Skip to Main Content

Cite Sources

Cite Sources

Chicago - Books - Notes-Bibliography Style

To cite a book in your bibliography in Chicago format with the notes-and-bibliography system, follow this basic pattern:

Footnote or endnote:

             Author's first name and  last name, 

Title of Book (Place of publication:

Publisher, Year), pages being cited.

Bibliography:

Author's last name, author's first name.

            Title of Book. City of publication:

             Publisher, Year.

Example:

Footnote or endnote: 

           Slavoj Žižek, Less Than Nothing: Hegel and the

Shadow of Dialectical Materialism (New York: Verso, 2012), 233-234.

Bibliography:

Žižek, Slavoj. Less Than Nothing: Hegel

          and the Shadow of Dialectical

          Materialism. New York: Verso,

          2012.

All of this information should be available from the book itself. Check the title page and the copyright page if you're not sure where or when it was published.

Be sure to cite the edition you're actually looking at. For example:

Footnote or endnote:

             Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility (New York:

Bantam Classics, 2006), 18.

Bibliography: 

Austen, Jane. Sense and Sensibility.

         New York: Bantam Classics, 2006.

Cite as much information about your copy of the book as possible. For example:

Footnote or endnote:

         John Milton, Paradise Lost, ed.

Alistair Fowler, 2nd ed. (New York:

Longman, 1998), 518.

Bibliography: 

Milton, John. Paradise Lost. Edited

          by Alistair Fowler. 2nd ed. New York:

          Longman, 1998.

If a book has two authors, cite it this way, with the authors alphabetized by last name:

Footnote or endnote:

       Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar, The Madwoman

in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century

Literary Imagination (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1979), 227.

Bibliography: 

Gilbert, Sandra M., and Susan Gubar. The

            Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman

            Writer and the Nineteenth-Century

            Literary Imagination. New Haven:

            Yale University Press, 1979.

If a book has three authors, cite it this way, with the authors alphabetized by last name:

Footnote or endnote:

            W. Bruce Croft, Donald Metzler, and Trevor

Strohman, Search Engines: Information Retrieval in

Practice (Boston: Addison-Wesley, 2010), 45.

Bibliography: 

Croft, W. Bruce, Donald Metzler, and

            Trevor Strohman. Search Engines:

             Information Retrieval in Practice.

              Boston: Addison-Wesley, 2010.

If a book has more than three authors, list all of them in the bibliography, but only the first in the footnote/endnote:

Footnote or endnote:

         Harold Bloom et al., Deconstruction and Criticism 

(New York: Seabury Press, 1979), 11.

Bibliography: 

Bloom, Harold, Jacques Derrida, Geoffrey

             Hartman, Paul de Man, and J. Hillis

             Miller. Deconstruction and

             Criticism. New York: Seabury

             Press, 1979.

If a book is a translation, cite it this way:

Footnote or endnote:

        Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary: Provincial Ways,   

trans. Lydia Davis (New York: Viking, 2010), 55.

Bibliography: 

Flaubert, Gustave. Madame Bovary:

         Provincial Ways. Translated by

          Lydia Davis. New York: Viking, 2010.

If a book has an editor, cite it this way:

Footnote or endnote:

           Ted Widmer, ed., American Speeches: Political

Oratory from the Revolution to the Civil War (New York:

Library of America, 2006), 199.

Bibliography: 

Widmer, Ted, ed. American Speeches:

           Political Oratory from the Revolution

            to the Civil War. New York: Library of

            America, 2006.

A signed entry in a reference book:

Footnote or endnote:

          Wallace Mendelson, "Separation of Powers," in The

Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States,

ed. Kermit L. Hall (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992), 778.

Bibliography:

Mendelson, Wallace. "Separation of

          Powers."  In The Oxford Companion

          to the Supreme Court of the United

          States, edited by Kermit L. Hall,

          774-79. New York: Oxford University

         Press, 1992.

An unsigned entry in a reference book:

Footnote or endnote: 

        Statesman's Yearbook 2013, s.v. "United States of America."

Bibliography: 

Statesman's Yearbook 2013, ed. Barry

         Turner (New York: Palgrave Macmillan,

         2012), s.v. "United States of America." 

[note: this example is a citation for the entry "United States of America." "s.v" is short for sub verbo - "under the word."]

Corporate authorship (publications by a group or organization, where an author is not named):

Footnote or endnote:

          World Bank and United Nations, Natural Hazards,

UnNatural Disasters: The Economics of Effective

Prevention (Washington, D.C.: World Bank Publications,

2010), 170, http://0-site.ebrary.com.libcat.uafs.edu/lib/uafs/

docDetail.action?docID=10430845 

 [note: I'm including the URL because I read this online]

Bibliography:

World Bank and United NationsNatural

           Hazards, UnNatural Disasters:

           The Economics of Effective

            Prevention. Washington, D.C.:

            World Bank Publications, 2010. 

            http://0-site.ebrary.com.libcat.uafs.

            edu/lib/uafs/docDetail.action?docID=

            10430845

A book that you read online:

Footnote or endnote:

         George Bernard Shaw, Heartbreak House (Penn State

Electronic Classics Series,2003), 43, http://www2.hn.psu.edu/

faculty/jmanis/gbshaw/Heartbreak-House.pdf 

[This is a reformatted e-text of the play.]

Bibliography: 

Shaw, George Bernard. Heartbreak

           House. Penn State Electronic

           Classics Series, 2003. http://www2.hn.psu.edu/

           faculty/jmanis/gbshaw/Heartbreak-House.pdf

Footnote or endnote:

         Verner D. Mitchell and Cynthia Davis, Literary Sisters:

Dorothy West and Her Circle, a Biography of the Harlem

Renaissance (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers

University Press, 2012), 101, ebrary edition. http://0site.ebrary.

com.libcat.uafs.edu/lib/uafs/docDetail.action?docID=10535587

 [Here I'm including the publication information for this book because the online text is a straight reprint of the print edition, and I'm adding the fact that I read the book online through ebrary.]

Bibliography: 

Mitchell, Verner D. and Cynthia Davis. 

         Literary Sisters: Dorothy West and Her

         Circle, a Biography of the Harlem

          Renaissance. New Brunswick, New

          Jersey: Rutgers University Press,

           2012.  ebrary edition. http://0-site.

           ebrary.com.libcat.uafs.edu/lib/

           uafs/docDetail.action?docID=

          10535587

Chicago - Articles & Book Chapters - Notes-Bibliography Style

To cite a journal article, the basic format to follow is:

Footnote or endnote:

             Author's first and last name. "Title of Article," 

Title of Journal volume, issue (year): page you're citing,

DOI or URL (if you read the article online through a database).

Bibliography:

Author's last name, author's first name.

             "Title of Article." Title of Journal

              volume, issue (year): pages of

              article. DOI or URL.

Footnote or endnote: 

        Alice Hall Petry, "Alice Walker: The Achievement

of the Short Fiction," Modern Language Studies 19,

no. 1 (1989): 14,http://0-www.jstor.org.libcat.uafs.edu/

stable/3195263.

Bibliography: 

Petry, Alice Hall. "Alice Walker: The

           Achievement of the Short Fiction." 

          Modern Language Studies 19, no. 1

           (1989): 12-27. http://0-www.jstor.org.

           libcat.uafs.edu/stable/3195263.

Footnote or endnote: 

        Harish C. Mehta, "Fighting, Negotiating,

Laughing: The Use of Humor in the Vietnam War," 

The Historian 74, no. 4 (2012): 749,

doi:10.1111/j.1540-6563.2012.00332.x.

Bibliography: 

Mehta, Harish C. "Fighting, Negotiating,

           Laughing: The Use of Humor in the

           Vietnam War." The Historian 74,

           no. 4 (2012): 743-88. doi:10.1111/

           j.1540-6563.2012.00332.x.

To cite a chapter in an edited book, follow this format:

Footnote or endnote:

           Author's first name and last name, "Title of

Chapter," in Title of Book, eds. (City of publication:

Publisher, year), page you're citing.

Bibliography:

Author's last name, author's first name.

            "Title of Chapter." In Title of Book,

             edited by Editor 1 and Editor 2,

             pages for the chapter. City of

             publication: publisher, year.

Example:

Footnote or endnote: 

         Margot Norris, "Modernist Eruptions," in 

The Columbia History of the American Novel, ed.

Emory Elliott (New York: Columbia University Press, 1991), 314.

Bibliography: 

Norris, Margot. "Modernist Eruptions."

           In The Columbia History of the

           American Novel, edited by Emory

           Elliott, 311-330. New York:

           Columbia University Press, 1991.

Follow a similar format for an item in an anthology:

Footnote or endnote:

         Adrienne Rich, "Women and Honor: Some

Notes on Lying," in Adrienne Rich's Poetry and Prose,

ed. Barbara Charlesworth Gelpi and Albert Gelpi

(New York: Norton, 1993), 202.

Bibliography:

Rich, Adrienne. "Women and Honor: Some

           Notes on Lying." In Adrienne Rich's

            Poetry and Prose, edited by  Barbara

            Charlesworth Gelpi and Albert Gelpi,

            195-203. New York: Norton, 1993.

Chicago - Web Sites - Notes-Bibliography Style

To cite a web site, follow this basic format:

Footnote or endnote: 

         Author's first and last name. Title of the page.

Publisher or sponsor. Date of publication (or date

last modified). Date of access. URL.

Bibliography:

 Author's last name, author's first name. Title of the page.

         Publisher or sponsor. Date of publication or date

         last modified. Date of access. URL.

Some of these elements may not be available, but try to include as many as possible:

Footnote or endnote: 

          Pauline Gagnon, "The Higgs boson: One Year on,"

CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research), last

modified July 4, 2013, accessed July 10, 2013,

http://home.web.cern.ch/about/updates/2013/07/

higgs-boson-one-year.

Bibliography: 

Gagnon, Pauline. "The Higgs boson: One Year on." CERN

          (European Organization for Nuclear Research). Last

          modified July 4, 2013, accessed July 10, 2013,

           http://home.web.cern.ch/about/updates/2013/07/

           higgs-boson-one-year.

Chicago style recommends that you can use discretion about deciding which sources to cite in a bibliography and which can simply be cited in footnotes. If you're writing a paper that already includes footnotes, it may be simpler to use them to document an Internet source and not include a full bibliography entry.

Chicago - Other Sources - Notes-Bibliography Style

A YouTube video: how you cite one depends on the kind of video it is. If it's a filmed lecture or performance, include whatever information you have about the original event:

Footnote or endnote: 

        Avital Ronell, "Awe and Responsibility"

(lecture, European Graduate School, Saas-Fee,

Switzerland, 2012), YouTube video, 1:06:46,

posted January 29, 2013, http://www.youtube.com/

watch?v=TgF35qoPQ_U.

Bibliography: Ronell, Avital.

"Awe and Responsibility" (lecture, European

        Graduate School, Saas-Fee, Switzerland, 2012).

         YouTube video. 1:06:46. Posted January 29, 2013.

         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgF35qoPQ_U.

If information about authorship isn't available, you'll have to be less specific and start with the title of the video instead:

Footnote or endnote: 

       "How to Tie a Full Windsor Knot," 2008,

YouTube video, 2:00, posted by "Howcast," 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lji-JeAjT2Y.

Bibliography: 

"How to Tie a Full Windsor Knot." 2008. YouTube

           video. 2:00. Posted by "Howcast."

           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lji-JeAjT2Y.

A movie:

Footnote or endnote: 

           Title, directed by (director) (year of

original release, information about the specific

copy you watched), format.

Bibliography: 

Title. Directed by (director). Year of original release.

          Information about the specific copy you watched.

           Format.

Footnote: 

              Imitation of Life, directed by Douglas Sirk

(1959, Universal City, CA: Universal Studios, 2003), DVD.

Bibliography: 

Imitation of Life. Directed by Douglas Sirk. 1959.

        Universal City, CA: Universal Studios, 2003. DVD.

A sound recording:

Footnote or endnote: 

          ArtistTitle, performer/conductor (if necessary)

(Information about the specific copy you heard), format.

Bibliography: 

Artist. Title. Performer/conductor (if necessary).

         Information about the specific copy you heard.

         Format.

Footnote or endnote:

         Richard Wagner, Parsifal, performed by

the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by

Herbert von Karajan, recorded 1979-80, Deutsche

Grammophon 413 347-2, 1990, compact disc.

Bibliography: 

Wagner, Richard. Parsifal. Performed by the Berlin

        Philharmonic Orchestra. Conducted by Herbert

         von Karajan. Recorded 1979-80. Deutsche

          Grammophon 413 347-2, 1990, compact disc.

An interview:

A published interview can be cited as follows:

Footnote or endnote: 

        First name and last name of person interviewed,

"Title of Interview," interviewer, source and year.

Bibliography: 

Last name and first name of person interviewed.

         "Title of Interview." Interviewer. Source and year.

Footnote or endnote: 

         Samuel R. Delany, "Samuel R. Delany: the Art

of Fiction no. 210," by Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah, Paris

Review 197 (2011), http://www.theparisreview.org/

interviews/6088/the-art-of-fiction-no-210-samuel-r-delany.

Bibliography: 

Delany, Samuel R. "Samuel R. Delany: the Art of Fiction

         no. 210." By Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah. Paris Review 

         197 (2011), http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/

          6088/the-art-of-fiction-no-210-samuel-r-delany.

An unpublished interview (e.g., one that you conducted yourself) should be cited briefly in parentheses in text - no entry is needed in your bibliography. An e-mail should also be cited this way. Be sure to provide enough information elsewhere in your text that it's clear who you're talking about and why you're citing them:

(Jane Roe, personal communication)