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Class 12: A More Beautiful Question

The Chicago Manual of Style is currently in its 18th edition and is published by the University of Chicago Press. This style of citations is mainly used in history, political science, and art.

We recommend that you create all your citations in NoodleTools because that will ensure your citations are in proper Chicago format.

In lieu of NoodleTools, we suggest you visit the Chicago Manual of Style website, which includes specific examples of footnote and bibliographic citations. You can also visit Purdue OWL to see an example Chicago-style paper.

general guidelines

Whether quoting, paraphrasing, or using others' words or ideas to advance their own arguments, authors should give explicit credit (e.g., by using a footnote) to the source of those words or ideas. 

Commonly known or readily verifiable facts can be stated without a citation unless the wording is taken directly from another source. Of the following, only #5 would require a citation:

  1. The United States celebrates its the anniversary of its independence on July 4.
  2. The chemical symbol for gold, Au, derives from the Latin word aurum.
  3. Ithaca, New York, is located at the southern end of Cayuga Lake.
  4. Teachers must frequently remind their students that practice makes perfect.
  5. It was Shakespeare's contemporary France Bacon who wrote that "reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man."

Block quotes should be employed whenever the quote is over one hundred words. The full block quote should be indented from the left margin and do not have quotation marks around them.

Italicize the titles of books, movies, television series, documentaries, or albums.

  • Ex.: In 2018, Kendrick Lamar won the Pulitzer Prize for his album DAMN.

The titles of journal articles, television episodes, and song titles go in quotation marks

  • Ex.: Taylor Swift released "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)" as a bonus track on Red (Taylor's Version).

Chicago style papers are double spaced and written in size 12, Times New Roman font. Footnotes are single spaced and written in size 10, Times New Roman font. 

Paper Sections:

  • Title Page
  • Main Body with Footnotes or Endnotes
  • Acknowledgements (if applicable)
  • Appendix (if applicable)
  • Bibliography

You can see an example of a Chicago style paper here.

footnotes

A Chicago style footnote appears in two places in your paper. The first is a superscript number that goes in the body of your paper at the end of the sentence, after the punctuation.

  • Ex: During the 19th Century, a popular medicine for children known as "Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup" was heavily laced with morphine.1

The second is at the bottom (or foot) of the page. The number is repeated, with the citation of where the information in the body of the paper originated.

  • 1. Esther Krell, A History of Strange Medicines (Harper, 2014), 82.

Footnotes will apply to everything that goes before them until they run into (1) another footnote, (2) the beginning of a paragraph, or (3) a piece of your own analysis or writing. The first time you cite a source, use the long-form citation. Any further citations from that source should use the short-form citation. Examples of each are below.

Reference Source:

Long Form: Author First Name Last Lame, "Title of Specific Article," in Title of Reference Source, (Publisher, Year of Publication), Page Number.

Short Form: Author Last Lame, "Title of Specific Article," Page Number.

  1. Katrina Council, "The Pyramids of Giza," in Encyclopedia of Ancient History, (Gale, 2024), 301.
  2. Council, "The Pyramids of Giza," 301.

Book:

Long Form: Author First Name Last Lame, Title of Book, (Publisher, Year of Publication), Page Number.

Short Form: Author Last Lame, First 2 or 3 Words of Book Title, Page Number.

  1. Esther Krell, A History of Strange Medicines (Harper, 2014), 82.
  2. Krell, A History, 83.

eBook with page numbers:

Long Form: Author First Name Last Lame, Title of Book, (Publisher, Year of Publication), Page Number, Format and/or URL.

Short Form: Author Last Lame, First 2 or 3 Words of Book Title, Page Number.

  1. Esther Krell, A History of Strange Medicines (Harper, 2014), 82, eBook.
  2. Krell, A History, 83.

eBook without page numbers:

Long Form: Author First Name Last Lame, Title of Book, (Publisher, Year of Publication), chap. number, Format and/or URL.

Short Form: Author Last Lame, First 2 or 3 Words of Book Title, Page Number.

  1. Ellen Baylor, Clothing of the American Revolution (Rowman & Littlefield, 2020), chap. 3, eBook.
  2. Baylor, Clothing, chap. 3.

Website with an author:

Long Form: Author First Name Last Lame, "Title of the Specific Webpage," Name of the Website, updated on or publication date, URL.

Short Form: Author Last Lame, "First 2 or 3 Words of Specific Webpage Title," Name of the Website.

  1. Stephanie Phillips, "Ethnographic Research for Beginners," The Chapin School, February 12, 2021, http://www.chapin.edu.
  2. Phillips, "Ethnographic Research," The Chapin School.

Website without an author:

Long Form: "Title of the Specific Webpage," Name of the Website, updated on or publication date, URL.

Short Form: "First 2 or 3 Words of Specific Webpage Title," Name of the Website.

  1. "Ethnographic Research for Beginners," The Chapin School, February 12, 2021, http://www.chapin.edu.
  2. "Ethnographic Research," The Chapin School.

bibliography

Chicago style bibliographies include all of the works you used during your research. You may have works in the Bibliography that ultimately do not get cited in your paper.

The Bibliography section of your paper should begin on a new page, be single spaced with an additional line between sources, and be organized alphabetically by author last name.

Reference Source:

Author Last Name, First Name. "Title of Specific Article." In Title of Reference Source. Publisher, Year of Publication.

  • Ex: Council, Katrina. "The Pyramids of Giza." In Encyclopedia of Ancient History. Gale, 2024.

Book:

Author Last Name, First Name, Title of Book. Publisher, Year of Publication.

  • Ex: Krell, Esther. A History of Strange Medicines. Harper, 2014.

eBook:

Author Last Name, First Name, Title of Book. Publisher, Year of Publication. Format and/or URL.

  • Ex: Krell, Esther. A History of Strange Medicines. Harper, 2014. eBook.

Journal article:

Author Last Name, First Name. "Title of Article." Name of the Journal Volume Number, no. Issue (Publication Date): Page Numbers, URL or Name of Database.

  • Ex: Baylor, Ellen. "Revolutionary Fashion: How Women Signaled Their Allegiance in Colonial America." Journal of American History 42, no. 2 (Spring/Summer 2002): 18-39, JSTOR.

Website with an author:

Author Last Name, First Name. "Title of the Specific Webpage." Name of the Website. Update or Publication Date. URL.

  • Ex: Phillips, Stephanie. "Ethnographic Research for Beginners." The Chapin School. February 12, 2021, http://www.chapin.edu.

Website without an author:

"Title of the Specific Webpage." Name of the Website. Update or Publication Date. URL.

  1. "Ethnographic Research for Beginners." The Chapin School. February 12, 2021. http://www.chapin.edu.