Chicago Style Citation Help — Complete CMS 17th Edition Guide
Whether you’re wrestling with footnote numbers, can’t figure out why your bibliography looks wrong, or are staring at a history paper due in six hours — this is your definitive resource for Chicago style citation. Everything from first principles to the formatting rules that trip up even experienced academic writers.
What Is Chicago Style Citation — And Why Does It Work Differently from APA or MLA?
Chicago style is not a single citation format. It is a two-system documentation framework, and understanding which system applies to your paper is the first step to getting it right.
The Chicago Manual of Style: What It Is and Why It Matters
The Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) is a comprehensive style guide published by the University of Chicago Press. First issued in 1906 as a single-page style sheet, it has grown into the most widely used citation and editorial guide in North American academic publishing. The current edition — the 17th edition, published in 2017 — is the authoritative reference for citation, manuscript preparation, grammar, punctuation, and editorial usage across a wide range of academic disciplines.
Chicago style is distinct from APA (which uses author-date in-text citations and a reference list formatted to a strict scientific standard) and MLA (which uses author-page in-text citations and a Works Cited page). Chicago offers two completely separate citation systems — Notes-Bibliography and Author-Date — which serve different disciplines and different document types. Understanding which system your instructor requires before you write your first footnote is essential, because switching systems midway through a paper means reformatting every single citation.
NB Notes-Bibliography System
The Notes-Bibliography system is the older and more widely recognized of the two Chicago formats. It is used primarily in humanities disciplines — history, literature, art history, music, philosophy, religion, and classical studies — where the relationship between a claim and its source is often complex and benefits from the additional commentary space that footnotes provide.
- Uses numbered footnotes or endnotes at each point of citation
- Footnotes appear at page bottom; endnotes at document end
- A separate bibliography lists all sources at the document end
- Allows for discursive notes — commentary alongside citation
- Subsequent citations use shortened forms (or Ibid.)
- Most common in History, Literature, Art History, Theology
AD Author-Date System
The Author-Date system is Chicago’s adaptation for disciplines where parenthetical citation is standard practice. It is used in some social sciences and physical sciences — primarily when a department or journal specifies Chicago rather than APA. The format is compact and efficient, keeping the prose uninterrupted by lengthy footnotes.
- Uses brief parenthetical in-text citations: (Author Year, page)
- No footnotes or endnotes for source citations
- A reference list (not bibliography) appears at document end
- Year immediately follows the author’s name in the reference entry
- Most common in Economics, Sociology, Anthropology, Political Science
- Similar in feel to APA but with distinct formatting rules
Many students — particularly those new to history or art history programs — encounter Chicago style for the first time and find its footnote system initially confusing. The instinct is to think of footnotes as something reserved for additional commentary, not as the primary mechanism of source attribution. But in the Notes-Bibliography system, every cited source gets a footnote number at the point of citation, and the full source information appears in the footnote — not in the body of the text.
This design is intentional. Humanities scholars value the ability to consult sources directly and precisely, and the footnote system enables that: a reader can immediately see, in the footnote at the bottom of the page, exactly which edition of which book, at which specific page, the author is drawing from. The system also allows authors to include brief commentary or qualification alongside the citation — something parenthetical in-text systems cannot do without interrupting prose flow.
If your paper uses the Notes-Bibliography system, you need to master two distinct citation formats: the footnote format (author first name first, parenthetical publication data, specific page cited) and the bibliography format (author last name first, no parentheses around publication data, no specific page in most cases). These look visually similar but follow different rules — and the difference matters, because instructors who know Chicago well will notice immediately if you use the wrong format in the wrong location.
For professional formatting assistance with any Chicago style document, our citation and formatting service applies CMS 17th edition rules from the first footnote to the final bibliography entry. We also handle editing and proofreading of documents you’ve already drafted, correcting citation errors without touching your prose.
The University of Chicago Press, publisher of the Chicago Manual of Style since its first edition in 1906, describes its guide as “the authoritative reference for authors, editors, proofreaders, indexers, copywriters, designers, and publishers” across academic disciplines. The 17th edition introduced updated guidance for digital sources, including DOI formatting, social media citation, and online-only publications — reflecting the dramatic shift in how scholarly sources are accessed and published in the twenty-first century.
Source: The Chicago Manual of Style Online — University of Chicago PressThe Two Chicago Systems: A Side-by-Side Breakdown
Both systems follow the same general Chicago formatting principles for paper presentation, but their citation mechanics are completely different. Here is everything you need to understand about both — with live examples you can apply immediately.
How the Notes-Bibliography System Works
In the Notes-Bibliography system, you cite sources by placing a superscript number immediately after the relevant passage in your text — after the punctuation mark if one follows the cited material. That number corresponds to a numbered footnote at the bottom of the same page (or an endnote at the end of the document if your instructor prefers endnotes).
The footnote contains full bibliographic information the first time you cite a source. Subsequent citations of the same source use a shortened form — typically the author’s last name, a shortened title, and the page number. The special abbreviation Ibid. (from the Latin “ibidem,” meaning “in the same place”) may be used when citing the same source as the immediately preceding footnote, though Chicago 17th edition now treats Ibid. as optional and some instructors discourage it.
The Bibliography at the end of the document lists all cited sources in alphabetical order by the author’s last name. Bibliography entries differ from footnote entries in key structural ways: the author’s name is inverted (Last, First), publication details are not enclosed in parentheses, and no specific page number appears for the source as a whole.
Footnote Format Rules (First Citation)
Bibliography Format Rules
Note the hanging indent in bibliography entries — the first line is flush left and subsequent lines are indented by 0.5 inches. This is one of the formatting requirements students most often miss, particularly when they are used to Word’s default paragraph settings.
Notes vs. Endnotes: Which Should You Use?
Both footnotes (at the bottom of each page) and endnotes (collected at the end of the document) are acceptable in Chicago NB style. Most instructors prefer footnotes for student papers because they allow the reader to check citations without flipping to the back. Always follow your rubric or instructor preference. If neither is specified, footnotes are the safer default.
- Superscript number in text after cited passage
- Footnote at page bottom (or endnote at end)
- First name first in footnotes; last name first in bibliography
- Parentheses around publication details in footnotes only
- Page number included in every footnote
- Shortened form for subsequent citations
- Bibliography (not References) at end of document
- Hanging indent in bibliography entries
How the Author-Date System Works
In the Author-Date system, citations are incorporated directly into the text using parenthetical references. Each in-text citation contains the author’s last name, the year of publication, and a page number (when citing a specific passage): (Kennedy 1999, 247). The parenthetical is placed immediately after the cited material, before any closing punctuation.
Unlike NB, the Author-Date system uses no footnotes or endnotes for source citations. Footnotes may still be used for substantive commentary, but source attribution is handled entirely through the parenthetical system and the reference list. The reference list at the end of the document differs from a bibliography in one important structural respect: the year of publication immediately follows the author’s name rather than appearing at the end of the entry.
The Author-Date format will feel familiar to students who have used APA, but there are meaningful differences in punctuation, capitalization of titles, and formatting of specific source types. Do not assume APA and Chicago Author-Date are interchangeable — instructors who know Chicago will notice the differences immediately.
In-Text Citation Format
According to Kennedy (1999, 247), the approach fundamentally altered postwar policy.
Reference List Format
Key Difference from APA: Title Capitalization
Chicago Author-Date uses headline-style capitalization for book and journal article titles in the reference list — capitalizing all major words. APA uses sentence case (only the first word and proper nouns). This is one of the most common errors made by students switching between the two formats. Double-check every title in your reference list.
- Parenthetical in-text: (Author Year, Page)
- No footnotes for source citations
- Year follows author directly in the reference list
- Headline capitalization for titles in reference list
- Reference list (not Bibliography) at end of document
- Hanging indent in reference list entries
- No Ibid. — use the same parenthetical format for repeats
NB vs. Author-Date — Direct Comparison for the Same Book
Notes-Bibliography
Author-Date
How to Cite Every Source Type in Chicago Style
Select a source type below to see the full formatting rules and worked examples for both the Notes-Bibliography and Author-Date systems.
Books are the most common source type cited in Chicago style, particularly in humanities disciplines. The core components are: author name, title (italicized), place of publication, publisher, and year. For books with editors, translators, or multiple authors, the format adjusts accordingly.
One frequent point of confusion: the place of publication should be the city, not the country or state. For well-known cities (New York, London, Chicago, Paris), the city name alone is sufficient. For less well-known cities, include the state abbreviation: (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2018).
For books accessed through a library database or online platform, Chicago 17th edition recommends including either a DOI or stable URL at the end of the citation. For ebooks read on a Kindle or similar device, add the format in place of page numbers for footnotes where page references are not available.
- Single author: standard format shown below
- Two authors: list both names in order given on title page
- Three or more authors: list all in bibliography; first author et al. in footnote short form
- Edited book: add “ed.” or “eds.” after the editor name(s)
- Translated book: add “trans.” and the translator’s name after the title
Reference list:
Hobsbawm, Eric. 1996. The Age of Revolution: 1789–1848. New York: Vintage Books.
Journal articles require the author’s name, the article title (in quotation marks, not italicized), the journal name (italicized), volume and issue numbers, the year of publication in parentheses (NB) or immediately after the author name (AD), page range of the article, and if accessed online, a DOI or URL.
In Chicago NB, volume and issue are formatted as: Volume, no. Issue (Year): pages. For example: American Historical Review 115, no. 3 (2010): 712–740. The “no.” abbreviation for issue number is a distinctive Chicago convention that differs from APA’s formatting of volume and issue.
For journal articles accessed online, Chicago 17th edition strongly recommends including a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) when available, rather than a URL, because DOIs are permanent links. If no DOI exists, include the article’s stable URL.
- Article title: use quotation marks, not italics
- Journal title: italicize
- Volume number: plain text; issue number: preceded by “no.”
- Page range in bibliography; specific page in footnotes
- Include DOI or URL for online access
Reference list:
Williams, Sarah. 2021. “Colonial Archives and the Limits of Memory.” Journal of American History 108 (2): 330–355. https://doi.org/10.1093/jahist/jaab084.
Websites are among the most frequently mis-cited sources in Chicago style. The standard format includes: author name (if identified), the title of the webpage or article in quotation marks, the name of the website (italicized or not, depending on whether it functions like a publication title), the publication or last-modified date, and a URL.
A critical requirement in Chicago 17th edition is the “accessed” date for websites — the date you viewed the page — because web content can change or disappear. This is placed immediately before the URL in parentheses: Accessed March 4, 2026.
For pages with no author, begin the citation with the title of the page. For pages with no date, note “n.d.” in place of the year. If an organization is the author, treat the organization name as the author.
- Always include the “accessed” date
- Use the page title in quotation marks, not italics
- Italicize the website/organization name if functioning as a publication
- Include the full URL or DOI
- If no author, begin with the page or site title
A chapter in an edited book requires you to cite both the chapter author and the book editor. The chapter title goes in quotation marks; the book title is italicized. You include the page range of the chapter in bibliography entries, and the specific page(s) you are citing in footnotes.
Many students mistakenly cite edited collections as if they were single-author books, omitting the chapter author entirely. If you are citing a specific chapter or essay from an edited collection, you must cite the chapter author first, followed by “in” and then the book title and editor information.
- Chapter title in quotation marks
- “In” before the book title links chapter to collection
- Editor’s name in normal order after “ed.” or “eds.”
- Page range of chapter in bibliography
- Specific page in footnote
Reference list:
Clarke, Anne. 2019. “Memory and Identity in Postcolonial Fiction.” In Readings in Contemporary Literature, edited by Peter Grant, 210–234. London: Routledge.
Newspaper articles follow a format similar to journal articles, but with some important differences. The newspaper name replaces the journal name. For well-known national newspapers, you may omit the city from the title if it is included in the paper’s name. For local papers, include the city. Newspaper articles do not typically require volume and issue numbers.
In Chicago NB style, newspaper articles are often cited in footnotes but omitted from the bibliography — check your instructor’s preference. For online newspaper articles, include the URL and an access date. For print newspapers, you may include the edition or section if relevant.
- Article title in quotation marks
- Newspaper name italicized
- Full date: Month Day, Year
- May be omitted from bibliography (check rubric)
- Include URL for online articles
Government documents — including congressional records, agency reports, legislation, and official publications — follow a specialized format in Chicago style. The government body is treated as the author. For legislative documents, include the bill or act number. For agency reports, include the report number if available.
For U.S. federal statutes, cite by the act name and the U.S. Code location (Title and Section). For congressional records, include the chamber, session, date, and page. For executive branch reports, cite the department or agency, the report title, and publication details.
- Government body as the author
- Report or document title in italics or quotation marks (check type)
- Report number, document number, or bill number if applicable
- Place, publisher (often the government printing office), and year
- URL for documents accessed online
Theses and dissertations follow a format similar to books, but include the type of document (MA thesis, PhD dissertation) and the institution. The title is placed in quotation marks (not italics) in Chicago style — a common point of confusion, as many students expect theses to be treated like books.
For dissertations accessed through a database like ProQuest, include the database name and accession or order number at the end of the citation. For dissertations accessed through an institutional repository, include the URL.
- Thesis/dissertation title in quotation marks (not italics)
- Type of document (MA thesis, PhD dissertation)
- Name of the institution awarding the degree
- Year of completion
- Database name and accession number or URL if accessed online
Videos and multimedia are cited with the creator’s name, the title of the video (in quotation marks for episodes or clips, italics for a film or full series), the platform or medium, the date, and the URL. For YouTube videos, the channel name is treated as the “publisher.” For documentary films, include the director and the distributor.
For podcasts, cite the episode title in quotation marks, the podcast name in italics, the host’s name, episode number and season if applicable, the release date, and the URL or platform. For television episodes cited from a streaming service, cite the episode title, series name, season and episode, network or streaming platform, and the air or release date.
- Video title: quotation marks for clips, italics for full films
- Platform name replaces publisher for YouTube, streaming services
- Include timestamp if citing a specific moment
- Full URL required for online video
- Access date recommended for video content
Official Chicago Style Resources
The authoritative source for Chicago citation rules is The Chicago Manual of Style Online. Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab also maintains a comprehensive free guide to Chicago style formatting with additional examples. For professional citation formatting help, our formatting service applies CMS 17th edition rules to your complete document.
Nine Chicago Style Rules That Determine Whether Your Paper Passes or Fails
These are the Chicago formatting requirements that instructors check first and that most students either never learn or consistently get wrong. Master these nine rules and you will eliminate the majority of citation errors in your paper.
General Paper Formatting: Margins, Font, Spacing, and Page Numbers
A Chicago style paper uses 1-inch margins on all sides, Times New Roman 12pt or a comparable serif font, and double spacing throughout — including the bibliography. The first line of each paragraph is indented by 0.5 inches. Page numbers appear in the header at the top right (or top center, per your institution’s preference). A title page is standard for longer papers; for shorter papers, the title and author information may appear on the first page. These formatting requirements differ from APA (which uses a running head and specific title page format) and should be applied consistently throughout your document.
Footnote Numbers: Placement, Sequencing, and What Triggers a New Note
Footnote numbers are placed after punctuation (after a period, comma, or closing quotation mark) at the point in the text where the citation is needed. They run consecutively throughout the document — do not restart numbering with each new chapter or section in most student papers. Each distinct claim or quotation from a source requires its own footnote if it refers to a different page than the previous footnote for that source. Many students place a single footnote at the end of a paragraph covering multiple sources or pages — this is acceptable only if all the information in the paragraph comes from the same page of the same source. When in doubt, use separate footnotes for separate citations. Our editing service can review your footnote structure and correct placement errors.
Shortened Citations and Ibid.: How to Handle Repeat References
After the first full footnote for a source, subsequent citations use a shortened form: the author’s last name, a shortened version of the title (if a book, italicized; if an article, in quotation marks), and the specific page number. Example: Tuchman, Guns of August, 184. The abbreviation Ibid. (meaning “in the same place”) may be used when citing the same source as the immediately preceding footnote. If the page number is the same, use Ibid. alone. If the page differs: Ibid., 112. However, Chicago 17th edition now treats Ibid. as optional, and some instructors and style guides advise against using it because it creates ambiguity when notes are renumbered. When in doubt, use the shortened author-title-page form instead.
Hanging Indent in Bibliography and Reference List
Every entry in a Chicago bibliography or reference list uses a hanging indent — the first line of each entry is flush with the left margin, and all subsequent lines are indented 0.5 inches. This is the opposite of a regular paragraph indent and must be applied to every entry without exception. In Microsoft Word, you can apply a hanging indent by selecting the bibliography text and using Format → Paragraph → Indentation → Special → Hanging, set to 0.5 inches. Many students either apply no indent or apply a regular (first-line) indent — both are incorrect. The hanging indent is non-negotiable in Chicago style and one of the first things an experienced instructor checks when reviewing a bibliography’s formatting compliance.
Alphabetical Order in Bibliography: How to Handle Tricky Cases
Bibliography and reference list entries are arranged alphabetically by the author’s last name. For entries with no author, alphabetize by the title (ignoring “A,” “An,” or “The” at the beginning). For multiple works by the same author, list them chronologically; in the NB bibliography, repeat the author’s name for each entry (unlike APA which uses a dash). For authors with the same last name, alphabetize by first name. For entries beginning with a numeral, alphabetize as if the numeral were spelled out. These rules eliminate ambiguity for readers who are scanning a bibliography looking for a specific source — and instructors who know the rules will notice immediately if entries are out of order.
Title Capitalization: Headline Style vs. Sentence Style
Chicago uses headline-style capitalization for titles in both the NB and AD systems — capitalizing all major words (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and pronouns) while leaving minor words lowercase unless they begin the title or subtitle. This means articles (a, an, the), prepositions under five letters, and coordinating conjunctions are lowercased in the middle of a title. Examples: The Age of Revolution (correct); The age of revolution (incorrect for Chicago). This contrasts with APA, which uses sentence case for article and chapter titles. The distinction trips up students who switch between citation systems in different courses and mistakenly apply the wrong capitalization convention.
DOIs and URLs for Online Sources: When and How to Include Them
Chicago 17th edition introduced updated guidance for digital sources. When an article has a DOI (Digital Object Identifier), include it at the end of the citation formatted as a full URL: https://doi.org/10.xxxx/xxxxx. Do not include both a DOI and a URL — the DOI is always preferred when available because it is a permanent link. When no DOI is available, include the article’s direct URL. For websites and web pages, always include the full URL and an access date. URLs should not be manually broken across lines; allow word processing software to handle line breaks. Do not place a period after a URL at the end of a citation. These digital citation requirements were not part of earlier editions, so students using older Chicago guides should update to CMS 17th edition practices.
Author Name Order: First in Footnotes, Last in Bibliography
This rule creates more formatting errors than almost any other in the NB system. In footnotes, the author’s name is given in normal order: First Name Last Name (e.g., Eric Hobsbawm). In the bibliography, the first author’s name is inverted: Last Name, First Name (e.g., Hobsbawm, Eric) — to facilitate alphabetical sorting. For books with multiple authors, only the first author’s name is inverted in the bibliography; subsequent authors are listed in normal order. In the Author-Date system, the reference list also inverts the first author’s name. Students who copy footnote entries into their bibliography without adjusting name order will have incorrectly formatted bibliography entries throughout their document.
Block Quotations: When to Use Them and How to Format Them
In Chicago style, a direct quotation of 100 words or more (or approximately five or more lines of prose, or two or more lines of poetry) should be formatted as a block quotation. Block quotations are set off from the main text by an extra line of space before and after, indented 0.5 inches from the left margin (and optionally from the right), and single-spaced. Quotation marks are not used around block quotations — the indentation itself signals that the passage is a direct quote. The footnote number or parenthetical citation appears after the final punctuation mark of the block quotation. Many students overuse block quotations to pad word count, or incorrectly apply quotation marks inside a properly formatted block — both errors are immediately visible to experienced graders.
Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab — one of the most widely consulted free academic writing resources in the world — notes that Chicago style’s two-system structure is one of its most misunderstood features: “Many students mistakenly assume that Chicago style refers only to the footnote system, not realizing that the Author-Date system is equally legitimate under the same guide.” Knowing which system your discipline and instructor require before you begin writing is the single most important step in Chicago style compliance.
Source: Purdue Online Writing Lab — Chicago Style IntroductionFrom a Single Page to 1,146 Pages: The Chicago Manual of Style Through the Decades
Understanding which edition your instructor or institution requires is essential — citation rules have changed across editions, particularly for digital sources in the most recent revisions.
The 17th edition (2017) is the current authoritative version of the Chicago Manual of Style and the edition your instructors are most likely to reference. Its most significant updates from the 16th edition (2010) include expanded guidance on social media citation, updated formatting for streaming video and podcast sources, revised DOI formatting (now presented as full URLs beginning with https://doi.org/ rather than as the raw DOI string), clarified rules for citing online-only publications, and updated treatment of Ibid. (now treated as optional rather than required). Always confirm with your instructor or program handbook whether they require the 17th edition specifically or accept citations formatted under an earlier edition.
Turabian’s A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations — currently in its 9th edition (2018) — is the student-oriented adaptation of Chicago style, written specifically for academic papers and dissertations. The 9th edition of Turabian aligns with Chicago 17th edition rules, making the two essentially interchangeable for most student purposes. If your instructor specifies “Turabian,” apply the same rules you would use for Chicago 17th edition, with any minor Turabian-specific modifications noted in the assignment prompt. For dissertation and thesis writing assistance, our team is fluent in both Turabian and Chicago 17th edition requirements.
One persistent problem in student work is using an outdated online citation guide — particularly for digital sources. Many free guides available online were written for Chicago 15th or 16th edition and contain DOI and URL formatting that no longer matches current CMS requirements. When in doubt, the Chicago Manual of Style Online is the definitive source, and our professional formatting service applies only current 17th edition rules.
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Eight Chicago Style Mistakes That Cost Students Marks — And How to Avoid Every One
These are the errors that experienced Chicago style graders see repeatedly. Avoiding them is the difference between a citation section that strengthens your paper and one that undermines it.
Mixing NB and Author-Date in the Same Paper
Using parenthetical in-text citations in some sections and footnotes in others — or having a bibliography formatted with features of both systems — is the most fundamental Chicago error. Choose one system at the outset and apply it exclusively throughout. If you are unsure which system your course requires, check the rubric or ask before writing a single citation.
Using Full Citation Format for Every Footnote Instead of the Shortened Form
The most common NB system error is repeating the full footnote citation every time a source is mentioned, rather than using the shortened form (Author Last Name, Short Title, Page) after the first full footnote. This makes the footnote section extremely long, wastes space, and signals to the grader that the student has not mastered Chicago style conventions. After the first full footnote for a source, all subsequent citations of that source use the shortened form — always. No exceptions exist for heavily cited sources or for repeating a source after a long gap. The only source that resets to a full citation format is one that was not cited in the preceding portion of the paper and for which a new reader might genuinely have lost track of the full details — and even then, most instructors and style guides prefer the shortened form throughout.
Missing or Incorrect Hanging Indent
Bibliography and reference list entries must use a hanging indent — first line flush left, subsequent lines indented 0.5 inches. Students regularly omit this entirely or apply a regular paragraph indent. In Word: Home → Paragraph → Indentation → Special → Hanging.
Parentheses in the Wrong Place
In NB footnotes, parentheses enclose publication details: (City: Publisher, Year). In the bibliography, no parentheses are used. Many students copy footnote formatting into the bibliography, parentheses and all — a systematic error visible in every bibliography entry.
The Single Most Impactful Fix: Learn Author Name Order
Footnote: First Last (e.g., Eric Hobsbawm)
Bibliography: Last, First (e.g., Hobsbawm, Eric)
This single rule, consistently applied, eliminates one of the most frequent and immediately visible Chicago style errors in student papers. Getting it right every time signals formatting competence to your instructor from the first bibliography entry.
Wrong Title Capitalization
Chicago requires headline-style capitalization for titles — all major words capitalized. Students from APA courses often write titles in sentence case. The Age of Revolution is correct; The age of revolution is not. Check every title in your bibliography and footnotes.
Missing DOI or URL for Online Sources
Chicago 17th edition requires DOIs (preferred) or URLs for all sources accessed online. Many students omit these entirely, or include a database name without the actual link. If a DOI exists, use it. If not, include the direct URL — never just “Retrieved from [database name].”
No Access Date for Websites
Every web source citation in Chicago style must include an access date (the date you viewed the page), formatted as “Accessed Month Day, Year,” immediately before the URL. Without it, the citation is incomplete — web content changes, and the access date documents what you read and when.
Citation Errors Corrected by a Professional Editor
If your paper has already been written and you’re unsure about citation accuracy, our editing and proofreading service includes a full citation compliance check against CMS 17th edition rules. Every footnote, bibliography entry, and in-text reference is reviewed and corrected before delivery. See our client testimonials for what students say about our formatting accuracy.
Chicago Style Quick Reference — Everything You Need on One Screen
Use these reference cards to check formatting details for the most common Chicago style decisions without searching through the full manual.
Paper Formatting
Footnotes (NB)
Bibliography (NB)
In-Text (AD)
Reference List (AD)
Block Quotations
Which Services Can Help with Chicago Style Citation?
Writing and Formatting Help Across Every Academic Discipline
Chicago style is used across history, law, philosophy, literature, and many more disciplines. If your paper needs more than citation formatting, our full writing and editing team is here.
Chicago Style Citation Help — FAQ
The most common questions students ask about Chicago style citation, formatting, and when to get professional help — answered directly.
Chicago style citation refers to the documentation guidelines of the Chicago Manual of Style (CMS), published by the University of Chicago Press. The current edition is the 17th edition (2017). Chicago offers two distinct systems: the Notes-Bibliography (NB) system — which uses footnotes or endnotes and a bibliography, and is standard in humanities disciplines like history, art history, and literature — and the Author-Date (AD) system — which uses parenthetical in-text citations and a reference list, common in some social sciences. Always confirm with your instructor or assignment rubric which system is required before formatting a single citation. If you need help determining which system applies to your paper, contact our team.
A Chicago Notes-Bibliography footnote for a book follows this pattern: Footnote number. First Name Last Name, Title of Book (City: Publisher, Year), Page Number.
Note: the author’s name is in normal order (First Last) in footnotes. The publication details (City: Publisher, Year) are enclosed in parentheses in footnotes, but not in bibliography entries. The specific page you are citing appears at the end after the closing parenthesis and a comma. For subsequent citations of the same source, use the shortened form: Tuchman, Guns of August, 184. Our formatting service can apply these rules to your complete paper.
Both are source lists at the end of a Chicago-formatted document, but they belong to different systems and have different structures. A Bibliography is used with the Notes-Bibliography system. Its entries begin with the author’s last name first, use no parentheses around publication details, and include the page range for articles but not books. A References list is used with the Author-Date system. Its entries also begin with the author’s last name, but the year of publication immediately follows the author’s name — a crucial structural difference. Both require hanging indentation and alphabetical ordering by the author’s last name. Do not mix elements of bibliography and reference list formatting — the year position alone signals which system you are using, and instructors notice the difference immediately.
Yes — Ibid. (from the Latin “ibidem,” meaning “in the same place”) is permitted in Chicago NB style when citing the same source as the immediately preceding footnote. If the page number is the same, write simply Ibid. If the page is different, write Ibid., [page number]. However, Chicago 17th edition now treats Ibid. as optional rather than required, and some instructors and institutions discourage its use because it creates ambiguity when notes are renumbered during editing. The safer alternative — particularly for student papers — is to use the shortened citation form (Author Last Name, Short Title, Page) for all subsequent citations, regardless of whether they immediately follow the previous note for the same source. Ibid. is never used in the Author-Date system — repeat the parenthetical citation in the same format each time.
When a website has no identifiable author, begin the citation with the title of the webpage or article in quotation marks. The organization or institution responsible for the site may serve as a secondary identifier after the page title.
Always include the access date for any website citation in Chicago style. In the bibliography, no-author entries are alphabetized by the first significant word of the title (ignoring “A,” “An,” or “The”).
Essentially, yes. Turabian style — formally titled A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations by Kate Turabian, currently in its 9th edition (2018) — is an adaptation of the Chicago Manual of Style designed specifically for student academic papers. It follows the same Notes-Bibliography and Author-Date systems as Chicago, with the same core formatting rules. The differences are minor: Turabian provides additional guidance for thesis and dissertation formatting (title pages, chapter headings, table of contents) that is not always covered in the Chicago manual’s general guidance. If your instructor specifies “Turabian,” apply Chicago 17th edition rules. If your instructor specifies “Chicago,” Turabian is equally acceptable. For thesis and dissertation writing, our experts are fluent in both guides and will apply whichever version your institution requires.
You need to include a DOI or URL for every journal article you accessed online. The DOI is always preferred over a URL when available, because DOIs are permanent — they do not change if the publisher moves their website. Format the DOI as a full URL: https://doi.org/ followed by the DOI string. Example: https://doi.org/10.1093/jahist/jaab084. If an article has no DOI, include the direct URL to the article. If you accessed a journal article in print (from a physical library copy), no DOI or URL is needed. Do not include both a DOI and a URL — if a DOI exists, use only the DOI. Articles accessed through a library database should still use the DOI if the article has one, not the database URL. Our editing service includes verification of all DOIs and URLs in your bibliography.
Professional citation formatting and editing services start at $8 per page for standard proofreading and citation compliance checking. For full citation formatting — where our editors apply Chicago style from scratch to a document that has no citations yet — rates vary based on the length of the document, the number of sources to be cited, and the deadline. Rush formatting (under 12 hours) carries a premium. Most short papers (5–10 pages) cost between $40–$80 for full citation formatting. Exact pricing is calculated in the order form in real time before you enter any payment details. See our full pricing page for complete rate information. If you need a complete paper written and formatted in Chicago style rather than just citation help, our essay writing and research paper writing services include correct citation formatting as a standard inclusion.
Switching systems in a completed paper requires reformatting every single citation — and if you have a looming deadline, this is genuinely stressful. Here is the efficient approach: if you have been using Author-Date and need to switch to Notes-Bibliography, you need to (1) remove all parenthetical in-text citations and replace them with superscript footnote numbers, (2) create a new footnote for each one with the correct NB format, (3) rename your References list to Bibliography, and (4) reformat every entry by moving the year from its AD position (immediately after the author name) to the end of the publication details. This is time-consuming to do manually on a 15-page paper with 30 citations. Our formatting service can convert a fully cited paper from one Chicago system to the other, or from APA to Chicago, typically within 12–24 hours. For urgent situations, same-day turnaround is available — contact our support team via live chat immediately after placing your order to flag the urgency.
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Whether you need a single footnote checked or a full dissertation bibliography formatted to CMS 17th edition standards — our expert team applies the rules correctly, every time.