Citing Sources: Chicago

The Chicago style of citation is commonly used in the humanities and social sciences, and features a bibliography as well as either footnote, endnote, or in-text citation.

There are two systems for citing in Chicago style: Notes and Bibliography or Author-Date. Different disciplines use different systems. General departmental standards at Dickinson are listed to the right, but check with your professor to ensure you use the appropriate style for your assignment.

Use the sub-tabs for this section, or click on the following links, to access sample citations for each system. You can also find a section for citing nontraditional sources such as images, videos, Tweets, etc.:

Notes and Bibliography System

Author-Date System

Citing Nontraditional Sources in Chicago

Dickinson College Archives & Special Collections Primary Source Citation Guide

Citing Books

• A book citation must always include author(s), title (and subtitle), city of publication, publisher, and date of publication. Other necessary elements, if applicable, include editor, translator, edition, revision, and volume number.
• Capitalize the first letter of all main words in the title of a source.
• Titles of books are always italicized.
• State information for publication location are not necessary unless the city is not well known. Use postal abbreviations for states.

Citing Articles

• An article citation must always include author, title (and subtitle) of article, title of journal/magazine, date of publication, and page numbers. Include volume and issue number for scholarly articles.
• Capitalize the first letter of all main words in the title of a source.
• Titles of articles and essays are always put in quotation marks.
• Titles of journals are always italicized.

Creating a Bibliography

• The bibliography is arranged in alphabetical order by authors’ last names.
• The first author of a source is listed last name, followed by a comma and the first name. Subsequent authors' names are written naturally (first name followed immediately by last name). For four or more authors, the abbreviation “et al.” (“and others”) is used after the name of the first author.
• Second and all subsequent lines are always indented. This is also known as "hanging" indentation, and can be automatically applied in Word processors.

Title for Citation List: Bibliography

Location for References: Depends on Format

Manual: Chicago Manual of Style Online

The following disciplines typically use the Chicago style, with the system preference in parentheses.

• Art & Art History (Notes & Bib.)
• History (Notes & Bib.)
• Music (Ask your instructor)
• Political Science (Ask your instructor)
• Religion (Notes & Bib.)