Chicago Style Citation: Notes, Bibliography, Author-Date and Shortened Notes, With Examples
Chicago gives you two systems and one preference. Here are both systems, the forms for the three sources students cite most, and what the 18th edition now says about ibid.
in short
Chicago style citation uses either notes and bibliography or author-date. In notes, the first citation of a source is a full note, later ones are shortened to author, short title and page, and a bibliography lists every source. Author-date puts (Author Year, page) in the text with a reference list. Chicago now prefers shortened notes over ibid.
A Chicago style citation can take one of two shapes, and the first job is knowing which one you need. The Chicago Manual of Style, whose 18th edition appeared in 2024, describes a notes and bibliography system, where numbered notes carry the citation, and an author-date system, where a short citation sits in parentheses in your sentence. Below: how the two differ, the note and bibliography forms for a book, a journal article and a web page as Chicago's own quick guide shows them, shortened notes, and the current advice on ibid.
Chicago style citation: two systems
Pick the system first. Every other choice follows from it.
Chicago's notes and bibliography quick guide says its sample notes show full citations followed by shortened citations for the same sources, with bibliography entries after the notes. Its companion author-date quick guide pairs each reference list entry with a matching in-text citation.
| Notes and bibliography | Author-date | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the citation goes | A superscript number in your sentence, with a numbered footnote or endnote | In parentheses in your sentence |
| First citation of a source | A full note | (Author Year, page) |
| Later citations | A shortened note: author, short title, page | The same short form each time |
| List at the end | Bibliography, alphabetical by author | Reference list, alphabetical by author |
| Where the year sits in the list | Near the end of the entry | Right after the author's name |
| Book example from Chicago's guide | Yu, Charles. Interior Chinatown. Pantheon Books, 2020. | Yu, Charles. 2020. Interior Chinatown. Pantheon Books. |
If an assignment says only "Chicago", ask which system is expected; your instructor's choice wins. For how in-text citations compare across Chicago, APA and MLA, see the in-text citation guide.
Notes and bibliography forms for three common sources
A note reads like one sentence, with commas, with publication facts in parentheses and the page at the end. A bibliography entry inverts the first author's name and separates the parts with periods.
Book
Chicago's own example note reads: 1. Charles Yu, Interior Chinatown (Pantheon Books, 2020), 45. Its shortened note reads: 3. Yu, Interior Chinatown, 48. The guide adds that a place of publication is no longer required in book citations (CMOS 14.30). For editions, ebooks and chapters, the guide to citing a book in every style has the full set.
Journal article
The guide says journal articles are usually cited by volume and issue number, with specific pages in a note and the page range for the whole article in the bibliography. For articles read online, it asks for a URL, preferably one based on a DOI, or the name of the database. Its example note: 3. Benjamin Lindquist, “The Art of Text-to-Speech,” Critical Inquiry 50, no. 2 (2023): 230, https://doi.org/10.1086/727651. A shortened note for two authors: 8. Dittmar and Schemske, “Temporal Variation,” 480.
Web page
For web pages the guide notes that it is often enough to describe the page in your text. When a formal citation is needed, the title usually comes first in a note, and the bibliography entry is listed under the owner or sponsor of the site. If the page shows no publication or revision date, include an access date. Chicago's example: “About Yale: Yale Facts,” Yale University, accessed March 8, 2022, https://www.yale.edu/about-yale/yale-facts. For checking that a reader can reach the page you used, see citing a website so readers can verify it.
The author-date forms
In author-date, the year moves up to follow the author, and the citation in your sentence carries the author, year and page with no comma between author and year. From the author-date guide: Yu, Charles. 2020. Interior Chinatown. Pantheon Books, cited in the text as (Yu 2020, 45). A journal reference puts the issue in parentheses after the volume, and the in-text form is (Lindquist 2023, 230).
Shortened notes and ibid. in the 18th edition
After the first full note, later notes for the same source are shortened. The list of what is new in the 18th edition clarifies at 13.37 that shortened citations used instead of ibid. may take three forms: author-title, which is Chicago's regular short form, author only, or title only.
On ibid. itself, Chicago's Q&A answer on ibid. says it has not been eliminated: although Chicago now prefers a short citation (author, short title and a page number), ibid. remains an option for those who wish to use it and who are in a position to decide, and if in doubt you should check with your publisher.
| Situation | Preferred in Chicago 18 | Still allowed |
|---|---|---|
| Same source as the note just before | Shortened note: Yu, Interior Chinatown, 48. | Ibid., 48. |
| Same source, same page, right after | Shortened note repeated with the page | Ibid. |
| Same source cited again later | Shortened note | Not ibid., which only refers to the note immediately before |
| You want a shorter short form | Author only or title only, both allowed under 13.37 | Author-title, the regular short form |
Other 18th edition changes that affect citations
- Authors. Per 13.23, a bibliography or reference list entry now lists up to six authors; for more than six, list the first three followed by et al. A note or author-date citation lists up to two; for more than two, list the first followed by et al.
- Place of publication. No longer required in book citations (14.30).
- Chapter page ranges. No longer required in the bibliography for a chapter in an edited book, though still required for most journal articles (14.8).
A worked example: three sources in one paragraph
Example only: the book, article and web page below are invented. A paragraph cites a book twice, an article, the book again, then a web page.
| Note | Why this form |
|---|---|
| 1. Dana Whitfield, The Salt Roads: A History of Coastal Trade (Harbor Press, 2023), 41. | First citation of the book: full note |
| 2. Whitfield, Salt Roads, 44. | Shortened note, Chicago's preference over Ibid., 44 |
| 3. Leo Marsh and Priya Anand, “Reading Margins in Early Print,” Journal of Page Studies 14, no. 2 (2024): 118, https://www.example.com/margins. | First citation of the article: two authors, both named |
| 4. Whitfield, Salt Roads, 52. | Shortened note; ibid. cannot be used because note 3 sits between |
| 5. “How Tides Work,” Coastal Science Society, accessed October 30, 2026, https://www.example.com/tides. | Undated page: title first, then an access date |
The shortened form in note 2 also survives if you later move a sentence and the notes renumber. The bibliography, alphabetical by author or sponsor, reads:
- Coastal Science Society. “How Tides Work.” Accessed October 30, 2026. https://www.example.com/tides.
- Marsh, Leo, and Priya Anand. “Reading Margins in Early Print.” Journal of Page Studies 14, no. 2 (2024): 112-30. https://www.example.com/margins.
- Whitfield, Dana. The Salt Roads: A History of Coastal Trade. Harbor Press, 2023.
Chicago sets the page range 112 to 30 with an en dash, the short dash between numbers; it is shown with a hyphen here. In author-date, the same paragraph would cite (Whitfield 2023, 41), (Marsh and Anand 2024, 118) and (Coastal Science Society n.d.).
How to build a Chicago citation from your notes
Confirm the system
Check the assignment sheet or the publisher's guidelines for notes and bibliography or author-date.
Collect the facts once
Author, full title, publisher and year for books; volume, issue, year, pages and DOI for articles; title, owner, date or access date and URL for pages.
Write the first note in full
Use the template for the source type and end with the page you used.
Shorten every later note
Author's last name, a short form of the title, and the page.
Build the list last
Invert the first author's name, switch commas to periods, and alphabetize.
Pitfalls in Chicago citations
- Mixing the systems. A paper with footnotes and a reference list with the year after the author has crossed two systems.
- Using ibid. after an intervening note. Ibid. points only to the note immediately before it.
- Leaving off the page. A note cites the specific page; the bibliography gives the whole article's range.
Tips that save time
- Highlight the facts at the source. Mark title, author and page as you read. The habit pairs with quoting and citing a passage accurately.
- Keep the rest of your record together. The guides to keeping a citable record of your reading cover books, videos and web pages.
A Chicago style citation comes down to one decision and two forms. Choose a system, write the first citation of each source in full, shorten the rest, and build the list from the same facts. Prefer shortened notes over ibid.
Common questions
What is the difference between Chicago notes and bibliography and author-date?
Notes and bibliography puts each citation in a numbered footnote or endnote and lists sources in a bibliography. Author-date puts a short citation, such as (Yu 2020, 45), in parentheses in your sentence and lists sources in a reference list with the year right after the author. Use the system your instructor or publisher names.
Does Chicago 18th edition still allow ibid.?
Yes. Chicago's own Q&A says ibid. has not been eliminated and remains an option for those who wish to use it and who are in a position to decide. Chicago now prefers a shortened citation instead: the author's last name, a short title and the page number. The 18th edition notes that a shortened citation can also be author only or title only.
What does a shortened note look like in Chicago style?
A shortened note gives the author's last name, a short form of the title and the page, separated by commas. Chicago's example for a book is: Yu, Interior Chinatown, 48. For an article, the short title stays in quotation marks: Dittmar and Schemske, “Temporal Variation,” 480.
Do I need a bibliography if I use footnotes?
In the notes and bibliography system, yes: the bibliography lists every source alphabetically, with the first author's name inverted and the parts separated by periods. Chicago's quick guide shows a bibliography entry after the notes for each source type. If your assignment sheet asks for something different, follow it.
How do I cite a website in Chicago style?
In a note, start with the page title in quotation marks, then the site's owner or sponsor, the publication or modified date, and the URL. If there is no date, give an access date, as in Chicago's example: “About Yale: Yale Facts,” Yale University, accessed March 8, 2022, followed by the URL. In the bibliography, list the entry under the site's owner.
Sources
- The Chicago Manual of Style Online: Notes and Bibliography, Sample Citations (18th edition)
- The Chicago Manual of Style Online: Author-Date, Sample Citations (18th edition)
- The Chicago Manual of Style Online: What's New in the 18th Edition
- The Chicago Manual of Style Online: Q&A, Has Chicago completely eliminated the use of ibid.?
sign-off
Checked against its sources and signed before it went out.
Nora Feld
Editor · reviewed 2 Nov 2026
