The Chicago Referencing Style Notes and Bibliography system (sometimes referred to as Chicago Footnote) requires that each time you use a source, whether through a direct quote or through a paraphrase or summary you must cite your source by using a Footnote. Notes are always listed together in sequential order at the end of the page on which the references appears.
1. Within your text place a note number for each reference you cite.
2. Add a footnote on each page which corresponds to the note number used within text to indicated your reference. Notes are always listed together in sequential order at the end of the page on which the references appears.
3. Create a bibliography at the end of your document listing all the works that you have cited and any other works you have consulted.
See our Notes and Bibliography (Footnotes) Style Example Text to gain an overview of what this looks like in practice and for links to further information.
Browse our list of different information types below or listed in this tab to learn how to format notes using the Chicago Footnote system.
Each time you use a source, whether through a direct quote or through a paraphrase or summary you must cite your source by using a Note. Notes are always listed together in sequential order at the end of the page on which the reference appears.
Each foot note citation consists of two parts: a superscript number within the text following the end of the sentence or clause in which the source is referenced and a corresponding full-sized number at the start of the footnote with details of the source.
Text |
Example text.1 Example text. 2 |
Footnote |
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The first Note for each source should include all relevant information about the source: author’s full name, source title, and facts of publication. The bibliography at the end of your document will contain all of the citation information in full, whereas the note can contains a shorter citation.
If you cite the same source consecutively you can use a further shortened note citation, as per the example above.
See Chapter 14 of The Chicago Manual of Style Online, 17th edition for an overview of Notes and Bibliography conventions.
When using Chicago Notes Style, the full details of the reference cited are provided both as a note on the page within the text where it appears and at the end of your paper, in a alphabetically listed bibliography.
This graph below aims to summarise the key differences between the full notes and full bibliographic citations.
Notes |
Bibliographies |
Authors Author's name is in the order of first name, middle initial, then surname, eg Philip D. Goldswain
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The first author’s name is inverted, place the last name first and separate the last name and first name with a comma eg Goldswain, Philip D.
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Punctuation All elements of the citation are separated by commas Publication information is in brackets, with year of publication within them. |
In the bibliography all elements are separated with a full stop Publication information is not in brackets, year of publication. Year is listed after the publisher or journal name
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Page numbers Include reference to specific page numbers or other identifying information |
Refer to the entire item and include all elements of the reference citation.
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See also Section 14.19 of The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition for more on the structure of notes and bibliography.
See our Information on Footnotes page for explanations on how to create and format footnotes.
Our Endnote style tab explains how to create both footnotes and your bibliography using the Endnote referencing software. If you use EndNote, the style is referred to as 'Chicago 17th Footnote'.
For additional examples and explanations refer to Chapter 14 of the Chicago Manual of Style 17th edition or its Sample Citations page.
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