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APA to Turabian converter

Paste APA references, get Turabian. Free, no sign-up.

Paste references written in APA and get them back in Turabian, ready to copy into Word or Google Docs. The main changes: author–date in-text citations become footnotes, your “References” list becomes “Bibliography” and titles switch to title case. CiteSwap looks each reference up in the open Crossref catalogue, so authors, years and page numbers come from the publisher’s record rather than being rewritten by hand.

APA vs Turabian: the same sources side by side

Each example below was formatted by CiteSwap’s engine, exactly as the converter outputs it.

Journal article

APA

Suri, T., & Jack, W. (2016). The long-run poverty and gender impacts of mobile money. Science, 354(6317), 1288–1292. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5309

In-text: (Suri & Jack, 2016, p. 1290)

Turabian

Suri, Tavneet, and William Jack. “The Long-Run Poverty and Gender Impacts of Mobile Money.” Science 354, no. 6317 (December 2016): 1288–92. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5309.

Footnote: Tavneet Suri and William Jack, “The Long-Run Poverty and Gender Impacts of Mobile Money,” Science 354, no. 6317 (December 2016): 1290, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5309.

Book

APA

Achebe, C. (1958). Things fall apart. Heinemann.

In-text: (Achebe, 1958, p. 1290)

Turabian

Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. London: Heinemann, 1958.

Footnote: Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart (London: Heinemann, 1958), 1290.

Web page

APA

World Health Organization. (2023, December 4). Malaria. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/malaria

In-text: (World Health Organization, 2023, p. 1290)

Turabian

World Health Organization. “Malaria.” December 4, 2023. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/malaria.

Footnote: World Health Organization, “Malaria,” December 4, 2023, 1290, https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/malaria.

Key differences between APA and Turabian

11 of 12 rules differ; they are listed first.

RuleAPATurabian
Reference list headingReferencesBibliography
In-text citationsauthor and year in parentheses, e.g. (Suri & Jack, 2016), with a page number for quotationssuperscript note numbers linked to footnotes, as in Chicago notes and bibliography
Author namesSurname and initials for every author, e.g. Suri, T., & Jack, W.First author inverted with full names, the rest in normal order
Many authorsList up to 20 authors; for 21 or more, give the first 19, an ellipsis, then the last authorList up to ten authors; for more, the first seven followed by “et al.”
DateStraight after the authors, in parentheses: (2016).Near the end: in parentheses after the issue for journals, after the publisher for books
Title capitalisationSentence caseTitle case
Article titlesPlain text, no quotation marks, sentence caseIn quotation marks, title case
ItalicsJournal name and volume number; book and report titlesJournal and book titles
Journal namesFull journal name in title caseFull journal name, volume, then “no.” for the issue
Page rangesFull page range, e.g. 1288–1292Shortened range after a colon, e.g. 1288–92
DOIs and linksDOI as a link: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5309DOI as a link: https://doi.org/…
List order(same)Alphabetical by first author’s surnameAlphabetical by first author’s surname

When to use Turabian

Turabian is Chicago adapted for students’ papers, theses and dissertations, and is common in history and theology programmes. It is published by the University of Chicago Press; CiteSwap follows the 9th edition (2018).

APA is more common in psychology, education, nursing, while Turabian is usual in history, theology, the humanities. If your department or journal names a style, always follow it.

APA to Turabian: frequently asked questions

How do I convert APA citations to Turabian?

Paste your APA reference list into the box above (one reference per line, numbered, or separated by blank lines), check that “From” says APA or Auto-detect and “To” says Turabian, then press Convert. You can also paste DOIs, BibTeX or RIS. Copy the result or download it for Word.

How do in-text citations change from APA to Turabian?

APA uses author and year in parentheses, e.g. (Suri & Jack, 2016), with a page number for quotations. Turabian uses superscript note numbers linked to footnotes, as in Chicago notes and bibliography. A first footnote for the Suri and Jack article reads: Tavneet Suri and William Jack, “The Long-Run Poverty and Gender Impacts of Mobile Money,” Science 354, no. 6317 (December 2016): 1290, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5309.

What is the reference list called in Turabian?

In APA the list is headed “References”; in Turabian it is “Bibliography”. Change the heading when you paste the converted list into your document.

Do titles need different capitalisation in Turabian?

Yes. Turabian uses title case for article and book titles, so words like “Poverty” and “Gender” are capitalised. CiteSwap applies this automatically.

How are author names written in Turabian?

Turabian: First author inverted with full names, the rest in normal order. APA: Surname and initials for every author, e.g. Suri, T., & Jack, W. When a reference is matched in Crossref, CiteSwap uses full first names from the publisher’s record, so it can produce either form.

Is the APA to Turabian converter accurate?

Each reference is matched against the Crossref catalogue (over 150 million records) and only accepted automatically when the title, year and first author agree. Anything uncertain is marked “Needs review” so you can pick the right match, and references that aren’t in the catalogue, like websites or local journals, are parsed from your text and marked so you can check them.