Citing Sources

The Chicago Manual of Style provides guidelines for writing and citing across many academic disciplines. Chicago-style citations come in two varieties:

1. Notes and Bibliography: Uses footnotes or endnotes with a bibliography. 
2. Author-Date: Uses parenthetical in-text citations with a bibliography. The use of this style is more rare. Check with your instructor before choosing this version of Chicago Manual of Style. 

Want a quick overview with examples? Check out the Chicago Manual of Style Quick Guide. 

Want to learn more? Sign up for a citation workshop, or request a workshop about Chicago Style. 

Chicago citations are split into three categories: 

• The first time you cite a source
• All other times you cite that same source
• Bibliography entry

Each of these looks a little bit different! The first two are in-text citations that, in Chicago, are either footnotes or endnotes, depending on your preference.

The first time you cite an item it will have a long citation that almost looks like a bibliography entry! This is because Chicago is built to give the reader of your work the most amount of context possible when they come across a citation. All other times you cite that item you'll use a short citation that still has a fair amount of information.

At the end of your paper you'll have a full citation list, a bibliography!

For example... If you're citing a book, your citations will be formatted like this: 

Footnote/Endnote first appearance:
First Last, Title (Publisher Location: Publisher, Year): Page #.

Footnote/Endnote subsequent appearance:
Last, Shortened Title, Page #.

Bibliography/Works Cited: 
Last, First. Title. Publisher Location: Publisher, Year.