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Chicago Style Guide.: Home

What is Chicago Style?

The Chicago Manual of Style offers two very different methods of citation: (1) notes-bibliography and (2) author-date. The first method uses footnotes or endnotes to place citations at the bottom of a page or at the end of a paper; these notes refer to the sources that are further detailed in the paper’s final bibliography. The second method uses in-text, parenthetical references that correspond to a final “Reference List.” While the notes-bibliography system is most commonly used in the humanities and the author-date system is most common in the sciences, you should always check with your instructor or publisher to find out which style you should use.

This resource uses information from the 17th edition of The Chicago Manual of Style to detail how to cite sources in both the notes-bibliography system and the author-date system. 

Books and Style Guides available at the library

Chicago Style citations include certain information to direct the reader to the original source. The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition describes two citation styles used for source citations. The first style uses notes, either footnotes or endnotes, within the text as well as a bibliography at the end of the paper. The second style uses parenthetical author date citations within the text as well as a bibliography at the end of the paper (The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th ed. 2017, 743).

This Manual is available for Library Use only at the East Chicago Public Library. 

Another useful book is A Manual for Writers of Reseach Papers, Theses, and Dissertations.  The ninth edition is fully aligned with the recently released Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition, as well as with the latest edition of The Craft of Research.

Tutorial

What is Chicago Style used for?

Chicago Style is typically used as the preferred citation style for history and theology.  Chicago style was created by the University of Chicago. It is a set of rules for publications, including research papers.

In Chicago style, you must cite sources that you have paraphrased, quoted or otherwise used to write your research paper. Cite your sources in two places:

  1. In the body of your paper where you add a footnote (which appears in the footer at the bottom of the page).
  2. In the bibliography at the end of your paper.

General Format

The following guidelines are suggested: (From Indian River State College Library's Libguide) 

Title page

  • Include your paper title (centered) about a third of the way down the page
  • About three-quarters of the way down the page include your name, your professor's name, date, and the name of your class (Check with your professor to see what specific information they want on the title page)
  • Omit a header and page number on the cover page (use the Different First Page header option found on the Design menu)

Body of the paper:

  • Add a header after the cover page. The header should contain the page number (starting with 2)
  • Double-space the entire paper and use 1-inch margins
  • Insert a footnote each time you use information from a source in your paper (found on the References menu)
  • If you use sections like "Abstract, Introduction, Discussions", center the section title on the page

Bibliography:

  • Type the world Bibliography in the center of the page
  • The bibliography will be on a separate page from the body of the paper
  • The citations on the bibliography page are single spaced
  • There will be an extra space between each citation