American History: Chicago Citation Style

The following is a summary of the basic rules for Chicago citations from The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010)

There are two methods of citation:

• footnotes or endnotes with a bibliography  = bibliography style
• parenthetical citations with a reference list = author-date style

Notes are single-spaced and placed at the bottom of the page (footnotes), or at the end of the paper/chapter (endnotes).

Place a superscript number after the end punctuation of your citation in the text, like this.¹  At the bottom of the page use a regular number followed by a period, followed by complete citation details. Following notes for the same work can be shortened but usually include the last name of the author(s), the key words of the main title, and the page number. When you have two consecutive notes from the same work, you may use “Ibid.” (meaning “in the same place”) and the page number for the second note (or "Ibid." alone if the page number is the same).

Authors Names

• use the author's full name, e.g., Public, John Q., not Public, J. Q. or Public, J.
• cite author names in the same order as they're listed on the document
• invert the authors last name and first name in references but not in footnotes or endnotes
• invert only the first author's name, not any of the others

Dates

Make sure the date of publication is in the correct format

• for journals and books, give the year only, e.g., 2007
• for magazines, newspapers, and web sites, include the full date as provided on the publication, e.g. November 15, 2007 or November 2007

Titles

Watch for capitalization:

• journal (periodical) titles should be capitalized and italicized (e.g., Advertising Age; Journal of Contemporary Health Issues; The New York Times)
  • journal volume numbers should not be italicized
• all titles should be capitalized, except for the prepositions and conjunctions, e.g.
  • RIM to Announce Third Quarter Results on December 20
  • Donut Wars: Can Anyone Catch Tim?
• put article titles in quotation marks
• italicize book titles (e.g., Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life)

ChatGPT and AI citations

Endnotes or Footnotes:

1. Text generated by ChatGPT, March 7, 2023, OpenAI, https://chat.openai.com/chat.

In-Text:

Just indicate that you used AI generated text. E.g. "The following is generated by ChatGPt,"

For Author/Date:

Don’t cite ChatGPT in a bibliography or reference list

In-Text:

• Just indicate that you used AI generated text. E.g. "The following is AI prompted," and anything not included in the text can be put in parentheses “(ChatGPT, March 7, 2023).”

Taken from the Chicago Style Guide blog, n.d.:https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/qanda/data/faq/topics/Documentation/faq0422.html

Sample Citations
 

From Newfoundland’s Memorial University

The library's research databases will help you format sources you find while searching them, but they will not help you with other sources. These tools can help you format your references in Chicago style. Select the resource type, enter your data, and get a formatted citation that you can paste into your bibliography.

Caveat: These citation machines are not perfect - they are only as good as the data you feed them. You will still need to proofread your references - use the basic rules above to catch the most common mistakes.

The UFV Academic Success Centre offers advice on academic writing. Individual help is obtained booking an appointment. In Abbotsford, the Academic Success Centre is in G126; in Chilliwack,  A1204.

They also provide a variety of handouts.