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Citing Sources - US

Formatting in Chicago

1. Page Format

  • Bibliography list is on its own page following the complete research task (essay, presentation, graphic, etc.)
  • Size 12, Times New Roman font
  • Double-spaced
  • Do not skip extra lines between citations
  • Left margin aligned
  • Hanging indents
    • To get a hanging indent in Google Docs, put your cursor in the line/paragraph you want to indent and go to Format > Align & Indent > Indentation options. Under "Special," select "Hanging." Change the indent to .5. Press the blue Apply button to save your changes.

2. List: Alphabetize

  • Alphabetize the list according to the first word in your citations after "A", "An", or "The"
  • Do not number or categorize your sources

 

Bibliography 

Gibney, Mark, and Gil Loescher. Global Refugee Crisis. New York: ABC-CLIO, 2010.

Murtaza, Naqsh. "The Harrowing Road to Asylum." New York Times, August 22, 2015. Global Issues in Context.

Scott, Margaret Loraine. "Conflict, Violence, and Terrorism: Health Impacts." In Worldmark Global Health and Medicine Issues, edited by Brenda Wilmoth Lerner, 110-17. Boston, MA: Gale, 2016.

"Women and Girls." Refugees International, last modified October 12, 2015. www.refugeesinternational.org/ Women-girls.

17. Footnote vs Bibliography

In Chicago citation, you cite the information within your paper using a footnote. Then you include every source that you cited within your paper in a final bibliography list. The format for a footnote citation and the bibliography citation for each source is different. Footnote examples in guides will usually have a number in front of them, and the author name is usually in normal order. In a bibliography, the authors name will be listed Last, First.

Example:

Footnote order for a print book:

1. First Last, Title of Book (Publishing City: Publisher, date), page #.

 

Bibliography format for a print book:

Last, First. Title of Book. Publishing city: Publisher, date.

4. Capitalization

Use title case for authors, titles, and publishers.

12. Italicize vs Quotes

If a title is part of a larger source, write it in quotation marks, like journal, magazine, or newspaper articles, and chapters or primary sources within an anthology.

Italicize the title of stand-alone books and the larger piece to which the above items belong, like journal, magazine, or newspaper publication titles, and the title of an anthology.

*Exception: web site names are not italicized unless it is an online book, magazine, newspaper, or journal.

*Database names are not italicized in Chicago style, except for ABC-Clio, Britannica, and World Book.

Bibliography 

Gibney, Mark, and Gil Loescher. Global Refugee Crisis. New York: ABC-CLIO, 2010.

Murtaza, Naqsh. "The Harrowing Road to Asylum." New York Times, August 22, 2015. Global Issues in Context.

Scott, Margaret Loraine. "Conflict, Violence, and Terrorism: Health Impacts." In Worldmark Global Health and Medicine Issues, edited by Brenda Wilmoth Lerner, 110-17. Boston, MA: Gale, 2016.

"Women and Girls." Refugees International, last modified October 12, 2015. www.refugeesinternational.org/ Women-girls.

6. Punctuation

 

Problems with punctuation or spacing between the elements. This may mean that a period(s) at the end of the citation was left out. It might also mean that you are using the note style citation in your bibliography.

 

9.Symbols

 

Avoid using math symbols (+ or |) in citations. This usually happens when citation generators create an incorrect citation

3. Abbreviations

 

No abbreviations. Spell it out (e.g., TED is Technology, Engineering, and Design [not TED Talks!], NPR is National Public Radio; BBC is British Broadcasting Corporation, CNN is Cable News Network). 

  • A&E: Arts and Entertainment (publisher of Biography.com and History.com)
  • BBC: British Broadcasting Corporation
  • Biography.com: Biography
  • CNN: Cable News Network
  • Encyclopedia.com: Encyclopedia
  • History.com: History
  • MSNBC: Microsoft National Broadcasting Company
  • NPR: National Public Radio
  • PBS: Public Broadcasting Service 
  • TBS: Turner Broadcasting Systems (publisher of Cable News Network)
  • TED: Technology Engineering and Design
  • UNESCO: United Nations Educational Scientific, and Cultural Organization
  • UNICEF: United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund