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Chicago Style Guide

How do I Cite

Here are a few frequently asked questions about the Chicago Style (16th ed.):

Who uses the notes & bibliography system?

  • The notes/bibliographic style is most commonly used in the Humanities discipline.

How do you create in-text citations in Chicago Style?

  • In-text citations in Chicago Style appear as superscript numerals
  • Numbers should begin with "1" and follow consecutively throughout the paper
  • Numbers come at the end of the sentence and after any punctuation

What citation information is provided in footnotes and endnotes?

  • Author's First Name and Last Name (listed as John Smith, rather than Smith, John)
  • Titles, publishers, dates (check guidelines to see what information is in parenthesis)
  • Page numbers of the article
  • First note should be cited in full, subsequent notes that are referencing the same source should be shortened to include Author's Last Name, Abbreviated Title, p#
  • If a note that immediately follows another note refers to the same reference, use "Ibid" (meaning: in the same place) and a specific page number to repeat the same citation. Example: Ibid, 4

How do I create a bibliography in Chicago Style?

  • List each source (i.e. book, article, etc.) that you cited in your paper
  • Alphabetize the reference entries by Author's last name. If there is no author, then by title
  • Entries are single spaced with a space in between each new entry
  • Indent the second and following lines of each reference entry using a hanging indent