Approved by Faculty: October 9, 2019; Revised: March 23, 2021

Official Turabian Style Guide

Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations: Chicago

Style for Students and Researchers, 9th Edition. Chicago: The University of Chicago

Press, 2018.

A “Citation Quick Guide” is also available: https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/turabian.html

This book, commonly known as “Turabian,” will be referenced throughout this

document. Students are encouraged to purchase the book, as when papers are graded reference

will be made to pages in this book. Use Turabian citations and formatting unless otherwise

instructed in this Style Guide. Turabian is available in the Western Seminary library reference

section. Turabian is the official style guide for Western Seminary ministry courses. APA is the

official style guide for Western Seminary counseling courses.

General Guidelines

• Confirm with the professor what type of paper you are writing: research, reflection,

philosophy, theology, and position paper are some of the possibilities.

• Use Turabian unless otherwise instructed by the professor. Section references below are

from Turabian.

• All documents should be submitted in Word/docx format (not PDF or Pages).

• Font: 12-point Times New Roman, 10-point Arial, or an equivalent (Section A.1.2).

• Double-space all text except noted in Section A.1.3 (i.e., block quotes, etc.).

• Margins: 1 inch on all four edges of the page. Use left justification, not center or right.
• Indent paragraphs .5 inches (use “First Line Indent” in Word).

• Page numbers: number the pages, but do not number the title page. Page 1 is the first

page of the text (Section A.1.4). “Page numbers are usually placed in one of four

locations: centered or flush right in the footer (at the bottom of the page) or centered or

flushed right in the header (at the top of the page). . . choose one of these locations and

follow it consistently” (Section A.2.4.2).

• Use headings/sub-headings as needed in the text to make it clear what aspect of the

assignment you are completing. Triple space (24 points of space) before heading and

double-space (12 points of space) after:

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 • Use the following heading formats for your different heading levels (each heading should

correspond to an outline of your paper):

First Level: Centered, Boldface, Headline-Style Capitalization

Second Level: Flush Left, Boldface, Headline-Style Capitalization

Third Level: Flush Left, Italicized, Headline-Style Capitalization

Fourth level: Indented, boldface, sentence-style capitalization

Fifth level: Indented, italicized, sentence-style capitalization

• A Table of Contents is only required for theses/dissertations.

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 • Use Turabian’s abbreviations for books of the Bible. See 24.6 in Turabian or as follows:

Gen. Genesis Isa. Isaiah Rom. Romans

Exod. Exodus Jer. Jeremiah 1 Cor. 1 Corinthians
Lev. Leviticus Lam. Lamentations 2 Cor. 2 Corinthians
Num. Numbers Ezek. Ezekiel Gal. Galatians
Deut. Deuteronomy Dan. Daniel Eph. Ephesians
Josh. Joshua Hosea Hosea Phil. Philippians
Judg. Judges Joel Joel Col. Colossians
Ruth Ruth Amos Amos 1 Thess. 1 Thessalonians
1 Sam. 1 Samuel Obad. Obadiah 2 Thess. 2 Thessalonians
2 Sam. 2 Samuel Jon. Jonah 1 Tim. 1 Timothy
1 Kings 1 Kings Mic. Micah 2 Tim. 2 Timothy
2 Kings 2 Kings Nah. Nahum Titus Titus
1 Chron. 1 Chronicles Hab. Habakkuk Philem. Philemon
2 Chron. 2 Chronicles Zeph. Zephaniah Heb. Hebrews
Ezra Ezra Hag. Haggai James James
Neh. Nehemiah Zech. Zechariah 1 Pet. 1 Peter
Esther Esther Mal. Malachi 2 Pet. 2 Peter
Job Job Matt. Matthew 1 John 1 John
Ps. (plural Pss.) Psalms Mark Mark 2 John 2 John
Prov. Proverbs Luke Luke 3 John 3 John
Eccles. Ecclesiastes John John Jude Jude
Song of
Song of Sol. Acts Acts Rev. Revelation
Solomon

Citations

• Use the “Notes-Bibliography Style” as detailed in Chapters 16-17 (not the “Author-Date

Style” of Chapters 18-19).

• Footnotes should use the same font and indents as regular text, but should be 2 sizes

smaller. I.e., if regular text is 12-point Times New Roman, footnotes should be 10-point

Times New Roman (Section 16.3.4).

• Use Word defaults for footnote numbers (superscript number, space, footnote text).
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 • Footnotes may be single-spaced both within and between footnotes.

• Remove hyperlinks from URLs.

Basic Book Citation (N: = note form; B: = bibliography form):

N: 1
Todd Miles, Superheroes Can’t Save You: Epic Examples of Historic Heresies (Nashville, TN: B&H
Academic, 2018), 33.

B: Miles, Todd. Superheroes Can’t Save You: Epic Examples of Historic Heresies. Nashville, TN:
B&H Academic, 2018.

Basic Journal Article Citation:

N: 2
Patrick Schreiner, “Space, Place and Biblical Studies: A Survey of Recent Research in Light of
Developing Trends,” Currents in Biblical Research 14, no. 3 (June 2016): 360,
https://doi.org/10.1177/1476993X15580409.

B: Schreiner, Patrick. “Space, Place and Biblical Studies: A Survey of Recent Research in Light of
Developing Trends.” Currents in Biblical Research 14, no. 3 (June 2016): 340-71.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1476993X15580409.

• See Chapter 17 for additional citation instructions and examples of different resources.

• Repeated citations should use a shortened note form, as directed in Section 16.4. Do not

use ibid.

Title Page

• See next page for template. (Figure A.1 in Turabian)

• The title is a third of the way down the page (about six double-spaced lines) and there are

about eight double-spaced lines after the title. Titles more than 1-line long should have

successive lines shorter than those before, shaped like an inverted triangle.

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 Divine Design: My Story as a Seminary Student

Called to Prepare for a Life of Ministry

Firstname M. Lastname

MF501: Introduction to Theological Studies and Ministry Leadership Formation

June 19, 2019