CHICAGO STYLE CITATION GUIDE
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Footnotes & Bibliography: Formatting & Examples
General Formatting Standards
Footnotes
Footnotes are located at the bottom of a page. They include the same information as your bibliography, however, they’re formatted slightly differently.
- The elements of a citation (e.g., author, title, publisher, etc.) are separated by commas.
- Unlike a bibliography, the publishing information is enclosed in parentheses.
- Unlike a bibliography, authors’ names are written with the first name listed first (e.g., Mary Smith).
- As with a bibliography, titles of books and periodicals (e.g., newspapers, magazines, and journals) are italicized and titles of smaller works (e.g., book chapters, articles) are in quotation marks.
- Unlike a bibliography, the first line is indented and any subsequent lines are not indented.
Bibliography
The bibliography is a list of all of the sources you consulted for your paper. It’s compiled alphabetically by the author’s last name (or by the title if no author is known) and is found at the end of your paper.
- The elements of the citation (e.g., author, title, publisher, etc.) are separated by periods rather than by commas.
- Unlike footnotes, the publishing information is not in parentheses.
- Unlike footnotes, the author’s name is written with the last name first (e.g., Smith, Mary). If there is more than one author for a work, the additional authors are also written with their first name first.
- As with footnotes, titles of books and periodicals (e.g., newspapers, magazines, and journals) are italicized and titles of smaller works (e.g., book chapters, articles) are in quotation marks.
- Unlike footnotes, the first line is not indented and any subsequent lines are indented.
The examples on this page are from the Chicago Manual of Style website, where you can find more examples for different source types.
Citing a Book
Footnotes
1 Author First Name Last Name, Title of Book (City of Publication: Publisher Name, year of publication), page number(s).
Example:
1 Zadie Smith, Swing Time (New York: Penguin Press, 2016), 315–16.
Shortened footnote:
1 Smith, Swing Time, 320.
Bibliography
Author Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. City of Publication: Publisher Name, year of publication.
Example:
Smith, Zadie. Swing Time. New York: Penguin Press, 2016.
Please note: Though not shown above, all lines in a bibliographic entry are indented except for the first line.
Citing a Book that Has an Editor & Chapters Written by Different Authors
Footnotes
1 Author First Name Last Name, “Title of Chapter,” in Title of Book, ed. Editor First Name Last Name (City of Publication: Publisher Name, year of publication), page number(s).
Example:
Bibliography
Author Last Name, First Name. “Title of Chapter.” In Title of Book, edited by Editor First Name Last Name, page numbers. City of Publication: Publisher Name, year of publication.
Example:
Thoreau, Henry David. “Walking.” In The Making of the American Essay, edited by John D’Agata, 167–95. Minneapolis: Graywolf Press, 2016.
Please note: though not shown above, all lines in a bibliographic entry are indented except for the first line.
Citing a Book that Has a Translator
Footnotes
1 Author First Name Last Name, Title of Book, trans. Translator First Name Last Name (City of Publication: Publisher Name, year of publication), page number(s).
Example:
Bibliography
Author Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Translated by Translator First Name Last Name. City of Publication: Publisher Name, year of publication.
Example:
Lahiri, Jhumpa. In Other Words. Translated by Ann Goldstein. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2016.
Please note: though not shown above, all lines in a bibliographic entry are indented except for the first line.
Citing an Ebook from a Website or Database
Footnotes
Bibliography
Author Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. City of Publication: Publisher Name, year of publication. URL.
Example:
Melville, Herman. Moby-Dick; or, The Whale. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1851. http://mel.hofstra.edu/moby-dick-the-whale-proofs.html.
Please note: though not shown above, all lines in a bibliographic entry are indented except for the first line.
Citing an Academic Journal Article from a Database or Website
Footnotes
Bibliography
Author Last Name, First Name. “Title of Article.” Title of Journal or Magazine volume number, issue no. (year): page number if available.URL or DOI.
Example:
Keng, Shao-Hsun, Chun-Hung Lin, and Peter F. Orazem. “Expanding College Access in Taiwan, 1978–2014: Effects on Graduate Quality and Income Inequality.” Journal of Human Capital 11, no. 1 (Spring 2017): 1–34. https://doi.org/10.1086/690235.
Please note: though not shown above, all lines in a bibliographic entry are indented except for the first line.
Citing a Magazine or Newspaper Article from a Database or Website
Footnotes
1 Author First Name Last Name, “Title of Article,” Title of Magazine or Newspaper, date of publication, URL.
Example:
1 Farhad Manjoo, “Snap Makes a Bet on the Cultural Supremacy of the Camera,” New York Times, March 8, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/08/technology/snap-makes-a-bet-on-the-cultural-supremacy-of-the-camera.html.
Shortened footnote:
1 Manjoo, “Snap.”
Bibliography
Author Last Name, First Name. “Title of Article.” Title of Magazine or Newspaper, date of publication. URL.
Example:
Manjoo, Farhad. “Snap Makes a Bet on the Cultural Supremacy of the Camera.” New York Times, March 8, 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/08/technology/snap-makes-a-bet-on-the-cultural-supremacy-of-the-camera.html.
NOTE: though not shown above, all lines in a bibliographic entry are indented except for the first line.
Citing a Website
Footnotes
1 “Title of Web Page,” Title of Website, accessed date, URL. “Title of Web Page,” Title of Website, accessed date, URL.
Example:
1 “About Yale: Yale Facts,” Yale University, accessed May 1, 2017, https://www.yale.edu/about-yale/yale-facts.
Shortened footnote:
1 “Yale Facts.”
Bibliography
Title of Website. “Title of Web Page.” Accessed date. URL.
Example:
Yale University. “About Yale: Yale Facts.” Accessed May 1, 2017. https://www.yale.edu/about-yale/yale-facts.
NOTE: though not shown above, all lines in a bibliographic entry are indented except for the first line.
Citing a Primary Source Within a Secondary Source
Footnotes
1 Author’s first name last name, description of primary source, Date, in Title of Secondary Source in Italics, ed. Editor’s first name last name (Place of publication: Publisher, Year), inclusive pages.
Example:
1 Paulina Jackson, letter to John Pepys Junior, October 3, 1676, in The Letters of Samuel Pepys and His Family Circle, ed. Helen Truesdell Heath (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1955), 43-44.
Shortened footnote:
1 Jackson, letter to Pepys, 43.
Bibliography
Author’s last name, first name. Description of primary source, Date. In Title of Secondary Source in Italics, edited by Editor’s first name last name. Place of publication: Publisher, Year.
Example:
Jackson, Paulina. Letter to John Pepys Junior, October 3, 1676. In The Letters of Samuel Pepys and His Family Circle, edited by Helen Truesdell Heath. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1955.
NOTE: though not shown above, all lines in a bibliographic entry are indented except for the first line.