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Chicago A-D to Turabian converter

Paste Chicago A-D references, get Turabian. Free, no sign-up.

Paste references written in Chicago A-D 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 author names are written as in Turabian (first author inverted with full names, the rest in normal order). 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.

Chicago A-D 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

Chicago A-D

Suri, Tavneet, and William Jack. 2016. “The Long-Run Poverty and Gender Impacts of Mobile Money.” Science 354 (6317): 1288–92. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5309.

In-text: (Suri and Jack 2016, 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

Chicago A-D

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

In-text: (Achebe 1958, 1290)

Turabian

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

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

Web page

Chicago A-D

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

In-text: (World Health Organization 2023, 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 Chicago A-D and Turabian

6 of 12 rules differ; they are listed first.

RuleChicago A-DTurabian
Reference list headingReferencesBibliography
In-text citationsauthor and year in parentheses with no comma, e.g. (Suri and Jack 2016, 1290)superscript note numbers linked to footnotes, as in Chicago notes and bibliography
Author namesFirst author inverted with full names, the rest in normal order, e.g. Suri, Tavneet, and William JackFirst author inverted with full names, the rest in normal order
Many authorsList up to six authors; for seven or more, the first three followed by “et al.”List up to ten authors; for more, the first seven followed by “et al.”
DateAfter the authors, followed by a full stop: 2016.Near the end: in parentheses after the issue for journals, after the publisher for books
Journal namesFull journal name, volume and issue without labels: 354 (6317)Full journal name, volume, then “no.” for the issue
List order(same)Alphabetical by first author’s surnameAlphabetical by first author’s surname
Title capitalisation(same)Title caseTitle case
Article titles(same)In quotation marks, title caseIn quotation marks, title case
Italics(same)Journal and book titlesJournal and book titles
Page ranges(same)Shortened range after a colon, e.g. 1288–92Shortened range after a colon, e.g. 1288–92
DOIs and links(same)DOI as a link: https://doi.org/…DOI as a link: https://doi.org/…

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).

Chicago A-D is more common in the natural sciences, the social sciences, geography, while Turabian is usual in history, theology, the humanities. If your department or journal names a style, always follow it.

Chicago A-D to Turabian: frequently asked questions

How do I convert Chicago A-D citations to Turabian?

Paste your Chicago A-D reference list into the box above (one reference per line, numbered, or separated by blank lines), check that “From” says Chicago A-D 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 Chicago A-D to Turabian?

Chicago A-D uses author and year in parentheses with no comma, e.g. (Suri and Jack 2016, 1290). 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 Chicago A-D the list is headed “References”; in Turabian it is “Bibliography”. Change the heading when you paste the converted list into your document.

How are author names written in Turabian?

Turabian: First author inverted with full names, the rest in normal order. Chicago A-D: First author inverted with full names, the rest in normal order, e.g. Suri, Tavneet, and William Jack. 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 Chicago A-D 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.