I've got a research paper due in my history class next week. 10 pages, pretty standard. Professor said "Chicago style, no exceptions." Cool, fine.
But here's the thing - I've been in college for three years now and I have NEVER once actually followed a citation style perfectly. Like, I use citation generators, I throw in some footnotes, I make a bibliography that looks right... and I've never had a professor say anything. My grades are fine, mostly B's and some A's.
So my question for y'all: do professors ACTUALLY check this stuff? Like, do they have the style guide open and check if my commas are in the right place and my hanging indents are correct? Or do they just glance at it, see there are citations, and move on?
Because honestly, spending hours formatting footnotes and margins and title pages feels like such a waste of time when I could be actually writing the content. I get that citations are important for avoiding plagiarism, but do we really need to memorize whether the date comes after the publisher or before?
This particular professor is kind of intense though. Older guy, tweed jackets, very "back in my day" energy. I'm worried he might actually be the one professor who cares. But also... is it worth my time to learn Chicago style for one paper? Or do I just wing it and hope he's like every other professor who doesn't actually look?
For context: I'm a comms major, not history, so I'll probably never use Chicago again after this class. But I also don't want to fail because my footnotes are wrong.
Anyone ever had points taken off for formatting? Or am I overthinking this?
But here's the thing - I've been in college for three years now and I have NEVER once actually followed a citation style perfectly. Like, I use citation generators, I throw in some footnotes, I make a bibliography that looks right... and I've never had a professor say anything. My grades are fine, mostly B's and some A's.
So my question for y'all: do professors ACTUALLY check this stuff? Like, do they have the style guide open and check if my commas are in the right place and my hanging indents are correct? Or do they just glance at it, see there are citations, and move on?
Because honestly, spending hours formatting footnotes and margins and title pages feels like such a waste of time when I could be actually writing the content. I get that citations are important for avoiding plagiarism, but do we really need to memorize whether the date comes after the publisher or before?
This particular professor is kind of intense though. Older guy, tweed jackets, very "back in my day" energy. I'm worried he might actually be the one professor who cares. But also... is it worth my time to learn Chicago style for one paper? Or do I just wing it and hope he's like every other professor who doesn't actually look?
For context: I'm a comms major, not history, so I'll probably never use Chicago again after this class. But I also don't want to fail because my footnotes are wrong.
Anyone ever had points taken off for formatting? Or am I overthinking this?