Chicago Style Footnotes – Citations & Examples

This piece delves into the intricacies of utilizing the Chicago style footnotes method for academic and scholarly citation. It’s a key tool for students aiming to adopt accurate referencing techniques. To ensure adherence to up-to-date practices, it is imperative that students acquaint themselves with the most recent edition of the Chicago Manual of Style. By doing so, they will gain a comprehensive understanding of the nuances and modifications in the citation style over time.

Definition: Chicago style footnotes

Chicago style footnotes enable the reader to find the sources used by the author of a text or academic paper. They are also known as the notes-bibliography style, as they are used with a bibliography. When the author refers to a source, a superscript number is inserted. These indicate that the reader should view the citation details in the footnote at the bottom of the page. Full source details can then be found in the bibliography if required.

Chicago style footnotes – Full and short notes

When Chicago style footnotes are first cited in a text, they may appear in full note style, including the author’s full name, title, and publication details:

Thereafter they may appear in short form. This may be author-title:

“Ibid.” may be used when you use the same reference right after each other.

Placement of Chicago style footnotes

The details of Chicago style footnotes always appear at the bottom (footer) of the page on which the superscript appears. Microsoft Word provides a toolpub footnote insertion option. This creates a superscript number prompting the user to enter the source information in the footer of the page. Footnotes are generally always placed after punctuation:

The exception is after a dash (-), in which case the superscript always appears before the punctuation:

Content of Chicago style footnotes

Chicago style footnotes assist the reader in locating sources. If a page number is cited, it should enable the reader to find a passage or quotation. For book titles longer than four words, the complete title is given in the bibliography.

Combining multiple citations

It is not possible to use several superscripts in a row for the same text (e.g. ^3,4,5). Multiple sources must be cited in a single footnote by separating them with a semicolon:

Sources with one, two, three, four, and more authors

• For a single author in full form, Chicago style footnotes include author’s name and surname, book title (place of publication: publisher, date):

• Two authors:

• Three authors:

• Four or more authors, list the first author, then “et al.”:

Missing information

Some sources, notably websites, may not have the bibliographic data required for Chicago style footnotes. Instead, include the title of the piece followed by its URL or DOI.

If no publication date for a source is known, the letters n.d. (no date) are inserted in the text:

The abbreviation n.p. can stand for no page number, no publisher, or no place, depending on context:

When no author is given, “Anonymous” (“Anon”) can be used for a book:

Alternatively, the publishing organisation of the source may be used instead of the author:

If website or blog author data are missing, the title alone can be included:

When the author is known, a single entry under author suffices in the bibliography.

Chicago style footnotes – Different source types

The following illustrates examples of long and short notes for various source types in Chicago style.

Chicago style footnotes – Book citation

Print form book citation is the same as that of a single author:

Online and digital versions have the same publication details, but not all digital versions have standard pagination. In this case, specify the location by chapter. For online texts, it is useful to add the URL, bearing in mind these can change.

Chicago style footnotes – Chapter citation

In a volume with multiple contributors, the part author is cited first:

Chicago style footnotes – Journal citation

To cite a journal article in Chicago style footnotes, list author, article title, journal name (italicized), edition, and date (non-italicized), a colon, and the page number(s):

Papers in online journals are frequently accessed by DOI (digital object identifier) rather than URL (uniform resource locator). DOI links are more reliable than URLs since URLs can disappear without warning.

Chicago style footnotes – Website citation

Since websites vary so much in quality, bibliographic information can be hard to extract. Include author wherever possible, thus:

Chicago style footnotes vs. endnotes

Both, footnotes or endnotes, may be used to cite the work of authors and convey additional information.

Endnotes are placed after the main text and any appendices, but before the bibliography and/or works cited.