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Chicago Style (18th ed.) - Notes & Bibliography Format

Guide and examples for citations in Notes-Bibliography CMOS.

Notes and References

Footnotes Basics

  • Add a footnote at the end of a sentence or a paragraph to give credit to the source.
  • The first time you cite a source, the footnote will be long -- it'll look very similar to the Bibliography entry.
  • Repeat uses of the same source can be shortened.
  • Some types of sources typically are only cited in footnotes and not the Bibliography page.

Formatting Footnotes for CMOS

Footnotes in Chicago Style should be

  • single-spaced
  • with an empty line separating each footnote, and
  • use a first line indent.

If you're starting from a blank document, the default footnotes it creates will not be in Chicago format.

Our document template has already been formatted to Chicago style for all parts of the paper, including the footnotes.

 

Default Word footnotes (wrong for Chicago Style):

Default footnote example: wrong font, not indented, no space in between.

Chicago-formatted footnotes:

Correct Chicago footnotes in size 12 Times New Roman, with an empty line in between footnotes and a first-line indent applied.

Word Footnotes

Basic Steps

  1. Make sure your cursor is in the right spot for where you want to add the footnote (usually the end of a sentence or paragraph).
  2. Go to the References tab.
  3. Click the "Insert Footnote" button in the footnote section.

Word will take care of all the spacing and footnote numbering for you.

Fixing the Footnotes

(Again, we really recommend just using our template so you don't have to worry about this!)

  1. Highlight the citation(s).
  2. Change the font and size to match the rest of your document.
  3. On the Home tab in the Paragraph settings cluster, click on the line spacing icon , then Line Spacing Options...
    1. In the Indentation section, choose "First line" in the dropdown under Special. It should be for 0.5".
    2. In the Spacing section, in the field for spacing "after," enter a number to match your font size.
    3. Click OK.
  4. Repeat as needed.

Google Docs Footnotes

Google Docs menu under Insert - Footnote is towards the bottom of the first sectionBasic Steps

  1. Place cursor where you want the footnote number to be added.
  2. Go to Insert > Footnote.

Like Word, the default footnotes are not in CMOS format.

Default footnote in Google Docs, not indented and without a gap line in between.

Fixing Google Docs Footnotes

Manually

  1. Highlight your footnote(s).
  2. Change the font size and style to match your main document.
  3. With everything still highlighted, go to Format > Align & Indent > Indentation options. 
    1. Select “first line” in the dropdown menu for Special indentation, and in the empty field, set it to 0.5”.
  4. Click to the end of each footnote and hit Shift+Enter. This adds a line break which visually adds a space between footnotes.
  5. Repeat for other pages.

 

Auto Re-Format Footnotes

You can also install a free third party add-on called Footnote Style to edit all your footnotes at once.

  1. Click on the + in the toolbar to the far right side of your screen. 
  2. Search for Footnote Style and add it to your workspace. 
  3. In your document, highlight a correctly formatted footnote (follow steps above, or use our template and select one of our example footnotes (1 or 2)). 
  4. In the menu bar of the document click Extensions > Footnote Style > Match footnote style to selection.