Student's Guide for Writing College Papers

by Kate L. Turabian

This third edition of Kate L. Turabian's Student's Guide for Writing College Papers is designed for high school, junior college, or college students faced with writing their first long, documented paper. Besides the book's step-by-step directions for all aspects of paper writing, the sixth chapter, "Some Matters of Style," has been extensively revised, and the List of Reference Works useful to students has been recompiled and greatly expanded by Donald F. Bond, a specialist in bibliography. Students and teachers will appreciate a new system of numbering each paragraph which facilitates locating any desired item through the Index or cross-references in the text.

Genres: Writing, Reference, Nonfiction, School, Education, Textbooks, Academic

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

Who was Kate Turabian?
Kate Larimore Turabian (1893–1987) was the graduate school dissertation secretary at the University of Chicago for nearly three decades, from 1930 to 1958. She was also the editor of official publications for the university.

She was born Laura Kate Larimore on Chicago’s South Side, where she was also raised, graduating from Hyde Park High School. A serious illness prevented Kate from attending college. Instead she took a job as a typist at an advertising agency, where she worked alongside a young Sherwood Anderson.

She met her husband, Stephen Turabian, in 1919, and began working at the university as a departmental secretary a few years later. In 1930 she became the university’s dissertation secretary, a newly created position in which every accepted doctoral thesis had to cross her desk. It was there that she wrote a small pamphlet describing the correct style for writing college dissertations. That pamphlet eventually became A Manual for Writers and has gone on to sell more than nine million copies in eight editions. She also authored The Student’s Guide for Writing College Papers.

Chicago has always insisted on the highest standards for the substantive content of dissertations at the university; Kate Turabian enforced the highest standards for the form of those dissertations as well. A Manual for Writers carried her reputation for exactitude well beyond the halls of Chicago.

One of her colleagues in the Office of Official Publications, Lois F. Madsen, described Kate as

a legend on the University of Chicago quadrangles.… A devout Episcopalian, an accomplished cook, an enthusiastic and adventurous traveler, and a voracious reader whose erudition earned the respect of scholars of all ranks despite her lack of the customary academic credentials. After her years of devoted service to the University, trudging in her sturdy oxfords from her apartment on the south side of the Midway to her office on the third floor of the Administration building, she acceded to her husband Stephen’s longing for a warmer clime, and retired to California.
Her husband died in 1967, while they were on a vacation in Paris. Kate passed away twenty years later, at the age of ninety-four. John Marshall wrote a warm tribute in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on October 27, 1987:

Kate L. Turabian was our trusted guide and mentor, the absolute authority, the one who knew all there was to know about the strange world of proper term papers.… A Manual for Writers was one of the first books we bought in college and it was one of the only books we kept with us through all four years and probably beyond. To write a term paper without a well-worn copy of Turabian handy was unthinkable. Our writing on term papers might be weak, our research haphazard, our insights sophomoric, but, thanks to Kate L. Turabian, our footnotes could always be absolutely flawless.

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Reviews

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was fortunate to have gone to a very large institution, its over 4000 students and suburban tax base allowing for a great variety of courses at different levels, including large accelerated and advanced placement class selections. This, along with The Lively Art of Writing, was a recommended resource in high school, introduced to us by English teachers, but relevant to all term paper assignments, of which there were many.

[Dale · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is basically the same material as in A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, organized in the same way and using many of the same examples. It is aimed at freshmen rather than Ph.D. students, but the differences are slight. A fine guide, nonetheless, and I'm sure useful for its target audience.

[Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just took this book out of my shelf to refer to - I have had this book for about 6-7 years now and every class that involves paper writing I have referred back to it. This is a great book! Could not recommend it for writing enough

[Lafcadio · Rating 2 out of 5]

It has... well... how shall I put this... a friggin' typwriter on the cover! Ok, not to judge a book by its cover... the information, though 30 years old, is still valid. This book goes through step by step everything you need to know to write a college paper. So, OK, I guess.

[Austin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Valuable reference. I picked this book up deciding to refine my writing while looking ahead to graduate school. Those plans didn't work out, so the only regret with this read is not picking it up before undergrad.

[Ayn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book for college students or really anyone who is writing a large paper. It breaks down the process into manageable bits. It's not the most intriguing book about writing I've read, but there was some wisdom in it that helped me work on a 25 page thesis and made it not so scary.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

College level editing guide. Old.

[Mrfulch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Invaluable resource for all writers.

[Mckinley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Started using this more to talk about concerns/issues in instruction sessions.