Chicago Citation Style: Home

Even though, it is not as popular as APA or MLA, Chicago citation style is widely used in the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences.

This guide is based on the Chicago Manual of Style, 17th Edition, published 2017.

In academic writing it is important that you cite every idea, information or data that you have borrowed or derived from another text. In this way you give recognition to the original author and avoid plagiarism.

Note:There are several ways which you can use to integrate the ideas of others within your text.

• By direct quotation: directly taking the words of the another author and identifying them in your text with quotation marks.
• By paraphrasing: putting the ideas into your own words, restating their meaning, in more detail.
• By summarizing: writing an overview of the original text by using your own words, in less detail than paraphrasing.

The Chicago Manual of Style is in a footnote form that uses a numbered system. This enables the reader to see the full bibliographic details of the source on the page where the reference is made.The complete list of resources used (bibliography) is given at the end of the work.

Chicago has two systems for layout and presentation:

• Notes & Bibliography: uses a system of notes (footnotes or endnotes) and a bibliography. It is preferred for publications in literature, history and arts.
• Author-Date: uses in-text author-date citations and a reference list. It is preferred for publications in sciences and social sciences.

This guide presents the Notes & Bibliography Style.

Note:

• Bibliography: (1) all the literature read on a subject but not necessarily cited in the text; (2) the literature cited in the text.
• Reference list: all the sources cited in the text with all bibliographical information.

• To acknowledge other author's ideas that have influenced your work or that you have adapted to your work.
• To support the arguments in your text.
• To protect the 'intellectual property' of the original author.
• To provide the readers with full bibliographic details about the works cited.
• To avoid accusations of plagiarism.
• To demonstrate your critical thinking skills and your ability to analyze complex information.