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Chicago 17th edition notes and bibliography

Footnotes and Bibliography for the Chicago Manual of Style 17th edition

About Chicago 17th

The Chicago Manual of Style allows for two different types of reference styles. There is the Notes and Bibliography Style (the subject of this guide), and the Author-Date System (a variation of the Harvard style).

While the Notes & Bibliography Style allows for either footnotes or endnotes, this guide will deal with footnotes. Bibliographic citations are provided in footnotes, supplemented by a bibliography at the end of the document. Your footnotes and bibliography should identify references cited (eg. book, journal article, webpage, video) in sufficient detail so that others may locate and consult your references. Each note corresponds to a raised (superscript) number in the text.

Punctuation marks and spaces within the citation are very important. Follow the punctuation and spacing as given in the examples.

A note may look like this:

1. Alastair Blanshard, Hercules: A Heroic Life (London: Granta, 2006), 151.

While a bibliographic entry may look like this:

Blanshard, Alastair. Hercules: A Heroic Life. London: Granta, 2006.

Any subsequent lines in a reference are on a hanging indent.  A hanging indent is an indent that indents all text except the first line.

Why reference?

It is important to understand the basics of referencing and why it is important. 

A referencing style is a set of rules on how to acknowledge the thoughts, ideas and works of others in a particular way. Different types of sources eg. books, articles, each have a specific format, determined by the referencing style you are using.

Referencing is a crucial part of successful academic writing, avoiding plagiarism and maintaining academic integrity in your assignments and research.

Watch Introduction to referencing (YouTube 3m43s) to learn about the basics of referencing.

Publication types examples

Many types of publication examples have been provided in this guide. If you cannot find the example you need, you can:

  • consult The Chicago Manual of Style 17th edition.
  • view the reference lists of articles in publications that use Chicago style
  • consult the Instructions to authors, if writing for a journal
  • type the title of the item into Library Search to see if it has a suggested citation
  • adapt the rules of a similar publication type to the item
  • consult other institutions’ style guides
  • consult with your tutor or course coordinator.

What's New in Chicago 17 Notes-Bibliography

Amongst many changes some of the more important include:

The use of ibid. for subsequent citations is now discouraged in favor of shortened citations. (14.29)

Expanded information on personal communications, including texts and posts through social media (14.214)

Expanded information on the elements of multimedia citations (14.261)

New information on permalinks (14.9)

New information on the use of short URLs (14.10)

Citing locations in electronic formats without fixed pages (14.160)

For a full list see What’s New in the 17th Edition

Additional referencing information

Referencing specific formats

Suggestions for citing these formats, if there is not an existing rule in your referencing style:

  • ChatGPT and other Generative AI tools:
    • Check whether you are permitted to use ChatGPT or other Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools prior to commencing your assignment.
    • If you use content from AI tools you must reference it or acknowledge it in accordance with course coordinator instructions or publisher policies.

Print this guide

To print or save this guide:

  1. Go to the print version of the Chicago 17th ed notes and bibliography referencing style guide.
  2. Click Print Page at the end of the page or use your browser's Print tool​

Note: This guide was updated on 23rd June, 2023