CMS Manuscript Form

CMS Manuscript Form 

Because The Chicago Manual of Style is primarily intended for manuscripts that are to be published rather than for manuscripts that are themselves the final product, the format presented here is the one recommended in A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (6th ed.), by Kate Turabian; its guidelines are more appropriate for most student research papers. Some departments and disciplines have format preferences that may not be identical to these, however. Be sure to check with your instructor.

Margins. Leave at least 1 inch at the top, the bottom, and the sides. Start the first page of the text, the endnotes, and the bibliography about 2 inches from the top of the page.

Title Page. For a term paper, center the name of the university or college near the top of the page. Toward the middle of the page, center the full title of the paper, the course name (including department and course number), the date, and your name.

Page Numbers. The title page counts as page 1, but it is not numbered. The page number on the first page of text should be centered between the last line of type and the bottom edge of the page. Subsequent pages should be numbered in the top right corner, about three-quarters of an inch from the top edge of the paper and an inch from the right edge.

Line Spacing. The general text should be double-spaced. In papers not intended for publication, footnotes, endnotes, bibliographies, and block quotations may be single-spaced, with double spaces above and below each entry.

Block Quotations. Quotations of two or more lines of poetry or eight or more lines of prose should be set off as block quotations, which are single-spaced and separated from the general text with a blank line above and below. Block quotations are indented four spaces from the left margin; paragraph indentations are an additional four spaces. Quotations of poetry should be line for line as in the original. Because block quotations are set off from the text, they should not begin and end with quotation marks.

Corrections and Insertions. If you are using a typewriter rather than a computer and printer, you can use correction paper, correction fluid, or selfcorrecting typewriter ribbon to delete or insert a character. If more than one character needs to be corrected, the page should be retyped.

Sample CMS Manuscript Pages

Following are a sample title page, text pages, a notes page, and a list of works cited for a paper in CMS format.

LOYOLA UNIVERSITY NEW ORLEANS

NEW ORLEANS' CREOLES OF COLOR: SHATTERED DREAMS AND BROKEN PROMISES

HISTORY 320

BY

KAREN BATTLE

JANUARY 23, 2002