Chicago Style Citation Example
Your bibliography
0 sourcesChicago citation format follows two systems. Chicago Style Citation Example — A Chicago bibliography entry lists the author (last name first), title, and publication facts: Smith, Zadie. White Teeth. Vintage, 2001. The matching footnote reads: 1. Zadie Smith, White Teeth (Vintage, 2001), 45.
What are the two Chicago citation systems?
Chicago offers two documentation systems, and you pick one based on your field. Notes-Bibliography (NB) uses numbered footnotes or endnotes plus a bibliography, and dominates history, literature, and the arts. Author-Date uses parenthetical in-text citations plus a reference list, and suits the sciences and social sciences.
The two systems cite identical facts but arrange them differently. NB separates elements with commas inside a note and periods inside a bibliography entry. Author-Date moves the year directly after the author’s name. Always confirm which system your instructor or journal requires before you start.
| Feature | Notes-Bibliography | Author-Date |
|---|---|---|
| In-text marker | Superscript number¹ | (Smith 2001, 45) |
| Source list title | Bibliography | References |
| Year position | End of entry | After author name |
| Common in | Humanities | Sciences |
What does a Chicago citation look like broken down?
A Chicago bibliography entry for a journal article stacks five parts: author, article title in quotation marks, the journal source details, the date and page range, and a DOI or URL. Punctuation and italics signal where each part begins and ends.
- Author — last name first, then given name, closed with a period.
- Title — article title in quotation marks, headline capitalization.
- Source — italicized journal name, volume, and issue number.
- Date & pages — year in parentheses, colon, then page range.
- DOI/URL — a stable link, DOI preferred over a plain URL.
How do you cite a book in Chicago style?
A Chicago book citation names the author last-name-first in the bibliography, then the italicized title, city, publisher, and year. The footnote inverts the name to normal order, wraps publication facts in parentheses, and ends with the exact page cited.
BibliographyKolbert, Elizabeth. The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History. Henry Holt, 2014.
Full note1. Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History (Henry Holt, 2014), 72.
Short note2. Kolbert, Sixth Extinction, 118.
Use the full note the first time you cite a source. Every later reference to that source uses the shortened note: author’s last name, a short title, and the page. For two or three authors, list all names; for four or more, name the first author followed by et al. in notes.
How do you cite a journal article in Chicago?
A Chicago journal citation adds volume, issue, year, and page range after the italicized journal name. The bibliography entry ends with a DOI when one exists. The footnote points to the single page you quoted rather than the article’s full span.
BibliographyNguyen, Thi Hoa. “Urban Green Space and Public Health.” Journal of Environmental Studies 45, no. 2 (2021): 210-28. https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2021.1889472.
Full note3. Thi Hoa Nguyen, “Urban Green Space and Public Health,” Journal of Environmental Studies 45, no. 2 (2021): 215, https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2021.1889472.
Short note4. Nguyen, “Urban Green Space,” 219.
How do you cite a website in Chicago style?
A Chicago website citation lists the author (or organization), the page title in quotation marks, the site name, a publication or revision date, and the URL. When no date appears, add an access date directly before the URL so readers know when you viewed the page.
BibliographyRamirez, Carlos. “How Vaccines Work.” World Health Organization. Last modified March 4, 2023. https://www.who.int/vaccines/how-they-work.
Full note5. Carlos Ramirez, “How Vaccines Work,” World Health Organization, last modified March 4, 2023, https://www.who.int/vaccines/how-they-work.
Chicago prefers a specific publication or “last modified” date. If the page shows none, write Accessed July 18, 2026 instead. Blog posts, news articles, and social media each have their own tweaks, but the author-title-site-date-URL order stays constant.
What is a Chicago Author-Date example?
The Author-Date system moves the year next to the author’s name and drops footnotes entirely. In-text citations sit in parentheses with the author, year, and page. The reference list mirrors the bibliography but places the year immediately after the author.
| Source | Reference list entry | In-text |
|---|---|---|
| Book | Kolbert, Elizabeth. 2014. The Sixth Extinction. Henry Holt. | (Kolbert 2014, 72) |
| Journal | Nguyen, Thi Hoa. 2021. “Urban Green Space and Public Health.” Journal of Environmental Studies 45 (2): 210-28. | (Nguyen 2021, 215) |
Notice the punctuation shift: Author-Date closes the volume-issue as 45 (2) without the words “no.,” and the year jumps forward. Both systems format the reference list alphabetically by the lead author’s last name and use a hanging indent. For a deeper look at parenthetical style, see our guide to in-text citations.
What changed in the Chicago 18th edition?
The 18th edition (2024) simplified several long-standing rules. Bibliographies now repeat an author’s name rather than using a 3-em dash for successive entries, and a book’s place of publication is no longer required. These changes make entries faster to build without losing clarity.
- More authors listed: up to six names appear in a bibliography entry before “et al.,” while notes and Author-Date citations list up to two.
- Place optional: you may omit the city of publication for books.
- No chapter page range: a cited chapter’s page range is no longer required in the bibliography.
- “Ibid.” retired: use a shortened author-title, author-only, or title-only note instead.
- Eastern name order kept: names in family-name-first order are not inverted.
How accurate are these Chicago examples?
These examples follow published Chicago rules, but edge cases still demand judgment. Chicago is famously flexible: it lets you use footnotes or endnotes, include or omit a bibliography for short papers, and shorten notes in several ways. No generator captures every nuance perfectly.
Verify three things by hand. First, confirm your instructor wants NB or Author-Date, since mixing them is the most common error. Second, check capitalization — Chicago uses headline (title) case for titles, capitalizing major words. Third, confirm that DOIs resolve and that access dates are only added when a publication date is missing. When a source type is unusual, consult The Chicago Manual of Style directly rather than trusting any single example.
Frequently asked questions
What is a basic Chicago style citation example?
A basic book bibliography entry is: Smith, Zadie. White Teeth. Vintage, 2001. The matching footnote is: 1. Zadie Smith, White Teeth (Vintage, 2001), 45.
Does Chicago use footnotes or in-text citations?
Both, depending on the system. Notes-Bibliography uses numbered footnotes or endnotes, while Author-Date uses parenthetical in-text citations like (Smith 2001, 45). You choose one system for the whole paper.
What is the difference between a footnote and a bibliography entry?
A footnote keeps the author’s name in normal order, uses commas, and cites a specific page. A bibliography entry inverts the author’s name, uses periods, and lists the full page range without a page after it.
When do I use a shortened footnote in Chicago?
Use the full note only the first time you cite a source. Every later citation of that same source uses a shortened note with the author’s last name, a short title, and the page number.
Do I need a DOI or URL in Chicago citations?
Include a DOI whenever a journal article has one, as it is more stable than a URL. For websites, add the URL and a publication date; add an access date only when no publication date is shown.
Which Chicago edition should I use?
Use the 18th edition (2024) if available, or the 17th edition, which remains widely accepted. The core formats for books, journals, and websites are essentially the same across both editions.