A manual for writers of research papers, theses, and dissertations, 7th edition - Kate L. Turabian 2007
Record bibliographic data
Finding useful sources
Part I. Research and writing: from planning to production
To save time and avoid errors, record all the citation information you will need when you first find a source. Most of this information appears on the title page of a book or at the head of a journal article. The specific information you need depends on the type of source, but for each source, record at least the following:
Who wrote or assembled the source?
author(s)
editor(s)
translator(s)
What data identify the source?
title and subtitle
title and subtitle of any larger work that contains the source (such as a collection, journal, or newspaper)
page numbers if the source appears in a larger work
volume number
issue number
edition number
URL and date you accessed the material, for online sources
Who published the source and when?
publisher's name
place of publication
date of publication
For your own use, you might record Library of Congress call numbers. You don't include them in bibliographic citations, but you may find them helpful if you must consult the source again.
At some point, you'll need to format this bibliographic information into your required citation style, so you should record your sources in that style now. You can find templates and examples for bibliography style in figure 16.1 and chapter 17; for reference list style, refer to figure 18.1 and chapter 19.
As you record these data, you'll be tempted to take shortcuts, because it's boring work, and rules about periods, commas, and parentheses can feel like nit-picking. But nothing labels you a beginner faster than citations that are inappropriate, or worse, incomplete or inaccurate. So get in the habit of recording bibliographic data for a source fully, accurately, and appropriately the moment you handle it. There are computer programs that automatically format citations for you. They are useful aids, but they cannot substitute for your own knowledge of proper citation forms and methods, and not all of the software works perfectly.