Citation Guides

Citation Styles | Documenting Electronic Resources

Citation Styles

For your music research projects and papers, consult either Jonathan Bellman's text, A Short Guide to Writing About Music, available in the Music Library reference area (Ref. ML 3797.B4 2000), or Richard Wingell's Writing About Music: An Introductory Guide (Ref. ML 3797.W54 2002). These books will provide you with tips on writing about music, writing a research paper, documenting your sources, and much more.

Your research papers should follow a standard format or style. This is especially important when you document your sources in footnotes and bibliographies. There are several different standard citation styles. Ask your instructor if he/she requires a particular one. Wingell recommends using one or both of the following citation manuals (they are quite similar). Additionally, librarians at the University of Western Ontario have put together some excellent music-related examples that demonstrate each citation style. Consult their Citing Music Sources in Your Essay and Bibliography page.

The Chicago Manual of Style. 15th ed. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 2003.
(Music Library Reference Z 253.U69 2003)
See sections 17.263-17.273 for information about documenting Musical Scores, Sound Recordings, and Videorecordings. Sections 7.70 -7.75 provide rules for other conventions when writing about music .

Chicago Manual of Style
An online version of the Chicago Manual of Style. Please note that there is a 10 simultaneous users limit, so if you are unable to access it, wait a while and try again. (When accessing off-campus, please use the proxy server.)
Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers,
Theses, and Dissertations. 7th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007.
(Music Library Reference LB 2369.T8 2007)
Sections 17.8 and 19.8 discuss Music Scores, Sound Recordings, Videorecordings, and Performances.
Music Supplement to Turabian


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Documenting Electronic Resources

Standards for documenting electronic resources, including Web pages, are still being developed. The following Internet site provides some guidelines based on the Chicago Manual of Style.

Using Chicago Style to Cite and Document Sources (from Online! A Reference Guide to Using Internet Sources)
Based on the book with the same name (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998). Offers information on searching, using, and evaluating the Internet as well as guides to citation styles.


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