Style. Named after Kate L. Turabian, the style was developed specifically for research papers, theses, and dissertations. The 9th edition (published in 2018) remains the current standard as of 2026. This guide covers everything you need to format a Turabian paper correctly.

Two Citation Systems

Turabian offers two citation systems, and your choice depends on your discipline. Check your syllabus or ask your instructor which one to use.

Notes-Bibliography Style (Humanities)

Commonly used in history, literature, and the arts. Sources are cited in numbered footnotes or endnotes, and a bibliography at the end lists all sources.

Author-Date Style (Sciences & Social Sciences)

Commonly used in physical sciences, social sciences, and some humanities fields. Sources are cited parenthetically in the text (Author Year, Page), and a reference list at the end provides full details.

General Formatting Requirements

Element	Requirement
Margins	1 inch on all sides
Font	Times New Roman, 12 pt (or similar readable font)
Line spacing	Double-spaced throughout
Paragraph indentation	0.5-inch first-line indent
Page numbers	Flush right, starting from the first text page (no number on the title page)
Title page	Centered, no page number, includes title and student info

Title Page Format

The title page in Turabian style does not have a page number. Center the title approximately one-third of the way down the page. Your name, course information, and date are centered approximately two-thirds of the way down. The entire page is double-spaced.

Heading Levels in Turabian

Level	Format
1	Centered, Bold or Italic, Title Case
2	Centered, Regular Type, Title Case
3	Flush Left, Bold or Italic, Title Case
4	Flush Left, Regular Type, Sentence Case
5	Run-in (same line as paragraph), Bold or Italic, Sentence Case, period

Footnote Format (Notes-Bibliography)

Footnotes in Turabian use superscript numbers in the text. The first citation of a source includes the full details. Subsequent citations use a shortened form (author last name, shortened title, page number).

First citation: 1. John Smith, The History of Academic Writing (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2024), 45.

Subsequent citation: 2. Smith, History, 78.

Bibliography entry: Smith, John. The History of Academic Writing. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2024.

Common Turabian Mistakes

• Confusing Turabian with Chicago — Turabian is based on Chicago but adapted for student papers. The rules are nearly identical for most source types.
• Forgetting shortened footnote form — After the first citation of a source, use the shortened form (author and short title, not “ibid.”).
• Numbering the title page — The title page should never have a page number in Turabian style.
• Single-spacing the main text — Turabian requires double-spacing for the main text, not single spacing.

Format Your Turabian Paper with Formatly

Turabian has its own rules for footnotes, bibliography formatting, and heading hierarchy that differ from APA and Chicago in subtle ways. Formatly supports Turabian style and applies all formatting rules automatically. Upload your document, select Turabian, and receive a perfectly formatted paper with tracked changes. Try Formatly free.

Example Document

Want to see the format in action? Open the Turabian Notes Example to study the structure, then download the editable Word file when you are ready to reuse it.

The example is educational, and the Word file remains the source of truth for formatting details.