Chicago Style Endnotes and Footnotes Help

This is another post from my other blog, The Benchwarmer's Almanac, that I thought would be relevant to this blog's audience. You can also read my advice on polishing your research papers.

Any history major gets to know their way around Chicago/Turabian style during their tenure in the undergrad world, but if you're just starting out or could use help getting your footnotes done faster and easier, this article is for you. The most notable feature of Chicago Style is not Marilyn Monroe in a breezy white dress over a subway grate, but it's endless parade of Footnotes or Endnotes. If you find yourself or a friend panicking over how to put these rambunctious little creatures into your latest paper, I would like to share with you my Patent Pending (I wish) Chicago Pro Citation a-GoGo citation method, carefully developed in a musty college library for optimal user-friendly handling!!

First, while you're writing your paper, follow your sentences with parenthetical citations with the author and page number where you found the information from, just like if you were doing MLA, APA, or another parenthetical citation. Example:

Even America’s famous patriot and silversmith Paul Revere is pictured in his portrait by John Copley holding a silver tea pot as an example of some of the finest of his handiwork. (Roth 17)

Beautiful! This way, if you decide to rearrange, rewrite, or add content in your paper during the editing process, you won't have to worry about changing all the little endnote numbers around.

Once you've completed your final draft and are sure you won't be making any more structural changes to the paper, go through your paper and at the end of each sentence where you have a citation, click on Microsoft Word's "Add footnote" or "Add endnote" button (found under the References tab on the top toolbar). This will place the exponential number by your punctuation mark (there shouldn't be any space between the two) and then take you to the end of the page or document where you can record the citation information in your parenthetical brackets.

 Even America’s famous patriot and silversmith Paul Revere is pictured in his portrait by John Copley holding a silver tea pot as an example of some of the finest of his handiwork.[1]

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[1] Roth, 17.

This is an example of a footnote. The exponent didn't transfer to Blogger, but you get the idea.

Be sure to then delete your parentheses and their content and move on to the next citation, clicking the Add ___note button once again. Also, remember the Chicago style has a different citation format for endnotes/footnotes than in the bibliography! I guess that's part of what makes it a big pain. Any citation guide will show you how to format each one though.

Boom! You SLAY that paper! Or at least just have something to turn in tomorrow...

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More resources:

Purdue OWL Chicago Citation

Student's Guide to History

Research Paper Writing Tips

I wrote this for my other blog, The Benchwarmer's Almanac, but thought it would be relevant for this site, as writing a killer research paper is a must-have skill for all humanities majors!

I really enjoy writing but I know papers are a real pain in the butt, especially with the time crunch and the added stress of other class assignments so papers aren't always a great reflection of your writing skill since you may be half-crazy with stress while pulling it together, but I have seen some pretty common weaknesses and errors in the papers I've reviewed over the years. It doesn't help that oftentimes secondary schools don't give proper training in how to write papers (I had a friend who revealed to my junior year of college that no one had ever taught her to write a thesis) and college professors typically throw you in the deep end with term papers and give very little constructive criticism on your finished product.

Anyways, I wanted to put together a list of some tips I've gotten along the years and some advice based on difficulties I've seen other students have in writing papers in general, but specifically research-based for the humanities.

• You don't have to keep using quotes in your papers. Many students were taught to write this way in high school, especially since most writing is taught in English class where the teacher trains you to write body paragraphs in this structure:

                                          Introductory sentence with main idea of the paragraph
                                          First supporting point
                                          Lead-in to quote and a quote from the text to support first point
                                          Explanation of how quote supports the point
                                          Second supporting point
                                          Lead-in to next quote and quote supporting second point
                                          Explanation of how second quote supports second point
                                          Conclusion sentence with lead-in to next paragraph

Sound familiar?? Well, I have some liberating news for you, friend: you can stop using quotes from the text. In fact, I recommend that you do. It is appropriate in some cases, like when you're writing a paper addressing the argument of one specific text, but not really in the research paper situation. The idea of a research paper is that YOU conducted this research on your own and have drawn your own conclusions based on your findings, which you are now sharing with the readers. This is your chance to act like an expert, because you have, in a sense, become somewhat of an expert on this subject. So speak authoritatively to your reader instead of relying on other people's writing (quotes) to do the speaking for you. Instead, summarize the argument or main point the author was making in the part of the piece you would have normally quoted. If you want, you can verbally cite the author, especially if he or she is a major source for your paper or major voice on the topic. If not, you should put a citation after the sentence with the page number of the source you are drawing that argument from. Which brings me to my next point.

• When to cite a source: This is probably one of the hardest things for student writers to figure out, and it is a tricky thing to navigate. I recommend erring on the side of citing annoyingly often just to ensure that you don't pass someone's thoughts or data off as your own (aka plagiarize). Here are some guidelines for citing sources:
• If you are mentioning data or numbers of any kind, cite where you got them from.
• If you are stating a fact or research finding that you found out from something you read, cite that piece.
• If you are summarizing the words of another author or a major argument of theirs (essentially if you would have quoted them in your old high school method of writing), then cite the page(s) from which you are pulling their argument.

If you are unsure about this, review your work with a professor, librarian, or school writing center. As a general rule, while you are researching, be sure to takes notes of the page numbers of important arguments and data you want to use and/or mark important pages. This will help you immensely with being able to go back and pinpoint where you got your information from.

12-pager = Ultra McWhopper

• You can relax your use of the Hamburger Writing Model. I was taught to very strictly follow the writing style I laid out above while going through middle and high school. Naturally, when I entered college, I was still holding myself strictly to the "Intro sentence-First point-Support-Explanation-Second Point-Support-Explanation-Conclusion" body paragraph format. This is a great guideline for beginning writers to use and your writing should generally follow a flow of "Setting the stage with my main point - giving proof and further elaboration of the argument - connecting your point back to your main thesis" but it does not have to be a painful regimen. I got to the point where I was tearing my hair out writing papers because I was trying to connect every paragraph back to the thesis, which made it just sound like a bad children's program (So what does this teach us again? That we should be kind to our neighbors!) Finally, a professor told me that I could give myself permission to loosen up. You want to make sure you keep bringing your points back to your thesis, but you don't need to do so when it's unnatural. And you can let your supporting points decide for themselves how many sentences or paragraphs they need to be fully fleshed out, rather than putting things on a strict schedule. Let your writing flow but be mindful of how each idea you introduce relates back to your main purpose. 

These are probably the biggest over-arching issues I have seen. Beyond this, I would just remember to let someone else (writing center, family member, friend) look over your paper before turning it in (even if they just read half) and keep track of your citations while you're writing; don't try to go back and identify everything unless you're really stuck. In fact, it may be a good idea to write up your bibliography early on too so that the nitpicky work of getting all the details right isn't left until 2am the day the paper's due. This way, too, you can get started early on research with an more concrete, do-able task of screening resources and writing down initial findings on your topic.

Well, that's a very broad overview of a tricky process, and sorry if it's not too polished, but I have to get back to my own research paper...heh.

You can also check out my post on tips to make Chicago/Turabian style citation less stressful!

The Internship Search: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (Application and Search tips)

Originally published on my other blog, The Benchwarmer's Almanac, I figured this article had a place here on Historically Accurate as well. 

It's become increasingly clear in today's job market that in order for a young person to get a decent job in their field of study when they graduate, they have to complete at least one internship (but preferably more) during their college years. With the increased emphasis that's being placed on completing internships, many of them have become even more competitive than many jobs. I found out that two internship programs I applied to received nearly forty applications for one position and over eighty applications for a program offering six positions. Yeah, I figured it was time to fill out some more apps after finding that out...

"I NEED THAT INTERNSHIIIIIIIIIIP!!!!" The modern
internship search has become akin to a Black Friday sale.
Photo from the Daily Mail.

That being said, internships can be a really rewarding experience. Beyond completing some impressive projects to display on your resume, being an intern can give you a unique insight into what working in your field of study and/or career of choice entails. If you've been in college for any amount of time, I'm sure you've come to realize that it can be extraordinarily frustrating to be forced to choose a major and career when you really have very little clue whether you're suited to it or would enjoy that sort of work. Internships let you immerse yourself in the type of work environment you could expect to be a part of and complete some of the tasks you would face daily without having to commit permanently to that position. If you hate the job, you can walk away after ten weeks and get a change of major form from the registrar. It's frustrating to have a dream shot down and to seemingly have wasted a thousand hours of your time, but you'll have saved yourself a lot of frustration had you actually gotten the job.

Beyond the obvious work experience, doing an internship helps you build your professionalism and learn to interact with coworkers and bosses in an appropriate manner, as does the application process. It's extremely frustrating to fill out large amounts of paperwork and draft a dozen cover letters and go through the stress of an interview only to get maybe one or two replies (if you're lucky), but you hone your writing and verbal communication skills, learn to communicate professionally, handle yourself well in an interview, speak to your strengths without outright boasting, deal with rejection and still persevere, and write appropriate emails. This gives you a huge insight into the job search process and you can make any mistakes on the amateur level so you don't cost yourself a job when you really need one by making a rookie mistake like forgetting to change the organization or company name in your cover letter. The experience of applying for and working in internships will give you a leg up over fellow graduates when it comes to applying for jobs or even graduate school.

I think it's also worth mentioning that internships can give you really cool opportunities to experience life in another city or region of the country and to boost your self-confidence in your professional and academic abilities and make you feel better about graduating and living on your own in the looming future. The one internship I completed where I lived in a different place was really rewarding.

Personally, I've applied for internships about four times now, as well as some real jobs in between. Some rounds have been more successful than others. The major lessons I've learned have been the following:

1. Start looking and working on applications EARLY!!! I'm talking start looking over winter break! I have seen internships with deadlines for applications for the summer months as early as December 31! Most paid internships have deadlines of early February, March, or at latest early April. The years I started looking over winter break were the years I did the best and I've come across some really cool internships only to find the deadline had passed.
2. Get volunteer or work experience during the school year. I happened to see a really interesting listing for a volunteer internship my senior year of college that ended up being a really great work experience in the field I went into. I got a great reference letter as well as work experience for my resume and I think it's a big part of why I got a paid internship after my sophomore year of college. If you are in high school, get plugged in at a nearby organization! It will pay off. If you're in college and don't have time for a job, try finding a place in town or on campus to work or volunteer. I wish I had done more of that. Any work experience when you're young is valuable since our resumes are skimpy and contacts few.
3. Keep a list of internships you find. Of course, it's wise to keep a list of what you're applying for and what materials you need and whether you've gotten them in. But also keep a list of internships you come across that have passed deadlines or just don't work for this summer so that you can come back to them in the future. It will save you time in future searches!
4. Look for programs with defined goals. If you're worried about become a coffee runner for the summer, try and limit yourself to applying for internships that are part of clearly defined programs stating expectations for the intern and potential projects, that way you know they are actually looking for somebody to help and they won't just pass you around from one supervisor to another. 
5. Don't limit yourself to paid positions. This was a mistake I have made this year. It can be intimidating to think about going an entire summer working forty hours unpaid, especially if you have to relocate and pay out of pocket for living expenses. You should definitely apply for paid positions, but don't rule out unpaid ones or even volunteer work since paid positions are the most competitive.
6. Be creative in your search. It will be a long search...I spent hours and hours looking for places. Try local organizations or businesses as well as more famous ones you have always been intrigued by. Another gold mine can be the academic department websites of your college or other institutions. They often list potential internships and describe the past experiences of students in their departments. Then there are job posting websites like indeed.com and internships.com and sites specific to your field. (Example: National Council for Historic Preservation has a job listing site for museum and history jobs)
7. Have people look over your application materials. Take advantage of on-campus resources and career center activities to polish your resume, cover letters, and interviewing skills. One typo or a sad resume can land your hours of hard work in the trash without a second glance. Even if you don't have a ton of work experience, career experts can help you play to your strengths and market yourself to look like a million dollar candidate. Writing resumes and cover letters is a strange art so it makes a huge difference to have someone who knows what they're doing help you!
8. Don't undersell yourself. Really work hard on your application materials. I know it can be hard to focus on them with so much going on (another reason to start working on things over break even if it's just a generic cover letter that you can personalize later once you find internships) but set aside time at a time of day when you work best. Consider it another homework assignment. Also, go through the internship listing and write down the qualities they are looking for in a candidate, the experience they expect, and the projects they want you to complete. Go through each one and write down what skills, experience, training, and passion you have that speaks to that need of the company's. Be sure to incorporate each of these points into your cover letter, even using their same language and incorporating buzz words that they use a lot. For example, when I apply to work at small organizations dedicated to preserving a town's history, I might simply slip the term "preserving local history" or mention that some of my work experiences helped me to "appreciate local history". It can be as simple as that to show that you are keyed into the organization's mission and in line with their goals. 
9. Do your research. Read about the organization on their website. Tailor your cover letter to the specific position. If you get an interview, read through the organization's mission, history, and website before you go in. I think I have lost some potential jobs because I wasn't that familiar with the organization. They want to see that you took the time to learn about them, that you're really committed to the internship, and that you put the effort into your application. 
10. Always proofread emails and respond within one or two days. Be polite, thank the person 

    

    Typos can do significant damage to your cause. Photo from
    The Editor at Large.

    for their help and time, check for grammar errors or typos, make sure there aren't any tacky signatures (such as sent from my iPhone...you can manually erase this or change the settings so it never shows up). Any mistakes or unprofessional behavior can hurt your chances. No need to obsess over emails (I tend to!) but just take the time to think through the text and look over what you've written, even getting a second pair of eyes to revise.
11. Get letters of recommendation. Ask former supervisors or teachers who know you well to write a letter for you, giving them ample time, of course. When you leave a job, including an internship, ask for a letter of recommendation. Someone did this for me without my asking and I am forever grateful! It may feel selfish to take up their time, but the job market is a lot like karma: people realize they all need to help others get positions just like people helped them. Also, they want to be able to point to past students or interns and say they went on to do even greater things! So don't be afraid to ask for a form letter or for that person to be a reference. I often send along my letters of recommendation with my application materials even if the listing doesn't ask for them...It helps set you apart and attests to your abilities as a worker, which the cover letter and resume can lack. 

Don't get overwhelmed by your internship search. Kim never
got an internship either. Photo from Odyssey Online.

Good luck on your search! Don't overwhelm yourself or feel hopeless if you get rejected from many things - or even everything. That happened to me this year and in previous years. Once I even got all no's only to have two places call back right before the summer started and say they had changed their minds because the original top picks accepted other positions. Anyways, I've found that opportunities often don't work out for a reason and even though your path may not go the way you anticipated, it may take you down an unexpectedly exciting path! I started writing music my first summer after I began college because I had nothing to do. If I had had a job, I doubt I would have ever picked up that guitar! And sometimes you need to take time to unwind after a crazy semester. Even if you get a job or internship, try to build some time for your to relax during the summer. 

If internships don't work out, try just volunteering this summer (the path I have been relegated to after a four-month internship application process). It gives the same work experience, connections, and reference with less stress. Of course, it's helpful to make sure that the organization actually needs volunteers and to check what work they would actually have you do so you're not being treated with contempt (happened to me) or stuck stuffing envelopes at your own expense (happened to a friend). But their can be great volunteer opportunities if you find the right one. Don't be afraid to walk away from one if you start it and the people are nasty or the work isn't beneficial. Also, consider applying for spring or fall semester internships if you live close to any place that has one; they're much less competitive and often places that are virtually inaccessible during the summer months are begging for help during the school year.

All the same, I highly recommend applying for internship programs as a way to develop professionalism and familiarize yourself with the job search and application process! I personally feel a lot more prepared to apply for jobs once I graduate (or apply for grad school, which requires similar skills... writing a personal statement, securing letters of recommendation, interviewing) because I have already been through the process and worked out many of the kinks. 

In short...You can dooooo iiiiiit!