What is Chicago Style?
What is Chicago style?
- It is a documentation style for writing and formatting research papers, including citing sources.
- There are two different formats in the Chicago Style:
- The Notes-Bibliography (NB) system which uses a bibliography and either footnotes or endnotes
- Commonly used for humanities, including history, literature, and art
- The Author-Date system which uses a bibliography and parenthetical citations within the text
- Commonly used for science and social sciences
- The Notes-Bibliography (NB) system which uses a bibliography and either footnotes or endnotes
- The Chicago Manual of Style contains comprehensive rules and examples for citing
- Also known as Turabian Style which was named after Kate Turabian who wrote a research paper manual based on the Chicago Style that is geared towards students
- The Turabian Style contains comprehensive rules and examples for citing
Chicago Style Resources
Excelsior's Online Writing Lab gives details on how to cite a variety of sources and how to format your research papers.
Western Oregon University Chicago Style Guide
Another detailed step-by-step guide to building both Notes-Bibliography and Author-Date style citations and formatting your paper according to Chicago Style guidelines
ZoteroBib is a free service that helps you quickly create a bibliography in any citation style.
Citing Your Sources in Chicago Style
Notes-Bibliography System(Humanities)
Use a footnote or endnote to acknowledge that you are quoting or paraphrasing another author's words or ideas in the text of your research paper.
Place a super-text number at the end of a quote or paraphrased section.* Citation numbers should appear in sequential order.
Create a footnote at the bottom of the page. (See the Microsoft Word Template section below for directions on how to do this in your paper.)
The first footnote for a source contains the author, title, publication information, and page number(s). The remaining footnotes (shortened notes) for the same source contain only the author, title, and page number(s).
- Here are some examples.
Author-Date System(Sciences)
Use an in-text citation to acknowledge that you are quoting or paraphrasing another author's words or ideas in the text of your research paper.
The in-text citation appears in parentheses and includes (Author's Last Name(s) Year of Publication, Page Numbers)
- Here are some examples.
Bibliography(Required for both systems above!)
- Include a reference list at the end of your paper. The list should begin on a new page and contain a full citation for each in-text citation referenced within your paper.
- Leave two blank lines between your bibliography title and the first citation.
- Citations should be single-spaced with a hanging indent. Leave one blank line between each citation.
- Each full citation should include the specific publication information required by Chicago rules. This allows your reader to find the sources, if desired.
- Arrange the citations alphabetically by the first word in each entry. This is usually the author's last name but may be the title if the source has no author.
- The way a bibliographic entry is structured will be the same regardless of which in-text citation style you use, with one exception: if you used author-date as your in-text citation style, you will place the publication date immediately after the author section, as opposed to at/near the end. This makes it easier for readers to find the appropriate citation in your reference list.
- Learn more about the Chicago style bibliography.
Microsoft Word Templates
Microsoft Word Tips for Chicago Style
- When you open a new Microsoft Word document to start your paper, click on the References Tab, go to the Citations and Bibliography box, and in the Style box choose Chicago.
- When you need to insert a Footnote, click on the References Tab, go to the Footnotes box, and click on Insert Footnote.
- When you need to insert an In-text citation click on the Reference Tab, go to the Citations and Bibliography box, and click on Insert Citation.
Chicago Style Manuals in the Library
The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th Edition
Call Number: Ref Z253 .U69 2017
Publication Date: 2017
A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 9th Edition
Call Number: Ref LB2369 .T8 2018
Publication Date: 2018