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Turabian to Chicago A-D converter

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

Paste references written in Turabian and get them back in Chicago A-D, ready to copy into Word or Google Docs. The main changes: footnotes in-text citations become author–date citations, your “Bibliography” list becomes “References” and author names are written as in Chicago A-D (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.

Turabian vs Chicago A-D: the same sources side by side

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

Journal article

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.

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)

Book

Turabian

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

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

Chicago A-D

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

In-text: (Achebe 1958, 1290)

Web page

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.

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)

Key differences between Turabian and Chicago A-D

6 of 12 rules differ; they are listed first.

RuleTurabianChicago A-D
Reference list headingBibliographyReferences
In-text citationssuperscript note numbers linked to footnotes, as in Chicago notes and bibliographyauthor and year in parentheses with no comma, e.g. (Suri and Jack 2016, 1290)
Author namesFirst author inverted with full names, the rest in normal orderFirst author inverted with full names, the rest in normal order, e.g. Suri, Tavneet, and William Jack
Many authorsList up to ten authors; for more, the first seven followed by “et al.”List up to six authors; for seven or more, the first three followed by “et al.”
DateNear the end: in parentheses after the issue for journals, after the publisher for booksAfter the authors, followed by a full stop: 2016.
Journal namesFull journal name, volume, then “no.” for the issueFull journal name, volume and issue without labels: 354 (6317)
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 Chicago A-D

Chicago author-date suits the sciences and social sciences when your department wants Chicago but with in-text citations instead of footnotes. It is published by the University of Chicago Press; CiteSwap follows the 18th edition (2024).

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

Turabian to Chicago A-D: frequently asked questions

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

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

Turabian uses superscript note numbers linked to footnotes, as in Chicago notes and bibliography. Chicago A-D uses author and year in parentheses with no comma, e.g. (Suri and Jack 2016, 1290). For the same article and page: Turabian gives 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., Chicago A-D gives (Suri and Jack 2016, 1290).

What is the reference list called in Chicago A-D?

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

How are author names written in Chicago A-D?

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