Module One - Overview of the Chicago Manual of Style
Welcome to SLIS!
The SLIS / KM program at OU welcomes new students from many different backgrounds and academic disciplines. In your undergraduate program, you researched and wrote academic papers, and you were required to document your sources in a certain style.
Different disciplines use different style manuals, or guides about how to cite resources, compose bibliographies, and determine the accepted use of abbreviations, capitalization, punctuation, grammar, and other style elements.
Some of the most common style manuals are Modern Languages Association Style Guide (MLA), American Psychological Association Style Manual (APA), Turabian’s Manual for Writers and the Chicago Manual of Style. While the different style guides have some differences, they have a similar purpose: to provide guidance to preparing complete citations for your work, so others can easily locate the resources you used.
The required style guide for OU SLIS / KM is the Chicago Manual of Style. There are two different forms of Chicago Manual of Style: the Notes and Bibliography form, which is favored by writers in literature, history and the arts and the Author-Date system which is widely used in the physical, natural, and social science fields. The study of information and libraries is a science. More details about these two forms will follow later in this tutorial. Keep in mind that most of your professors prefer the Author-Date system, so that is the primary focus of this tutorial. It is always a good idea to check with each professor as to their preference if you are unsure. Also, many of you will want to publish journal articles. Always check with the publication as different publications may use different style manuals. The good news is that once you learn how to use one style manual, it is easy to use another. Really!