Chicago Citation Guide: Getting Started

The Chicago Manual of Style specifically focuses on American English and also deals with aspects of editorial practice, including grammar and usage, as well as document preparation and formatting. For citations, the Chicago style offers authors the choice between two formats:

• The Notes and Bibliography system: Preferred by many working in the humanities (literature, history, the arts, etc.). Sources are cited in numbered footnotes or endnotes in the text and listed in a separate bibliography.
• The Author-Date system: Often used in the sciences and social sciences. Sources are briefly cited in the text (usually in parentheses, author's last name and year of publication), and matched up with an entry in a reference list with full bibliographic information.

Aside from the use of numbered footnotes vs. parenthetical citations in-text, the two systems share a similar style.

Chicago style was developed by the University of Chicago Press in 1906. It is a set of rules for research papers and publications for fields like history and business.

In Chicago, you must cite sources that you have paraphrased, quoted, or consulted to write your research paper. Cite your sources in two places:

1. In the body of your paper (in-text citation).
2. In the Bibliography or reference list at the end of your paper (full bibliographic reference).