Conference Presentations & Proceedings
Conferences, symposiums, and workshops are vital venues for scholars to present new research, share ideas, and engage in academic discourse. The materials from these events can range from unpublished presentations and papers to formally published conference proceedings. Citing these sources in the Chicago/Turabian Notes and Bibliography (NB) system requires distinguishing between unpublished works and those published as part of a collective volume.
This section will provide detailed guidelines on how to format citations for unpublished conference presentations/papers and for papers published in conference proceedings, including examples for full notes, shortened notes, and bibliography entries.
Core Elements for Citing Conference Materials:
- Presenter/Author(s): Full name(s) of the individual(s) who delivered the presentation or wrote the paper.
- "Title of Presentation/Paper": The specific title of the work, enclosed in quotation marks, using headline-style capitalization.
- Name of Conference: The official name of the conference, meeting, or symposium.
- Sponsoring Organization: The organization that hosted or sponsored the conference (if applicable and not clear from the conference name).
- Location of Conference: The city and state (or country, if outside the U.S.) where the conference was held.
- Date(s) of Conference/Presentation: The specific date(s) the conference took place or the presentation was delivered.
- For Published Proceedings (these are treated similarly to chapters in an edited book):
- Title of Published Proceedings: Italicized, using headline-style capitalization.
- Editor(s) of Proceedings: Name(s) of the editor(s) of the proceedings volume.
- Publication Details: Place of publication, publisher, and year of publication for the proceedings volume.
- Page Numbers: The specific page(s) cited in a note, and the full page range of the paper in the bibliography entry.
- URL or DOI: If the proceedings or individual paper is accessed online.
- For Unpublished Presentations:
- A description of the type of presentation: (e.g., "paper presented at," "lecture," "keynote address").
- URL and access date: if the paper or slides are available online (e.g., on a conference website or institutional repository).
I. Unpublished Conference Presentation/Paper
Full Note (N):
Presenter's First Name Last Name, "Title of Presentation" (paper presented at the Name of Conference, City, ST, Date of Presentation).
Example: Aisha Sharma, "Emerging Trends in Digital Pedagogy" (paper presented at the Annual Conference on Higher Education Innovation, Mumbai, India, March 15, 2024).
Example (if available online): John Chen, "Urban Green Spaces and Well-being" (presentation, International Symposium on Sustainable Cities, Virtual Conference, October 5, 2023), accessed May 28, 2025, http://www.sustainablesymposium.org/2023/papers/chen_greenspaces.pdf.
Shortened Note (SN):Example: Aisha Sharma, "Emerging Trends in Digital Pedagogy" (paper presented at the Annual Conference on Higher Education Innovation, Mumbai, India, March 15, 2024).
Example (if available online): John Chen, "Urban Green Spaces and Well-being" (presentation, International Symposium on Sustainable Cities, Virtual Conference, October 5, 2023), accessed May 28, 2025, http://www.sustainablesymposium.org/2023/papers/chen_greenspaces.pdf.
2. Presenter's Last Name, "Shortened Title of Presentation."
Example: 2. Sharma, "Digital Pedagogy." 2. Chen, "Urban Green Spaces."
Bibliography Entry (B):Example: 2. Sharma, "Digital Pedagogy." 2. Chen, "Urban Green Spaces."
(Often omitted for unpublished papers unless they are critical to the research and accessible. If included, format as follows):
Presenter's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Presentation." Paper presented at the Name of Conference, City, ST, Date of Presentation. URL (if applicable).
Example: Sharma, Aisha. "Emerging Trends in Digital Pedagogy." Paper presented at the Annual Conference on Higher Education Innovation, Mumbai, India, March 15, 2024.
Example (if available online): Chen, John. "Urban Green Spaces and Well-being." Presentation, International Symposium on Sustainable Cities, Virtual Conference, October 5, 2023. Accessed May 28, 2025. http://www.sustainablesymposium.org/2023/papers/chen_greenspaces.pdf.
Presenter's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Presentation." Paper presented at the Name of Conference, City, ST, Date of Presentation. URL (if applicable).
Example: Sharma, Aisha. "Emerging Trends in Digital Pedagogy." Paper presented at the Annual Conference on Higher Education Innovation, Mumbai, India, March 15, 2024.
Example (if available online): Chen, John. "Urban Green Spaces and Well-being." Presentation, International Symposium on Sustainable Cities, Virtual Conference, October 5, 2023. Accessed May 28, 2025. http://www.sustainablesymposium.org/2023/papers/chen_greenspaces.pdf.
II. Paper in Published Conference Proceedings
Full Note (N):
Author's First Name Last Name, "Title of Paper," in Title of Published Proceedings: Subtitle if Any, ed. Editor's First Name Last Name (Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication), Specific Page(s) Cited.
Example: David Lee, "Machine Learning Algorithms for Climate Modeling," in Proceedings of the 2023 International Conference on Artificial Intelligence (ICAI 2023), ed. Jane Miller and Kenji Tanaka (New York: Springer, 2024), 128.
Shortened Note (SN):Example: David Lee, "Machine Learning Algorithms for Climate Modeling," in Proceedings of the 2023 International Conference on Artificial Intelligence (ICAI 2023), ed. Jane Miller and Kenji Tanaka (New York: Springer, 2024), 128.
2. Author's Last Name, "Shortened Title of Paper," Specific Page(s) Cited.
Example: 2. Lee, "Machine Learning Algorithms," 130.
Bibliography Entry (B):Example: 2. Lee, "Machine Learning Algorithms," 130.
Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Paper." In Title of Published Proceedings: Subtitle if Any, edited by Editor's First Name Last Name, Full Page Range of Paper. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication.
Example: Lee, David. "Machine Learning Algorithms for Climate Modeling." In Proceedings of the 2023 International Conference on Artificial Intelligence (ICAI 2023), edited by Jane Miller and Kenji Tanaka, 125–40. New York: Springer, 2024.
Example: Lee, David. "Machine Learning Algorithms for Climate Modeling." In Proceedings of the 2023 International Conference on Artificial Intelligence (ICAI 2023), edited by Jane Miller and Kenji Tanaka, 125–40. New York: Springer, 2024.
Online Published Proceedings with DOI
Full Note (N) Example:
Maria Garcia, "Nanotechnology in Medicine: Recent Advances," in Innovations in Medical Technology: Selected Papers from MedTech 2024, ed. Omar Hassan (London: Academic Press, 2025), 72, https://doi.org/10.1000/medtech2024.015.
Bibliography Entry (B) Example:Garcia, Maria. "Nanotechnology in Medicine: Recent Advances." In Innovations in Medical Technology: Selected Papers from MedTech 2024, edited by Omar Hassan, 68–85. London: Academic Press, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1000/medtech2024.015.
Important Considerations:
- Published vs. Unpublished: It is crucial to determine whether you are citing an informal presentation or a formally published paper from proceedings. The citation format changes significantly. If a paper presented at a conference is later published as a journal article or book chapter, it is generally preferable to cite the formally published version.
- Availability: Unpublished conference papers can be difficult for readers to access. If you cite one, verify if a copy is available online (e.g., through a conference website, institutional repository, or author's personal page) and include the URL and access date if so.
- Consistency: Ensure you consistently apply the chosen formatting for all similar types of conference materials throughout your work.
- Conference Name: Use the full, official name of the conference or meeting.