LibGuides: Chicago Citation Style: Home

Getting Started

The Chicago Manual of Style is often used to document sources for research papers. The purpose of documentation is to:

Identify (cite) other people’s ideas and information used within your essay or term paper.
Indicate the authors or sources of these in a Bibliography at the end of your paper.

Proper citation acknowledges the creators of each source and helps your readers find the original source if they would like more information.

The Chicago Manual of Style (16th ed.) recognizes two basic basic documentation systems: (1) Notes and Bibliography (used for papers in the humanities, e.g. literature, history, political science, and the arts) and (2) Author-Date (used for papers in the physical, natural, and social sciences). . This guide is intended as a guideline for the Notes and Bibliography system only.

Be sure to check with your instructor to find out which citation style you should use for an assignment.

See these sections for information and examples that will help you to cite the sources that you come across during your research.

General Guidelines
Books
Articles
Websites
Audiovisual Media
Images and Works of Art
Other ...

The examples in this guide cover frequently used citation forms only. While this guide provides helpful examples, it may not be perfect. For more detailed information refer to The Chicago Manual of Style (16th ed.), available at Kitsap Regional Library, see the PDF handout and website links in the Learn More box below, or ask for help!

Learn More

Download this 2-page guide:

Chicago Style Guidelines
Basic guidelines for using Chicago Style in a paper, covering: title page, margins, spacing, endnotes, footnotes, bibliography, and notes on pagination and section numbers.

Websites with information on using Chicago style:

Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide
A quick guide to the two basic documentation systems in the Chicago Manual of Style: (1) notes and bibliography (used in literature, history, and the arts) and (2) author-date (used in the physical, natural, and social sciences). Gives sample citations for a book, a journal article, an article in a newspaper or popular magazine, a book review, a thesis or dissertation, a paper presented at a meeting or conference, a website, a blog entry or comment, an e-mail or text message, and an item in a commercial database.
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Access to the Chicago-Style Quick Guide is free. Presented by The Chicago Manual of Style Online, a paid-subscription service.
Ohio State University Libraries Chicago Manual - Sample Entries
Entries illustrate the citation style according to Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Edition, in both the Notes-Bibliography and Author-Date styles, with many examples of citations for electronic and multimedia sources.
Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab) - Chicago Manual of Style 16th Edition
Information on The Chicago Manual of Style method of document formatting and citation, with links to specific examples for citing books, periodicals, web sources, film and television, interviews, personal communication, lectures and presentations, and published and unpublished materials.
University of Arizona Libraries - Chicago Manual of Style Guide
Provides examples for bibliography (using Notes-Bibliography style), with guidance on specific punctuation, indentation, and abbreviation required.

Acknowledgement

This guide is based on a template from West Sound Academy, Poulsbo, WA

Chicago Manual of Style

This guide is based on the 16th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style.

The Chicago Manual of Style by University of Chicago Staff (Editor)
Call Number: R 808.02 Chi
ISBN: 9780226104201
Publication Date: 2010-08-01
Provides information on manuscript preparation, punctuation, spelling, quotations, captions, tables, abbreviations, references, bibliographies, notes, and indexes, with sections on journals and electronic media.

For citation examples and more information, consult the WSA Library copy of The Chicago Manual of Style (16th ed.) , located at the librarian's desk.