Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide

The Chicago Manual of Style presents two basic documentation systems: (1) notes and
bibliography and (2) author-date. Choosing between the two often depends on subject matter and
the nature of sources cited, as each system is favored by different groups of scholars.

The notes and bibliography style is preferred by many in the humanities, including those in
literature, history, and the arts. This style presents bibliographic information in notes and, often, a
bibliography. It accommodates a variety of sources, including esoteric ones less appropriate to
the author-date system.

The author-date system has long been used by those in the physical, natural, and social sciences.
In this system, sources are briefly cited in the text, usually in parentheses, by authors last name
and date of publication. The short citations are amplified in a list of references, where full
bibliographic information is provided.

Aside from the use of notes versus parenthetical references in the text, the two systems share a
similar style. Click on the tabs below to see some common examples of materials cited in each
style, including examples of common electronic sources. For numerous specific examples, see
chapters 14 and 15 of the 16th edition of The Chicago Manual of Style.

Notes and Bibliography: Sample Citations

The following examples illustrate citations using the notes and bibliography system. Examples of
notes are followed by shortened versions of citations to the same source. For more details and
many more examples, see chapter 14 of The Chicago Manual of Style. For examples of the same
citations using the author-date system, click on the Author-Date tab above.

Book

One author
1. Michael Pollan, The Omnivores Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (New York:
Penguin, 2006), 99100.
2. Pollan, Omnivores Dilemma, 3.
Pollan, Michael. The Omnivores Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. New York:
Penguin, 2006.

Two or more authors

1. Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns, The War: An Intimate History, 19411945 (New York:
Knopf, 2007), 52.
2. Ward and Burns, War, 5961.
Ward, Geoffrey C., and Ken Burns. The War: An Intimate History, 19411945. New York:
Knopf, 2007.

For four or more authors, list all of the authors in the bibliography; in the note, list only the first
author, followed by et al. (and others):

1. Dana Barnes et al., Plastics: Essays on American Corporate Ascendance in the 1960s . . .
2. Barnes et al., Plastics . . .

Editor, translator, or compiler instead of author

1. Richmond Lattimore, trans., The Iliad of Homer (Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1951), 9192.
2. Lattimore, Iliad, 24.
Lattimore, Richmond, trans. The Iliad of Homer. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1951.

Editor, translator, or compiler in addition to author

1. Gabriel Garca Mrquez, Love in the Time of Cholera, trans. Edith Grossman (London: Cape,
1988), 24255.
2. Garca Mrquez, Cholera, 33.
Garca Mrquez, Gabriel. Love in the Time of Cholera. Translated by Edith Grossman. London:
Cape, 1988.

Chapter or other part of a book

1. John D. Kelly, Seeing Red: Mao Fetishism, Pax Americana, and the Moral Economy of War,
in Anthropology and Global Counterinsurgency, ed. John D. Kelly et al. (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 2010), 77.
2. Kelly, Seeing Red, 8182.
Kelly, John D. Seeing Red: Mao Fetishism, Pax Americana, and the Moral Economy of War. In
Anthropology and Global Counterinsurgency, edited by John D. Kelly, Beatrice Jauregui, Sean
T. Mitchell, and Jeremy Walton, 6783. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010.

Chapter of an edited volume originally published elsewhere (as in primary sources)

1. Quintus Tullius Cicero, Handbook on Canvassing for the Consulship, in Rome: Late
Republic and Principate, ed. Walter Emil Kaegi Jr. and Peter White, vol. 2 of University of
Chicago Readings in Western Civilization, ed. John Boyer and Julius Kirshner (Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1986), 35.
2. Cicero, Canvassing for the Consulship, 35.
Cicero, Quintus Tullius. Handbook on Canvassing for the Consulship. In Rome: Late Republic
and Principate, edited by Walter Emil Kaegi Jr. and Peter White. Vol. 2 of University of Chicago
Readings in Western Civilization, edited by John Boyer and Julius Kirshner, 3346. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1986. Originally published in Evelyn S. Shuckburgh, trans., The
Letters of Cicero, vol. 1 (London: George Bell & Sons, 1908).

Preface, foreword, introduction, or similar part of a book

1. James Rieger, introduction to Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, by Mary

Wollstonecraft Shelley (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982), xxxxi.
2. Rieger, introduction, xxxiii.
Rieger, James. Introduction to Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, by Mary
Wollstonecraft Shelley, xixxxvii. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982.

Book published electronically

If a book is available in more than one format, cite the version you consulted. For books
consulted online, list a URL; include an access date only if one is required by your publisher or
discipline. If no fixed page numbers are available, you can include a section title or a chapter or
other number.

1. Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (New York: Penguin Classics, 2007), Kindle edition.
2. Philip B. Kurland and Ralph Lerner, eds., The Founders Constitution (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1987), accessed February 28, 2010, http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/.
3. Austen, Pride and Prejudice.
4. Kurland and Lerner, Founders Constitution, chap. 10, doc. 19.
Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. New York: Penguin Classics, 2007. Kindle edition.
Kurland, Philip B., and Ralph Lerner, eds. The Founders Constitution. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1987. Accessed February 28, 2010. http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/.

Journal article

Article in a print journal

In a note, list the specific page numbers consulted, if any. In the bibliography, list the page range
for the whole article.

1. Joshua I. Weinstein, The Market in Platos Republic, Classical Philology 104 (2009): 440.
2. Weinstein, Platos Republic, 45253.
Weinstein, Joshua I. The Market in Platos Republic. Classical Philology 104 (2009): 43958.

Article in an online journal

Include a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) if the journal lists one. A DOI is a permanent ID that,
when appended to http://dx.doi.org/ in the address bar of an Internet browser, will lead to the
source. If no DOI is available, list a URL. Include an access date only if one is required by your
publisher or discipline.

1. Gueorgi Kossinets and Duncan J. Watts, Origins of Homophily in an Evolving Social

Network, American Journal of Sociology 115 (2009): 411, accessed February 28, 2010,
doi:10.1086/599247.
2. Kossinets and Watts, Origins of Homophily, 439.
Kossinets, Gueorgi, and Duncan J. Watts. Origins of Homophily in an Evolving Social
Network. American Journal of Sociology 115 (2009): 40550. Accessed February 28, 2010.
doi:10.1086/599247.

Article in a newspaper or popular magazine

Newspaper and magazine articles may be cited in running text (As Sheryl Stolberg and Robert
Pear noted in a New York Times article on February 27, 2010, . . .) instead of in a note, and they
are commonly omitted from a bibliography. The following examples show the more formal
versions of the citations. If you consulted the article online, include a URL; include an access
date only if your publisher or discipline requires one. If no author is identified, begin the citation
with the article title.

1. Daniel Mendelsohn, But Enough about Me, New Yorker, January 25, 2010, 68.
2. Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Robert Pear, Wary Centrists Posing Challenge in Health Care Vote,
New York Times, February 27, 2010, accessed February 28, 2010,
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/us/politics/28health.html.
3. Mendelsohn, But Enough about Me, 69.
4. Stolberg and Pear, Wary Centrists.
Mendelsohn, Daniel. But Enough about Me. New Yorker, January 25, 2010.
Stolberg, Sheryl Gay, and Robert Pear. Wary Centrists Posing Challenge in Health Care Vote.
New York Times, February 27, 2010. Accessed February 28, 2010.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/us/politics/28health.html.

Book review

1. David Kamp, Deconstructing Dinner, review of The Omnivores Dilemma: A Natural

History of Four Meals, by Michael Pollan, New York Times, April 23, 2006, Sunday Book
Review, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/23/books/review/23kamp.html.
2. Kamp, Deconstructing Dinner.
Kamp, David. Deconstructing Dinner. Review of The Omnivores Dilemma: A Natural History
of Four Meals, by Michael Pollan. New York Times, April 23, 2006, Sunday Book Review.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/23/books/review/23kamp.html.

Thesis or dissertation
1. Mihwa Choi, Contesting Imaginaires in Death Rituals during the Northern Song Dynasty
(PhD diss., University of Chicago, 2008).
2. Choi, Contesting Imaginaires.
Choi, Mihwa. Contesting Imaginaires in Death Rituals during the Northern Song Dynasty.
PhD diss., University of Chicago, 2008.

Paper presented at a meeting or conference

1. Rachel Adelman, Such Stuff as Dreams Are Made On: Gods Footstool in the Aramaic
Targumim and Midrashic Tradition (paper presented at the annual meeting for the Society of
Biblical Literature, New Orleans, Louisiana, November 2124, 2009).
2. Adelman, Such Stuff as Dreams.
Adelman, Rachel. Such Stuff as Dreams Are Made On: Gods Footstool in the Aramaic
Targumim and Midrashic Tradition. Paper presented at the annual meeting for the Society of
Biblical Literature, New Orleans, Louisiana, November 2124, 2009.

Website

A citation to website content can often be limited to a mention in the text or in a note (As of
July 19, 2008, the McDonalds Corporation listed on its website . . .). If a more formal citation
is desired, it may be styled as in the examples below. Because such content is subject to change,
include an access date or, if available, a date that the site was last modified.

1. Google Privacy Policy, last modified March 11, 2009,

http://www.google.com/intl/en/privacypolicy.html.
2. McDonalds Happy Meal Toy Safety Facts, McDonalds Corporation, accessed July 19,
2008, http://www.mcdonalds.com/corp/about/factsheets.html.
3. Google Privacy Policy.
4. Toy Safety Facts.
Google. Google Privacy Policy. Last modified March 11, 2009.
http://www.google.com/intl/en/privacypolicy.html.
McDonalds Corporation. McDonalds Happy Meal Toy Safety Facts. Accessed July 19, 2008.
http://www.mcdonalds.com/corp/about/factsheets.html.

Blog entry or comment

Blog entries or comments may be cited in running text (In a comment posted to The Becker-
Posner Blog on February 23, 2010, . . .) instead of in a note, and they are commonly omitted
from a bibliography. The following examples show the more formal versions of the citations.
There is no need to add pseud. after an apparently fictitious or informal name. (If an access date
is required, add it before the URL; see examples elsewhere in this guide.)

1. Jack, February 25, 2010 (7:03 p.m.), comment on Richard Posner, Double Exports in Five
Years?, The Becker-Posner Blog, February 21, 2010,
http://uchicagolaw.typepad.com/beckerposner/2010/02/double-exports-in-five-years-posner.html.
2. Jack, comment on Posner, Double Exports.
Becker-Posner Blog, The. http://uchicagolaw.typepad.com/beckerposner/.

E-mail or text message

E-mail and text messages may be cited in running text (In a text message to the author on
March 1, 2010, John Doe revealed . . .) instead of in a note, and they are rarely listed in a
bibliography. The following example shows the more formal version of a note.

1. John Doe, e-mail message to author, February 28, 2010.

Item in a commercial database

For items retrieved from a commercial database, add the name of the database and an accession
number following the facts of publication. In this example, the dissertation cited above is shown
as it would be cited if it were retrieved from ProQuests database for dissertations and theses.

Choi, Mihwa. Contesting Imaginaires in Death Rituals during the Northern Song Dynasty.
PhD diss., University of Chicago, 2008. ProQuest (AAT 3300426).