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Chicago Style Guide: Citation Examples & Formatting your Bibliography

When Writing your Bibilography...

The Chicago Manual of Style (also known as Turabian style) is used primarily in the fields of history and the natural sciences. 

There are two different ways to use Chicago style:

Notes and bibliography is used in some humanities disciplines such as literature and history.

Author-date system is commonly used in physical, natural, and social sciences.

**Make sure to consult your professor on which method is preferred for your course.**

Some Helpful Tips:

  • When creating your citation page, use Bibliography as your header at the top of the page.
  • Notes and bibliographies should be single-spaced internally; however, leave an extra line space between note and bibliographic entries. 
  • Indent all lines after the first line, by using a hanging indent. (Ctrl+T in MS Word.)
  • List entries in letter-by-letter alphabetical order according to the first word in each entry. 
  • For two to three authors, write out all names. For four to ten authors, write out all names in the bibliography but only the first author’s name plus “et al.” in notes and parenthetical citations. 
  • Write out authors and publishers’ names in full. Titles of articles, books, etc. should be capitalized.
  • Provide DOIs instead of URLs whenever possible.

About in-text citations:

Chicago uses a series of footnotes, or endnotes to give credit within your writing. A superscript letter is used, with the corresponding number at the bottom of the page or end of the book, citing the appropriate source. For more help, use the sources below, or ask us at the reference desk.

For more detailed information and examples, consult:

Chicago Style 17th edition

Books

Books: Last name, First name. Title of Book. Place of publication: Publisher, Year of publication. 

Book

Rozakis, Laura. Schaum's Quick Guide to Writing Great Research Papers. New York, McGraw-Hill. 2007. 
Book with an editor

Flippo, Rona F., and David C. Caverly, eds. Handbook of College Reading and Study Strategy Research. Mahwah, N.J: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2000. 
Book Chapter

Breneman, David W. “Institutional Perspectives on Student Success,” In College Success: What it Means and how to Make it Happen, edited by Mary McPherson and Michael Schapiro, 35- 48. New York: College Board, 2008. 
eBook

Phifer, Paul. College Majors & Careers a Resource Guide for Effective Life Planning. New York: Ferguson, 2009. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk& AN=282977. 

Print Articles

Paper Articles: Author(s). Article title. Name of Journal, volume, number, (year): pages. 

Article

Halawah, Ibtesam. “Factors Influencing College Students' Motivation to Learn From Students' Perspective.” Education 132, no. 2 (2011): 379-390. 
Magazine article

Ferguson, Niall. “Rich America, Poor America,” Newsweek, January 23, 2011, 42- 47. 
Newspaper Article

Muckenfuss, Mark. “UCR Said Near Med School Goal,” Press-Enterprise, 

March 11, 2012. 

Online Articles (Database or Web)

Electronic Articles: Author(s). Article title. Name of Journal, volume (date) pages. Doi or Retrieved from article or journal URL. 

Article from database

Smith, V. C. “Essential Tasks and Skills for Online Community College Faculty.” New Directions for Community Colleges, 150 (2010): 43-55. doi:10.1002/cc.404 
Article from a website (no author, no page numbers)

“Rising Costs Make Climb to Higher Education Steeper, “USA Today, January 12, 2007. Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/college/2007-01-12-college- tuition-usat_x.htm 

Website

General Format:  Lastname, F. M. (Year, Month Date). Title of page. Site name. URL

Entire website

“Religion & Public Life.” Pew Research Center. Accessed January 26, 2021. https://www.pewforum.org.

One page on a website

Trombley, William (2003). The Rising Price of Higher Education. 

National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. Retrieved from http://www.highereducation.org/