Chicago Book Citation: Format, Examples & Rules
Your bibliography
0 sourcesChicago Book Citation — a Chicago bibliography entry for a book is: Author Last, First. Title of Book. Place: Publisher, Year. For example: Kingsolver, Barbara. Demon Copperhead. Harper, 2022. Footnotes reorder the same details and add a page number.
What is a Chicago book citation?
A Chicago book citation records a book’s author, title, publication place, publisher, and year so readers can find the exact edition you used. Chicago offers two documentation systems, and books are cited slightly differently in each. Humanities writers favor footnotes; scientists favor in-text author-date references.
The bibliography entry is the backbone. Its author name is inverted, its book title is set in italics, and its parts are separated by periods. Once you can write a clean bibliography entry, the matching footnote and short note follow mechanically.
How do you format a Chicago book citation?
A Chicago bibliography entry lists the author last-name-first, then the italicized title, then the place of publication, publisher, and year, each separated by periods. Only the publisher’s city is needed; add a US state abbreviation only for lesser-known cities such as Cambridge, MA.
- Author — last name first, followed by a period; add a comma before Jr. or a co-author.
- Title — the full book title in italics, headline-capitalized, ending in a period.
- Publication — city, then colon, then publisher, then a comma.
- Year — the copyright or publication year, followed by a period.
- Format / access — the medium (Kindle, PDF) or a URL/DOI for online books; omit for print.
Notes-Bibliography vs. Author-Date
Chicago’s two systems handle books differently. Notes-Bibliography uses numbered footnotes plus a bibliography and dominates history, literature, and the arts. Author-Date uses parenthetical in-text citations plus a reference list and is standard in the sciences and social sciences. The underlying facts are the same; only the arrangement changes.
| Element | Notes-Bibliography | Author-Date |
|---|---|---|
| In-text marker | Superscript number → footnote | (Kingsolver 2022, 112) |
| List name | Bibliography | Reference list |
| Year position | After publisher | Right after the author |
| Book entry | Kingsolver, Barbara. Demon Copperhead. Harper, 2022. | Kingsolver, Barbara. 2022. Demon Copperhead. Harper. |
Chicago book citation examples
These Notes-Bibliography examples show the three forms you need: the bibliography entry, the first full footnote, and the shortened note used for every later reference to the same book. Page numbers appear only in the notes.
BibliographyKingsolver, Barbara. Demon Copperhead. Harper, 2022.
First note1. Barbara Kingsolver, Demon Copperhead (Harper, 2022), 112.
Short note5. Kingsolver, Demon Copperhead, 210.
For two or three authors, name them all. Invert only the first author’s name in the bibliography.
Two authorsGrafton, Anthony, and Megan Williams. Christianity and the Transformation of the Book. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006.
For four or more authors, the bibliography lists up to ten names, but the footnote gives only the first author followed by “et al.”
Four+ (note)1. Dana Cioffi et al., Foundations of Data Ethics (University of Chicago Press, 2021), 44.
Add a translator, editor, or edition after the title when relevant.
TranslatedGarcía Márquez, Gabriel. One Hundred Years of Solitude. Translated by Gregory Rabassa. Harper & Row, 1970.
EditionStrunk, William, Jr., and E. B. White. The Elements of Style. 4th ed. Longman, 2000.
Author-DateKingsolver, Barbara. 2022. Demon Copperhead. Harper.
How do you cite a chapter in an edited book?
To cite one chapter from an edited collection, list the chapter author and chapter title in quotation marks, then “In” the italicized book title, the editor, the page range, and the publication details. The note narrows the page range to the exact page cited.
BibliographyThoreau, Henry David. “Walking.” In The Making of the American Essay, edited by John D’Agata, 167–95. Graywolf Press, 2016.
First note1. Henry David Thoreau, “Walking,” in The Making of the American Essay, ed. John D’Agata (Graywolf Press, 2016), 177.
How do you cite an e-book in Chicago?
Cite an e-book exactly like the print edition, then add the format or platform at the end of the entry. Name the app or file type for downloaded books, or give a DOI or stable URL for books read on the web. Because e-reader pages shift, cite a chapter or section instead of a page when pagination is unstable.
App e-bookAusten, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. Penguin Classics, 2008. Kindle.
Online bookKurland, Philip B., and Ralph Lerner, eds. The Founders’ Constitution. University of Chicago Press, 1987. https://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/.
How accurate is this guide, and what are the limits?
Every format here follows The Chicago Manual of Style and matches its published book examples, but a generator cannot judge the messy details a source throws at it. You still make editorial calls the rules leave to you, and no automated tool catches them all.
- Confirm capitalization: Chicago uses headline style for English titles but sentence style for many other languages.
- Choose the right author count and “et al.” threshold, which differs between notes and bibliography.
- Check that reprint or original publication years reflect the edition physically in your hands.
- Verify your instructor’s system — Notes-Bibliography or Author-Date — before you build the whole paper.
Treat any generated citation as a strong draft, then proofread it against the book’s title page.
Frequently asked questions
What is the correct format for a Chicago book citation?
In Notes-Bibliography style, a book bibliography entry is: Author Last, First. Title of Book. Place: Publisher, Year — for example, Kingsolver, Barbara. Demon Copperhead. Harper, 2022. Titles are italicized and the entry ends with a period.
What is the difference between a footnote and a bibliography entry?
A footnote uses first-name-first order, commas, parentheses around the publication details, and a page number: 1. Barbara Kingsolver, Demon Copperhead (Harper, 2022), 112. A bibliography entry uses last-name-first order, periods, and no page number.
Do I use Notes-Bibliography or Author-Date for books?
Humanities fields such as history, literature, and the arts use Notes-Bibliography with footnotes. Sciences and social sciences use Author-Date with in-text citations like (Kingsolver 2022, 112). Both are valid Chicago; follow your instructor or journal.
How do I cite a book with multiple authors in Chicago?
List up to three authors in full in both the note and the bibliography. For four or more authors, a note gives the first author plus “et al.,” while the bibliography lists up to ten authors before shortening with et al.
How do I cite an e-book in Chicago?
Use the same format as a print book, then add the format or platform at the end: Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. Penguin Classics, 2008. Kindle. When pages are unstable, cite a chapter or section rather than a page number.
Which Chicago edition should I use, 17th or 18th?
The 18th edition (2024) is current, but the 17th edition remains widely assigned. Book citation formatting is essentially identical between them, so either is acceptable — just stay consistent throughout your paper.
Do Chicago book citations need a DOI or URL?
Print books do not. For a book read online, add a DOI (preferred) or a stable URL at the end of the entry so readers can locate the exact version you consulted.