The Chicago Manual of Style is often used to document sources for papers in the humanities (eg. history, fine arts, and political science). This guide is based on the Chicago Manual of Style (17th ed.), published in 2017.
Note: The Chicago Manual uses two styles of citation. This guide is intended as a guideline for the "Notes and Bibliography" style only.
In all types of research and scholarly writing, it is important to cite your sources in order to:
Readers may want to locate a source you have cited, to verify the information or to learn more about the topic. A proper citation includes all of the information for a reader to locate a source.
Scholarly writing is grounded in research. Citations allow you to demonstrate that your position is thoroughly researched.
Giving proper credit to those whose ideas, words, and thoughts you use is not only respectful to those authors, but also helps you avoid plagiarism. Plagiarism is "the submission by a student of the writings, ideas or data of another individual as the student’s own in any essay or assignment. Avoid the consequences of plagiarism by giving proper references to your sources.”
Numbers in parentheses refer to specific pages in the Chicago 17th Edition manual.
Each entry in your Bibliography usually contains the following information, in this order: author(s) or editor(s), title of work, and facts of publication. There are specific rules around the formatting of each part of the citation. The general format for a book is given below; refer to The Chicago Manual of Style for more information.
In Chicago style, books "serve as a model for constructing documentary notes and bibliography entries for many other types of sources. (p. 693)." See the entire "books" section on pages 799-828 for more information and examples.
Author or Editor Information (pp. 784-791)
Author's names are given as they appear on the title page. In the Bibliography, invert the order of the first author's names (e.g. last name first) so that they will appear correctly in the alphabetical list.
If there is no author, begin the entry with the title, ignoring any introductory articles (e.g. The, A, An) (p. 787).
In a reference to an edited book, insert the editor's name in place of the author's name, followed by a comma and the abbreviation "ed." (without the quotation marks) (pp. 800-801).
Title of Work (pp. 791-799)
Capitalize first and last words in titles and subtitles, and capitalize all other major words. Chicago calls this"headline style" capitalization (pp. 526-527).
Titles and subtitles of books and periodicals are italicized (p. 528).
Arrange your Bibliography in one alphabetical sequence by the surname of the author, or by title or keyword if there is no author (pp. 777, 781-782).
For an edition other than the first, identify the edition of your source by number (e.g. 2nd ed.) or by name (e.g. Rev. ed. for "revised edition"). The edition statement comes after the name of the editor, translator, or compiler, if there is one, or, otherwise, after the title of the book (p. 806).
Facts of Publication (city, publisher, date, {medium/format}) (p. 813-821)
List the location, publisher’s name, and year of publication as they appear on the title page or copyright page (p. 813). If there is more than one city, list the first one only (p. 813).
If the city may be unknown to readers or may be confused, add the abbreviation of the state, province, or country (p. 813-814). For accepted abbreviations, see pages 583-584.
If no date is available, use the abbreviation n.d. (p. 820).
For electronic sources include a URL or DOI or an indication of the medium consulted (e.g. DVD, CD-ROM) (pp. 826-828).
Numbers in parentheses refer to specific pages in the Chicago 17th Edition manual.
Footnotes
Double-Spaced
Numbers in parentheses refer to specific pages in the Chicago 17th Edition manual.
Numbering
Note numbers in text are set as superscript numbers (p. 751).
At the bottom of the page, the note numbers are normally full size and followed by a period (p. 751).
Notes should be numbered consecutively, beginning with 1 (p. 756).
Tip: Use your word processor's "footnote" feature to assist with formatting.
Full Note vs. Shortened Note
The first note referring to a work must be a full note, but subsequent citations for that same work can be shortened. The shortened form should include just enough information to remind readers of the full title or lead them to the bibliography; usually the last name of the author(s), the key words of the main title, and the page number. Check with your instructor to determine whether this shortened form is acceptable. (p. 757-761)
Example:
1. Salman Rushdie, The Ground beneath Her Feet (New York: Henry Holt, 1999), 25.
2. Valerie Bunce, "Rethinking Recent Democritization: Lessons from the Postcommunist Experience," World Politics 55, no. 2 (2003): 168, http://www.jstor.org/stable/25054217.
3. Rushdie, The Ground beneath, 28.
Consecutive footnotes for the same work
When citing the same source in multiple footnotes one after the other, cite the source in full the first time, and then use the abbreviated form for all subsequent citations until another source is cited (p. 759-760).
Example:
1. Rushdie, The Ground beneath, 25.
2. Rushdie, 28.
URLs
When the note entry includes a URL that must be broken at the end of a line, the break should be made after a colon of double slash (//); before a single slash (/), a tilde (~), a period, a comma, a hyphen, an underline (_), a question mark, a number sign, or a percent symbol; or before or after an equal sign or an ampersand (p. 750).