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Chicago Style (17th ed.): Notes-Bibliography

Guide to formatting and citing using the notes-bibliography format for Chicago Style, 17th. ed.
Cover of Chicago 18 handbookChicago Manual of Style has released its 18th edition as of September 2024.
We will continue to support the 17th ed. through the end of summer 2025.

 

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About Chicago Style: Fast Facts

CMOS book coverThe Chicago Manual of Style offers two distinct documentation methods, one for the humanities (Notes and Bibliography system) and one for the sciences (Author-Date system). This guide presumes you're using the Notes & Bibliography format, which is common for Lone Star College classes.

  • There is no particular required font, but stick with Times New Roman size 12, as you would for other essays.
  • Footnote numbers are consecutive throughout the whole paper. If you re-use a source, it will get a new footnote number each time. 
  • Most of your paper will be double-spaced.
  • Footnote entries & bibliography entries will be single-spaced. Footnotes will also use a "first line indent," making them look like a regular paragraph. Bibliography entries at the end of the paper will use a hanging indent like you've probably used in MLA and APA.

Basic Citation Anatomy:

In-Text (Footnote):
The first time you use a source, you'll use the full version of the footnote citation:

1. Barbara Erhlich White, "Renoir's Trip to Italy," Art Bulletin 51, no. 4 (1969): 341, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3048651.

Every subsequent time you use a source, you'll use the shortened note form of the citation, which contains the author's last time, part of the source title, and whatever page number is relevant.

4. White, "Renoir's Trip," 347.
Bibliography:
Your bibliography citations will look very similar to your full-length footnotes and will be listed alphabetically according to the first word in each citation.

White, Barbara Ehrlich. "Renoir's Trip to Italy." Art Bulletin 51, no. 4 (1969): 333-51. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3048651.

 

Note: Ibid. (used for consecutive references to the same source) is no longer preferred, as of the 17th edition. You will use shortened notes for all footnote citations after your initial use of a source.

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