notes–bibliography
Chicago 17th edition (notes–bibliography): how to cite anything
Chicago has two citation systems, and this page covers the one most humanities departments mean when they say “Chicago”: notes–bibliography. You put the citation in a numbered footnote or endnote, give the full details the first time you cite a work, use a shortened note every time after that, and list everything alphabetically in a bibliography at the end. Chicago’s other system — author–date, used mostly in the sciences and social sciences — puts the citation in parentheses in your text and looks nothing like this, so check which one your department wants before you write a page.
- Citation system
- notes–bibliography
- Reference list is called
- Bibliography
- Common in
- History, Art history and visual culture, Literature and literary studies, Philosophy, Theology and religious studies, Classics and area studies
- Authority
- The Chicago Manual of Style (17th ed.)
- Formatted automatically by Copyeditor
- Yes — cite once and the bibliography builds itself.
THE RULES THAT CARRY
What Chicago expects of every entry
- Full note first, shortened note after
- The first note for a source gives every element. Every later note for that same source gives only the author’s last name, a short title of four words or fewer, and the page: “Halloran, Paper Archive, 112.” Chicago 17 discourages ibid. in favor of the shortened note, so use the short form even when you are citing the same work twice in a row.
- Notes use commas; bibliography entries use periods
- A note is one sentence with comma-separated parts and a period at the end. A bibliography entry breaks into chunks divided by periods. Rewriting a note as a bibliography entry is mostly a job of swapping commas for periods and dropping the parentheses.
- Only the first author is inverted, and only in the bibliography
- Notes keep every name in natural order: “Chidera Nwosu and Helena Brandt.” The bibliography inverts the first author so the list can alphabetize — “Nwosu, Chidera, and Helena Brandt” — and leaves the rest first-name-first.
- Publication facts are parenthesized in a note, not in an entry
- A note reads “(New Haven, CT: Marchmont University Press, 2018), 74.” The bibliography reads “New Haven, CT: Marchmont University Press, 2018.” Same facts, no parentheses, and no page number unless the work is part of a larger whole.
- The note points to a page; the entry gives the range
- A note cites the exact page you used. A bibliography entry for an article or a chapter gives the work’s complete page range. A bibliography entry for a whole book gives no pages at all.
- Italics for the whole, quotation marks for the part
- Books, journals, reports, and datasets are italicized. Articles, chapters, web pages, podcast episodes, and unpublished theses go in quotation marks. Titles take headline-style capitalization in both notes and the bibliography.
- Access dates are the exception, not the rule
- Chicago asks for a URL or DOI, but an access date only when the source carries no publication or revision date — or when your discipline requires one. A DOI is always preferred over a URL, formatted as https://doi.org/10.xxxx/xxxx.
BY SOURCE TYPE
Every Chicago format, one page each
Each page carries the pattern, a worked entry, both in-text forms, and the exceptions that apply to that source.
Journal article
Last, First. “Title of Article.” Journal Name Volume, no. Issue (Year): first–last page. DOI.
Book
Last, First. Title of Book: Subtitle. Edition. Place: Publisher, Year.
Chapter in an edited book
Last, First. “Title of Chapter.” In Title of Book, edited by First Last, first–last page. Place: Publisher, Year.
Website
Organization or Last, First. “Title of Page.” Site Name. Date. URL.
Thesis or dissertation
Last, First. “Title of Thesis.” PhD diss., University Name, Year. Database or URL.
Conference paper
Last, First. “Title of Paper.” Paper presented at the Conference Name, City, Month Day–Day, Year.
Report
Organization. Title of Report. Report number. Place: Publisher, Year. URL.
Newspaper article
Last, First. “Headline.” Newspaper Name, Month Day, Year. URL.
YouTube video
Last, First. “Title of Video.” YouTube video, MM:SS. Posted Month Day, Year. URL.
Podcast episode
Last, First, host. “Title of Episode.” Podcast Name (podcast), episode N, Month Day, Year. MM:SS. URL.
Interview
Last, First. “Title of Interview.” By First Last. Publication, Date. URL.
Dataset
Last, First. Title of Dataset. Version N. Repository Name, Year. DOI or URL.
Where Chicago entries usually go wrong
- Pasting a note into the bibliography and leaving the parentheses around the place, publisher, and year.
- Inverting every author’s name in a bibliography entry instead of only the first one.
- Repeating the full note the second time you cite a source, when Chicago wants the shortened form.
- Mixing notes–bibliography with author–date in the same paper — they are alternatives, not a menu.
- Writing “et al.” in a bibliography entry for a three-author work; Chicago lists up to ten names in the bibliography and only shortens in the note, from four authors up.
- Abbreviating journal titles the way the sciences do. Chicago spells them out in full.
- Adding “Accessed March 3, 2024” to every online source when the page already shows a publication date.
Questions about Chicago
Which Chicago system should I use — notes–bibliography or author–date?
Notes–bibliography is the humanities default: history, art history, literature, philosophy, theology. Author–date is used in the sciences and much of the social sciences and looks like APA at a glance. Both are in the same manual and both are correct Chicago, so the only real answer is the one your department or journal publishes. Ask before you draft, because converting a finished paper between the two is slow work.
Do I still need a bibliography if my footnotes are complete?
Not always. Chicago allows a paper to run on full notes alone when every source appears in full in at least one note, and some journals prefer exactly that. Most degree programs still want a bibliography because it is easier to grade and easier to scan. Check your submission guidelines rather than assuming.
When can I shorten a note, and what does the short form contain?
Every note after the first one for a given source is shortened. It contains the author’s last name, a short title of four words or fewer, and the page number — nothing else, and no URL. Chicago 17 treats ibid. as acceptable but discouraged, so the shortened note is the safer default even for consecutive citations of the same work.
Where does the footnote number go in the sentence?
The superscript number goes at the end of the clause or sentence it supports, after all punctuation, including a closing quotation mark. The only common exception is a dash, which the number precedes. In the note itself the number is full-size and followed by a period.
What do I do when a source has no date?
Use “n.d.” in the position the year would occupy. For an online source with no date of publication or revision, add an access date instead: “accessed March 3, 2024.” If you can establish an approximate date from the source itself, Chicago prefers a bracketed estimate such as [ca. 1918] over n.d.
Other citation styles
Departments change their minds. Here is the rest of the set.
APA citation guide
Author–date. Used in Psychology, Education, Nursing and the health sciences.
MLA citation guide
Author–page. Used in Literature and literary studies, Languages and linguistics, Composition and rhetoric.
Harvard citation guide
Author–date. Used in Business and management, Economics, Nursing and allied health.
IEEE citation guide
Numeric. Used in Electrical and electronic engineering, Computer science and software engineering, Robotics, control, and systems engineering.
Vancouver citation guide
Numeric. Used in Medicine and clinical research, Nursing and allied health, Public health and epidemiology.
Stop reformatting
your reference list by hand
Cite as you write and let the bibliography build itself in APA, MLA, Chicago or IEEE. Copyeditor is in beta — apply and we’ll reach out as spots open.
