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Chicago Style

Chicago style is commonly used in Humanities, History, Business, and some Social Sciences. 

Chicago provides two style options:

  • Notes-Bibliography Style (NB): Uses footnotes and/or endnotes, typically followed by a bibliography at the end of the text.  This is the most commonly used system here at Colorado Mesa University. For this reason most of the citations in the following tabs will be done NB style unless otherwise noted.

  • Author-Date Style: In-text parenthetical citations of author(s) last name, publication year, and pages, followed by a bibliography at the end of the text. This system is often used by those in the physical, natural, and social sciences fields.

Why use the Chicago Style? So that those in the disciplines listed above have consistency in their explorations of information in their fields of study, with the ability to be able to scan information quickly for key points and sources. Understanding the Chicago Style will help students further explore information and resources in their research.
The citations in the guide are general citations from The Chicago Manual of Style 17th edition (shown below), in NB style unless otherwise noted. For more information and more details on formatting, writing, and citing for papers see the links below. And remember you can always ask a librarian!

Basic book example:

Notes example:

      1. Atul Gawande, Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End (London: Profile Books, 2014), 79-80.

       2. Gawande, Being Mortal, 191.

In this example #1 gives the author name first name first surname last, the title of the book, place of publication, publisher, date of publication, ending with page numbers referenced. #2 give the author last name, the main part of the title, and pages references.

Bibliography example:
      Gawande, Atul. Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End. London: Profile Books, 2014.
Here we have the author name listed surname first, then title, place of publication, publisher, and date of publication.
(These citations can be found in The Chicago Manual of Style 17th edition on page 799-800).
For further examples and examples of different types of books follow the links and resources below.

Basic article citation example:

Notes citation examples:

      1. Charlotte F. Narr and Amy C Krist, "Host Diet Alters Trematode Replication and Elemental Composition," Freshwater Science  34, no. 1 (March 2015): 81, accessed August 1, 2017, https://doi.org/10.1086/679411.

      2. Narr and Krist, "Host Diet," 88-89.

In this example #1 gives the authors' names first names first surnames last, the title of the article, the title of the journal, volume number and issue number, date of publication, page numbers referenced, then date accessed if accessed online, and finally DOI number or URL if accessed online. #2 give the authors' last names, the main part of the title, and pages references.

Bibliography citation example:
      Narr, Charlotte F., and Amy C. Krist, "Host Diet Alters Trematode Replication and Elemental Composition." Freshwater Science  34, no. 1 (March 2015): 81-91. Accessed August 1, 2017, https://doi.org/10.1086/679411.
In this example the first author's name is given sure name first, the second author's name is given first name first surnames last, next is the title of the article, the title of the journal, volume number and issue number, date of publication, page numbers, then date accessed if accessed online, and finally DOI number or URL if accessed online.
(These citations can be found in The Chicago Manual of Style 17th edition on page 833-834).
For further examples and examples of different types of articles follow the links and resources below.

      

Basic website example:

Notes example:

      1. William Germano, "Futurist Shock," Lingua Franca (blog), Chronicle of Higher Education, February 15, 2017, http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2017/02/15/futurist-shock/.

This example gives the author name first name first surname last, the title of the blog entry or web article, blog and/or webpage titles, date of publication, and URL.

Bibliography example:
 Germano, William. "Futurist Shock," Lingua Franca (blog), Chronicle of Higher Education, February 15, 2017,  http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2017/02/15/futurist-shock/.
Here we have the author name listed surname first, the title of the blog entry or web article, blog and/or webpage titles, date of publication, and URL.
(These citations can be found in The Chicago Manual of Style 17th edition on page 847 ).
For further examples and examples of different types of websites follow the links and resources below.

There are many different types of primary sources.  Listed here are just a couple of ways to cite them in Chicago Style.  For other types see the resources below or chat with a librarian.

When looking at a collection of letters or other primary source documents that have been collected into an edited book are cited as this example:

Notes example:

   1. Adams to Charles Milnes Gaskell, Baden, September 22, 1867, in Letters of henry Adams, 1858-1891, ed. Worthing Chauncey Ford (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1930), 133-134.

Here we have the sender's first name, recipient full name,  place, and date letter was prepared, followed by the title of the collection editors name, publisher location, publisher name, date of publication, and page numbers. (Example from Chicago Manual of Style page 805).

Bibliography example:
     Adams, Henry. Letters of Henry Adams, 1858-1891. Edited by Worthington Chauncey Ford. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1930.
In this example, we have the sender's full name, the title of the collection, name of the editor, location of publication, publisher name, and date of publication. (Example from Chicago Manual of Style page 805).
For books of this nature consulted online include at the end the DOI number or URL.
For working with unpublished materials and manuscript collection information to include in the citation are:
title and date of the item, series title if applicable, name of the collection, name of the depository where applicable, see an example below.
Manuscript Notes example:
   1. James Oglethorpe to the Trustees, 13 January 1733, Phillipps Collection of Egmont manuscripts, 14200:13, University of Georgia Library.
Bibliography example:
Egmont manuscripts. Phillipps Collection. University of Georgia.

(These examples can be found in The Chicago Manual of Style page 854).

The author-date system in the Chicago Style of citations is most often used by those in the physical, natural, and social sciences. Most citations in the author-date system are similar to the notes-bibliography system, except for the date of publication which generally follows the author's name. 

Sources are cited in text in parenthesis with author name and publication date as an example: (Bissell 2011)

This would then refer to a "References" page or "Works Cited" page thus:

Bissell, Tom. 2011. Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter. New York: Vintage Books.

(These citations are taken from The Chicago Manual of Style 17th edition page 893).

For more information and examples see the reference below.  In The Chicago Manual of Style 17th edition, information can be found in chapter 15 which starts on page 892. In A Manual for Writers 9th edition look for chapters 18 and 19 starting on page 223.

For all other types of sources including published broadcasted interviews, audio visual materials, ancient or sacred or classical or medieval sources, legal and more see the texts and resources below.