Chicago Style (17^th Edition)

WHEN DO I USE CHICAGO?

Chicago style is used primarily in publishing within the humanities, especially within the field of History. It is easily recognizable in that it (usually) uses footnotes or endnotes for bibliographic citations. Perhaps the best aspect of Chicago is that notes can be seamlessly woven into a document without making the text appear cluttered. 

What's included in a chicago style paper?

Title Page

The Title Page is the first page of the document. It should include the paper’s title, your name, class information, and the date of submission. This information is centered with the title located approximately one-third of the way down the page and the remainder of the information several spaces below.

Main Body Format

• 12pt, Times New Roman font (recommended), double-spaced
• Running head & page numbers
• Margins should be no less than 1” and no more than 1.5”
• Subheadings should be used for longer papers

Citations

There are two varieties of Chicago-Style citations. The first is Notes and Bibliography Style, which is used in the humanities. The second is Author-Date Style, which is used in the sciences and social sciences. 

Notes and Bibliography Style

The first time you use a source in your essay, you should insert a footnote and write out the bibliographic information in a note (N). Each time that you use that same source in your paper, you will insert another footnote and list a shortened note (SN). Finally, you will list all of your sources in an alphabetized bibliography (B) at the end of your paper.

(N) 1. Connor Angle, Jazz Time (London: Penguin Press, 2017), 310–13.
       2. Kathrine Smith and Ted Myers, A Curious Case: Life in the 1920s (Chicago: Simon & Schuster, 2016), 72.

(SN) 3. Angle, Jazz Time, 327.
         4. Smith and Myers, Curious Case, 28.

(B) Angle, Connor. Jazz Time. London: Penguin Press, 2017.
      Smith, Kathrine, and Ted Myers. A Curious Case: Life in the 1920s. Chicago: Simon & Schuster, 2016.

Author-Date Style

In this style, you will include an in-text citation (ITC), as well as a References (R) page. The in-text citation includes the author’s name, publication year, and sometimes the page number. The alphabetized References page lists all sources cited in the text.

(ITC) …the end of your sentence (Smith and Myers 2016, 72).
          …the end of your sentence (Angle 2015, 310–13).

(R) Smith, Kathrine, and Ted Myers. 2016. A Curious Case: Life in the 1920s. Chicago: Simon & Schuster.
      Angle, Connor. 2017. Jazz Time. London: Penguin Press. 

More examples

Chapter of a book:

(N) 1. Cassie Williams, “The Door,” in The Way Things Really Are, ed. Ronald Gates (New York: Penguin Press, 2015), 201–203.
(SN) 3. Williams, “The Door,” 243.
(B) Williams, Cassie. “The Door.” In The Way Things Really Are, edited by Ronald Gates, 195–250. New York: Penguin Press, 2015.
(ITC) …the end of your sentence (Williams 2015, 201–203).
(R) Williams, Cassie. 2015. “The Door.” In The Way Things Really Are, edited by Ronald Gates, 195–250. New York: Penguin Press.

Academic journal:

(N) 1. Kate Lam, “Dreaming,” Living Psychology 10, no. 2 (May 2017): 49.
(SN) Lam, “Dreaming,” 51–53.
(B) Lam, Kate. “Dreaming.” Living Psychology 10, no. 2 (May 2017): 45–67.
(ITC) …the end of your sentence (Lam 2017, 49).
(R) Lam, Kate. 2017. “Dreaming.” Living Psychology 10, no. 2 (May): 45–67.

Multiple Notes for the Same Source

If two notes for the same source follow one right after the other, you may use the abbreviation "Ibid." If the note refers to the same source and page number, no page number is necessary. In these following three notes, the first is a full note, the second is a note referring to the same source and a different page number, and the third refers to the same source and page number.

1. Nicole Triptow, How to Love Oscar Wilde (New York: Penguin Press, 2017), 99.
2. Ibid., 90.
3. Ibid