Chicago Style Citations with Free Citation Generator

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Today

The Chicago citation style generator by PlagX has footnotes, endnotes, reference list, bibliography and the author-date system incorporated to make citing your sources easier and the writing process a lot more simple.

Footnotes
Endnotes

Author-Date
System

Reference list &
Bibliography

Guide for Chicago Style Citations

Chicago citation style comes from the Chicago Manual of Style and this guide uses the most recent 17th edition. The Chicago citation format is used commonly in Humanities, Sciences and Social Sciences courses. The Chicago Manual of Style is different to the other citation formats since it provides two style options for the writer; the author-date system and the endnotes/footnotes with a bibliography.

The basics of both style options are covered in this guide. Even better is that you can use PlagX’s Chicago citation machine to make citations easier. Let’s start with the endnotes and footnotes citation system that goes with a bibliography.

What is a bibliography?

A bibliography is a list of all the sources that were consulted in the process of your writing and research. It isn’t used all the time in the Chicago style of citations and you can choose to not include it but it is common to use it since then only short form footnotes are required in the text.

Quick Summary

You must use a citation APA style in text every time you use a direct quote, indirect quote, or paraphrase another writer’s work in your own writing. The citation APA style works on an author-date system which means the writer must include the author's last name and the year of publication of the work you are referencing. Sometimes, especially with quotes, you should include a more specific locator like the page number.

Notes and Bibliography in Chicago Style Citations

The chicago citation style footnotes system differs from the other citation formats you may know like the parenthetical citations. You have to use superscript numbers in chronological order as the indicator for your Chicago citation in text. For example, when citing a book, you will write the paraphrased text or quote and place the applicable number for the footnote or endnote at its end like this (⁶).

Options of Chicago Citation Style Footnotes and Endnotes

The Chicago Manual of style has both options for writers. The important part is sticking with the choice. If you chose to go with footnotes then make sure to stay consistent with the citation style for the whole paper.

Footnotes vs Endnotes
chicago citation style footnotes are placed at the foot of the page as in at its bottom where sometimes you will place a document footer. Footnotes are of two types, full notes and short notes. On the other hand, endnotes go all together at the end of your paper.

Using Footnotes in Chicago Style

You know that there are two types of chicago citation style footnotes. The way they are used depends on your approach and preferred in writing. In-text citations as full notes include all of the source information like publisher, publishing location, journal etc. Short notes, on the other hand only have the author’s last name, title of the source, and page number or range when applicable.

When to use full notes and short notes
If you have decided to not include a bibliography in chicago citation style footnotes then use both full notes and short notes. In this case, a full note will be needed when it’s the first time that source has been cited and for every other time after that you can use a short note.

Full Notes and Short Notes Example

Luke Matthews, Enchanted Trees and the Dark Forest, (New Hampshire, Press Publications), 1-56
Mattews, Enchanted Trees, 1-56.

You can shorten a book title if it’s too long in short notes so that your footnotes stay concise.

You can also choose to go with the short notes and bibliography option but remember to follow the same system throughout your paper. With short notes and a bibliography, all of the in-text citations can be short notes because the full-lenght citations with detailed information are included in the bibliography at the end.

Short Notes and Bibliography Example
In this case the short name would look the same as before:

Mattews, Enchanted Trees, 1-56.

However, the bibliography entry would have more information, a different format and go at the end on a separate bibliography page titled ‘Bibliography’ with a bold font and in the centre of the page:

Chicago Citation Book Sample

Bibliography
Matthews, Luke. Enchanted Trees and the Dark Forest. New Hampshire: Press Publications, 2004.

Journal Article Sample

Bibliography
Matt, Chriss. “Review of Modern Curriculum.” Journal of Policy 201, no. 1 (2021): pp. 3–9. doi:10.1177/0022057420903266

Chicago Citation Style Website Sample

Bibliography
Adams, Fredrick. “Plagiarism Checkers in The Writing Process.” Plagiarism Checker X. 2021. https://plagiarismcheckerx.com/blog/plagiarism-checkers-in-the-writing-process.

Author-Date System in Chicago Style Citations

The author-date system is most commonly used in Science and Social Science fields and is based on Chicago citation in text and a reference list.

Information in an author-date Chicago Style in text citation

These are similar to those you might have seen in APA or MLA format. Here are a couple of examples.

In text Chicago Citation Example example: author-date system

(Kumar 1996, 16-24)
(Humphrey 2006)

How to add Chicago Style in text citation

There are two ways of incorporating in-text citations into your text, in parenthesis after the sentence or mixed into it. They will look like this:

Parenthetical In text Chicago Citation Example

Analysis demonstrates that in 12 years…(Kumar 1996, 16-24)

Narrative In text Chicago Citation Example

Humphrey (2006) notes in a study survey that health policies must change to incorporate advanced technology.

Reference List in Chicago Citation Format

A reference list or Works Cited page, both can be used in Chicago Style citations, is where create citation entries with full information. These are placed at the end of your paper but before appendices (if applicable) on a separate paper.

Reference List vs Bibliography

Reference lists only include sources with accompanying in-text citations. Whereas a bibliography is a list of all sources consulted for writing the paper.

Formatting a Reference List and Works Cited page

Start with titling the page with either ‘References’ or ‘Works Cited’. Use bold font for it and have it centre aligned.
Like other cases, it is alphabetized based on the author's last name
Entries are single spaced with a blank line in between each one.
If an entry is longer than one line than they require a hanging indent to make them easier to read

Examples for Chicago Citation Format: Reference List

The most often cited sources in writing are books, journal articles, and websites. They form a common part of academic and professional research and these examples highlight the exact format you should follow.

Chicago citation style example for a book in a reference list

Kent, Luis., and Elisabeth Penn. 1956. Travels to the Forest. Camden:Panel Publishing Corporation.

Chicago citation style example for a journal article in a reference list

Bentford, Julie. “Creating a Model for AI Growth.” Journal of Intelligence 207, no. 1 (2014): 3–9. https://doi.org/10.1177/0074657420903266.

Chicago citation style example for Website in a reference list

Adams, Fredrick. 2021. “Plagiarism Checkers in The Writing Process.” Plagiarism Checker X. Accessed February 10, 2021. https://plagiarismcheckerx.com/blog/plagiarism-checkers-in-the-writing-process.

Citation Information is Missing

It’s common for some sources to have incomplete information but there is an easy way to remedy the issue.

Chicago citation style example for Missing Author

The fix is quite simple. If you can’t find an author, use the publishing organisation's name in both in-text citation and reference list. For Example:

Plagiarism Checker X. 2021. “Plagiarism Checkers in The Writing Process.” Accessed February 10, 2021. https://plagiarismcheckerx.com/blog/plagiarism-checkers-in-the-writing-process.

Sometimes even that may not be available. In those situations use the source title. If so, the first word of the title will be used to alphabetize the entry, not including ‘articles’ in the title (a, an, the etc.). For example:

“Plagiarism Checkers in The Writing Process.” 2021. Plagiarism Checker X. Accessed February 10, 2021. https://plagiarismcheckerx.com/blog/plagiarism-checkers-in-the-writing-process.

Chicago citation style example for Missing Publication Date

All you have to do for a missing publication date is replace it with ‘n.d.’. It means ‘no date’:

Kent, Luis., and Elisabeth Penn. n.d. Travels to the Forest. Camden:Panel Publishing Corporation.

General Chicago Style Paper Formatting Checklist

Some formatting tips go a long way to making a well structured paper. After creating all your citations with PlagX’s easy to use and free Chicago citation generator, follow this checklist: