22 Chicago Referencing 17th Edition

Referencing acknowledges the sources of ideas and information used in written work. Correct referencing is an important skill as it:

• prevents allegations of plagiarism
• demonstrates relevant research, wide reading, and provides evidence for academic arguments
• enables readers to locate and verify information sources
• forms part of an ethical practice by acknowledging the work of others.

The referencing style used in music research^[1] is the Chicago Manual of Style 17th edition (‘Chicago’). Chicago style uses either:

• notes and bibliography system
• author-date system

The notes and bibliography system uses footnotes to provide citations, with a slightly altered version of the footnote reference. This system is sometimes considered to be more elegant than the author-date system but it is trickier to use, mostly because it may require two different kinds of citation for each work cited in your assignment:

• an initial version for the first time the work is cited
• a shortened, subsequent citation for any additional references to that same work.

The author-date system uses a parenthetical in-text citation comprising:

• the name of the author
• date of publication
• page numbers.

The citation refers to a citation in a list of references at the end of your assignment in which the author’s name and date are the first items in the reference. This system is easier to use and will only require minimal adaptation for students who might be familiar with a system such as APA.

Depending on the nature of the assignment and your teacher’s requirements, it may be up to you which system to use.  As a general rule, author-date is probably best for short-form projects such as essays while notes and bibliography may be more suited to larger work, such as theses.