Author--date system

Does anyone know the difference between the author--date system as it appears in the Australian Style manual for authors editors and printers and the Chicago manual of style?

I'm guessing the Chicago manual probably recommends Title Case for publication titles (the Australian manual recommends the laborious Sentence case).

I am about to write an author--date referencing for dummies guide for my work and am wondering if I should bite the bullet and buy a hard copy of the Chicago manual? Or wait till the online edition is released in September?

Actually, the Chicago manual recommends that titles and subtitles of books and articles be Sentence case while names of journals are Headline Style.

Online guides are great for quick questions but for me it's easier to use the hard copy when I'm really trying to understand a style.

Thanks for that. I would like to get a hard copy, so I might as well get one now!

amandaellis - I am another Aussie considering the Chicago manual of style. Firstly for the fact that so much work now is 'globalised' and secondly, you can never have too many reference books! Can you let me know where you are ordering yours from? (a comment to my profile or a message here is fine)

fishpond.com.au at sells the Chicago manual of style for $105.68 including delivery. I'm going to buy it from boffinsbookshop.com.au in Perth for $101.95. Their delivery fee is $8.80. They also sell it with the CD for $175 or $60 just for the CD. Dymocks is more expensive (~$115 inc. postage) and only sell the book.

You can get it direct from www.chicagomanual.org for about $85 AUD, but you have to wait for it to arrive and it's not sent by airmail unless you pay extra. Amazon is pretty cheap too, but I'm not sure how much they'll charge in postage for this hardback.

Alternatively you can wait a few weeks till the online edition comes out and pay $30 US ($40 AUD) :)