LibGuides: Chicago 17: Introduction to Chicago Style (17th ed.)

Chicago Style

Chicago (CMOS) style is a citation format usually used in the humanities, history, the arts, etc. It includes different versions for notes, shortened notes, and bibliographic entries.

This guide is specific to the Notes-Bibliography style. While footnotes are emphasized in this guide, CMOS's Notes-Bibliography style also allows for endnotes. Notes-Bibliography style is what most of your history professors prefer, but you will need to ask to make sure.
Your professor may prefer that you use Author-Date style. If so, this guide doesn't include the information you need.

Chicago Style Resources

The Chicago Manual of Style is the official guide to Chicago format. You can also visit the Chicago Manual of Style Quick Guide for official guidance.

The Chicago Manual of Style by University of Chicago Press Editorial Staff Technologies may change, but the need for clear and accurate communication never goes out of style. That is why for more than one hundred years The Chicago Manual of Style has remained the definitive guide for anyone who works with words. In the seven years since the previous edition debuted, we have seen an extraordinary evolution in the way we create and share knowledge. This seventeenth edition of The Chicago Manual of Style has been prepared with an eye toward how we find, create, and cite information that readers are as likely to access from their pockets as from a bookshelf. It offers updated guidelines on electronic workflows and publication formats, tools for PDF annotation and citation management, web accessibility standards, and effective use of metadata, abstracts, and keywords. It recognizes the needs of those who are self-publishing or following open access or Creative Commons publishing models. The citation chapters reflect the ever-expanding universe of electronic sources--including social media posts and comments, private messages, and app content--and also offer updated guidelines on such issues as DOIs, time stamps, and e-book locators. Other improvements are independent of technological change. The chapter on grammar and usage includes an expanded glossary of problematic words and phrases and a new section on syntax as well as updated guidance on gender-neutral pronouns and bias-free language. Key sections on punctuation and basic citation style have been reorganized and clarified. To facilitate navigation, headings and paragraph titles have been revised and clarified throughout. And the bibliography has been updated and expanded to include the latest and best resources available. This edition continues to reflect expert insights gathered from Chicago's own staff and from an advisory board of publishing experts from across the profession. It also includes suggestions inspired by emails, calls, and even tweets from readers. No matter how much the means of communication change, The Chicago Manual of Style remains the ultimate resource for those who care about getting the details right.
Call Number: Ref 808 CHI & 808 CHI
ISBN: 9780226287058
Publication Date: 2017-09-05

Chicago Manual of Style Quick Guide
From the Chicago Manual of Style.
Chicago Manual of Style 17th Edition
From Purdue OWL.

Chicago Style Handout
From the Merced College Library. Use the following handout to find examples for citing specific types of sources in a bibliography.

In the notes-bibliography system, each in-text reference is denoted by a number that corresponds to a footnote.

When it's time to cite a source within the text of your paper, you'll insert a footnote outside of the period or other punctuation using your word processor.
A superscript 1 will appear after the punctuation mark, and you will be taken to the footer of the page which will also show a 1. The superscript 1 in the text alerts your reader to look for the 1 on the bottom of the page for more information.

From Purdue OWL's "CMOS NB Sample Paper."

In the footer, add a period after the number, and create your footnote.
- The first line of a footnote is indented .5” from the left.
- Subsequent lines of a footnote are flush left.
- Footnotes are single-spaced within a note.
- Double-space between footnotes.
Each subsequent note within your text will follow in numerical order throughout your paper. Even if you insert a note in between notes, for example, the software you are using will adjust.

From Purdue OWL's "CMOS NB Sample Paper."

In the notes-bibliography system, the page at the end of your paper where you will list all of your citations should be titled Bibliography.

Bibliographies should be organized in alphabetical order by the first letter in the first word of each entry.
Subsequent lines of an entry have a hanging indent.
Write out the names of the first 3 authors.
If there are 4 to 10 authors, write out the names of each author in the bibliography entry, but use First Author Name et al. in the footnote.
Use DOIs instead of URLs if possible.
Make DOIs active.

From Purdue OWL's "CMOS NB Sample Paper."

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to the following libraries for permitting the Merced College Library to adapt their Chicago 17th ed. guides.