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Cite Your Sources: Chicago Notes & Bibliography

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What is Chicago notes & bibliography system?

  • Uses superscripted footnotes or endnotes as the in-text citation.
  • Uses both a list of notes (either endnotes or footnotes) AND a Bibliography. 
  • Footnotes are at the bottom of the page, and endnotes are in a list at the end of the paper, immediately before the Bibliography. 
  • Preferred by many writers in literature, history, and the arts.
  • Information in this guide is based on the 17th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style

How do I format my in-text citations?

  • To create a citation and reference, insert a superscripted note number at the end of the sentence or clause, or immediately following a quotation.​
  • In Microsoft Word, this can be done by clicking “Insert Endnote” or "Insert Footnote" under the “References” tab.
    • As Spivak points out, "the driving force of the philosopher's project is desire."1

How do I format my notes?

  • At the bottom of the page (footnote), or at the end of the paper (endnote immediately before the Bibliography), include a note that provides bibliographic information.

1. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, "The Letter as Cutting Edge,” in In Other Worlds: Essays in Cultural Politics (New York and London: Routledge, 1987), 7.

  • ​​​Subsequent references to the same work can be shortened to include only the author's last name, short title of the work, and relevant page numbers.

​5. Spivak, "The Letter," 10.

  • Names should always be given in the order and form they appear on the title page. Authors may be individuals or organizations
  • Even if more than one reference is being cited at a single location in the text, use a single note reference. In the note, separate the citations with semi-colons, and place them in the same order as the text material to which they refer.

4. Rebecca Herissone, Music Theory in Seventeenth-Century England (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), 146; Gary K. Browning, Plato and Hegel: Two Modes of Philosophizing about Politics (New York: Garland, 1991), 87.

How do I format my bibliography?

  • The bibliography appears at the end of the paper, on a new, separate page. 
  • The title should be Bibliography. Centre it at the top of the page. Don't put it in bold or underline the title.
  • An entry in the Bibliography provides the full bibliographic information for the works cited in the text.
  • The bibliography include sources that you cite in your assignment, but may include relevant sources that you consulted but did not cite.
  • List your sources alphabetically by the author's last name. Authors should be listed by Last name, First name. Authors may be individuals or organizations.
  • Entries are single spaced.
  • Use a hanging indent after the first line of the entry.
  • The main difference between an entry in a Reference List (for Chicago Author-Date system) and in a Bibliography (for Chicago Notes & Bibliography system) is the placement of the date.

An article in a journal or periodical (online)

Notes:

#. Firstname Lastname, “Article Title,” Journal Title volume #, no. # (date): page, doi/url.

8. Stephanie Hom Carey, “The Tourist Moment,” Annals of Tourism Research 31, no. 1 (2004): 61, doi:10:48903243/342890.

Bibliography:

Lastname, Firstname. “Article Title.” Journal Title volume #, no. # (date): page range. doi/url.

Hom Carey, Stephanie. “The Tourist Moment.” Annals of Tourism Research 31, no. 1 (2004): 61-77. doi:10:48903243/342890.

  • Accessed date is usually considered unnecessary unless no date of publication or revision can be determined from the source. The DOI is preferred over the URL.

Book, one author

  • Names should always be given in the order and form they appear on the title page. Authors may be individuals or organizations.

Notes:

#. Firstname Lastname, Title (Place of Publication: Publisher, year), page.

1. Desmond Morton, A Short History of Canada (Toronto: McClelland & Stuart, 2001), 17.

Bibliography:

Lastname, Firstname. Title. Place of Publication: Publisher, year.

Morton, Desmond. A Short History of Canada. Toronto: McClelland & Stuart, 2001.

Part of an edited book or collection

Notes:

FirstName LastName, "Title of Part," in Title of Edited Book or Collection, ed. EditorFirstName LastName (Place of Publication: Publisher, date), page.

5. L. Ramon Veal and Sally Ann Hudson, “Direct and Indirect Measures for Large-Scale Evaluation of Writing,” in Assessing Writing: A Critical Sourcebook, ed. Brian Huot and Peggy O’Neill (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009), 16.

Bibliography:

LastName, FirstName. "Title of Part." In Title of Edited Book or Collection, edited by EditorFirstName LastName, pp-pp. Place of Publication: Publisher, date. 

Veal, L. Ramon, and Sally Ann Hudson. “Direct and Indirect Measures for Large-Scale Evaluation of Writing.” In Assessing Writing: A Critical Sourcebook, edited by Brian Huot and Peggy O’Neill, 13-18. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009.

Looking for other examples?

Check out the More Examples tab for more formatting options.

Resources to help with writing

Guide: Plagiarism and Academic IntegrityGuide: Cite Your SourcesLink to Guide: Write clearly: Grammar

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