Chicago A: Notes and Bibliography

Chicago reference style is available in two variants:

About the footnote style

Chicago A (footnote style) is commonly used within humanities, e.g., in literature science, historic-philosophical subjects and art history. The style uses numbered footnotes or endnotes (1, 2, 3 etc.) to cite sources. This guide is based on the The Chicago Manual of Style, CMOS 18th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2024.

The footnote style can contain a wide range of sources, including unusual sources that do not fit the author-date style very well. Another advantage is that the text is not interrupted by bibliographical information. Using notes also gives room to comment on the various references.

References (in-text citations)

  • Footnotes and endnotes are numbered consecutively 1, 2, 3, and so on.
  • When using endnotes, all notes are placed at the end of the text, before the reference list.
  • In the notes, you write the full reference the first time you use it. For subsequent references to a source, use the short form of the reference, that is, the author(s)’ last name and the short form of the title. Note that the use of ibid, Latin for ’same place’, is discouraged. «Op. cit.» og «loc. cit.» are no longer allowed.
  • If you quote from or refer to specific places in a text, you should also include page numbers.
  • The footnote citation to secondary sources must include the original source, with «quoted in», and the secondary source. Both are listed in the reference list.
  • Titles of main works are written in italics and chapter and article titles in «quotation marks»; see the different reference types below.
  • A quotation of five or more lines, or more than 100 words, should be blocked.

Reference list (Bibliography)

  • In the reference list, the reference is given in full form with full author name, full title, edition (unless first) and publication data (place of publication, publisher).
  • The list is arranged alphabetically by author’s last name. Works with multiple authors are alphabetized by first author.
  • For works by two authors, list both in the bibliography and the notes. Only the first author’s name is inverted in the bibliography.
  • For three or more authors, list up to six in the bibliography; for more than six authors, list the first three, followed by “et al.” (“and others”). In the notes, list only the first, followed by “et al.”
  • If you include multiple works by the same author, they are arranged chronologically (from oldest to newest publication). Chicago no longer recommends using the 3-em dash to stand in for the same author(s) in consecutive bibliography entries, preferring instead a repetition of authors’ names.
  • References without an author are alphabetized by title.
  • For references retrieved from the Internet, provide the web address (DOI or URL) and the publication date or date of last update. If none of these exist, use the date of reading and set n.y. instead of the year of publication.
  • Use hanging indentation in the reference list, meaning that all lines after the first in each entry are indented.

Sample citations

The following examples illustrate the notes and bibliography system. Sample notes show full citations followed by shortened citations for the same sources. Sample bibliography entries follow the notes.

Book

Note that the place of publication is no longer required.

The place of pubication is no longer required in book citations for books published sincde 1900. If for any reason a place is included (authors should resist doing so, but the occasional reference may benefit from readers knowing its place of origin), use the first-listed city on the title page or, if no city is listed there, refer to the copyright page and cite the city where the publisher’s main editorial offices are located. City names are followed by a colon.

If the city of publication may be unknown to readers or may be confused with another city of the same name, add the abbreviation of the state, province, or (if relevant) country (e.g., Ithaca, NY). City names in languages other than English can usually be recorded as they appear in the source; for contemporary publications, however, a commonly used English name may be used instead (e.g., Mexico City for Ciudad de México or Rome for Roma).

Full notes (first note)

1 Charles Yu, Interior Chinatown (Pantheon Books, 2020), 45.

2 Amy J. Binder and Jeffrey L. Kidder, The Channels of Student Activism: How the Left and Right Are Winning (and Losing) in Campus Politics Today (University of Chicago Press, 2022), 117–18.

Shortened notes (following notes)

3 Yu, Interior Chinatown, 48.

4 Binder and Kidder, Channels of Student Activism, 125.

Bibliography entries (in alphabetical order)

Binder, Amy J., and Jeffrey L. Kidder. The Channels of Student Activism: How the Left and Right Are Winning (and Losing) in Campus Politics Today, University of Chicago Press, 2022.

Yu, Charles. Interior Chinatown. Pantheon Books, 2020.

E-book

URL or database

To cite a book consulted online, include either a URL or the name of the database. For downloadable ebook formats, name the format; if no fixed page numbers are available, cite a section title or a chapter or other number in the note (or simply omit). For citing a place rather than a publisher for books published before 1900 (as in the Moby-Dick example below), see CMOS 14.31.

Notes

1 Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things (Random House, 2008), chap. 6, Kindle.

2 Philip B. Kurland and Ralph Lerner, eds., The Founders’ Constitution (University of Chicago Press, 1987), chap. 10, doc. 19, https://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/.

3 Brooke Borel, The Chicago Guide to Fact-Checking, 2nd ed. (University of Chicago Press, 2023), 92, EBSCOhost.

4 Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale (New York, 1851), 627, https://melville.electroniclibrary.org/moby-dick-side-by-side.

Shortened notes

5 Roy, God of Small Things, chap. 7.

6 Kurland and Lerner, Founders’ Constitution, chap. 4, doc. 29.

7 Borel, Fact-Checking, 104–5.

8 Melville, Moby-Dick, 722–23.

Bibliography entries (in alphabetical order)

Borel, Brooke. The Chicago Guide to Fact-Checking. 2nd ed. University of Chicago Press, 2023. EBSCOhost.

Kurland, Philip B., and Ralph Lerner, eds. The Founders’ Constitution. University of Chicago Press, 1987. https://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/.

Melville, Herman. Moby-Dick; or, The Whale. New York, 1851. https://melville.electroniclibrary.org/moby-dick-side-by-side.

Roy, Arundhati. The God of Small Things. Random House, 2008. Kindle.

For more details and examples, see CMOS 14.58–62.

Translated book

In the following examples, the author’s name follows Eastern order (family name first) rather than Western order (family name last); the author is therefore referred to as “Liu” in a shortened note, and the name is not inverted in a bibliography entry. See CMOS 13.75 for more details.

Note

1 Liu Xinwu, The Wedding Party, trans. Jeremy Tiang (Amazon Crossing, 2021).

Shortened note

2 Liu, Wedding Party, 279.

Bibliography entry

Liu Xinwu. The Wedding Party. Translated by Jeremy Tiang. Amazon Crossing, 2021.

For more details and examples, see CMOS 14.5–7.

Chapter or other part of an edited book

The page range for a chapter in a book is no longer required in bibliography entries (see CMOS 14.8). In a note, cite specific pages as applicable.

Note

1 Kathleen Doyle, “The Queen Mary Psalter,” in The Book by Design: The Remarkable Story of the World’s Greatest Invention, ed. P. J. M. Marks and Stephen Parkin (University of Chicago Press, 2023), 64.

Shortened note

2 Doyle, “Queen Mary Psalter,” 65.

Bibliography entry

Doyle, Kathleen. “The Queen Mary Psalter.” In The Book by Design: The Remarkable Story of the World’s Greatest Invention, edited by P. J. M. Marks and Stephen Parkin. University of Chicago Press, 2023.

In some cases, you may want to cite the collection as a whole instead:

Note

1 P. J. M. Marks and Stephen Parkin, eds., The Book by Design: The Remarkable Story of the World’s Greatest Invention (University of Chicago Press, 2023).

Shortened note

2 Marks and Parkin, Book by Design.

Bibliography entry

Marks, P. J. M., and Stephen Parkin, eds. The Book by Design: The Remarkable Story of the World’s Greatest Invention. University of Chicago Press, 2023.

For more details and examples, see CMOS 14.8–14.

Journal article

URL or DOI

Journal articles are usually cited by volume and issue number. In a note, cite specific page numbers. In the bibliography, include the page range for the whole article. For articles consulted online, include a URL (preferably one based on a DOI); alternatively, list the name of the database.

Notes

1 Hyeyoung Kwon, “Inclusion Work: Children of Immigrants Claiming Membership in Everyday Life,” American Journal of Sociology 127, no. 6 (2022): 1842–43, https://doi.org/10.1086/720277.

2 B. T. Hebert, “The Island of Bolsö: A Study of Norwegian Life,” Sociological Review 17, no. 4 (1925): 310, EBSCOhost.

3 Benjamin Lindquist, “The Art of Text-to-Speech,” Critical Inquiry 50, no. 2 (2023): 230, https://doi.org/10.1086/727651.

4 Emily L. Dittmar and Douglas W. Schemske, “Temporal Variation in Selection Influences Microgeographic Local Adaptation,” American Naturalist 202, no. 4 (2023): 480, https://doi.org/10.1086/725865.

Shortened notes

5 Kwon, “Inclusion Work,” 1851.

6 Hebert, “Island of Bolsö,” 311.

7 Lindquist, “Text-to-Speech,” 231–32.

8 Dittmar and Schemske, “Temporal Variation,” 480.

Bibliography entries (in alphabetical order)

Dittmar, Emily L., and Douglas W. Schemske. “Temporal Variation in Selection Influences Microgeographic Local Adaptation.” American Naturalist 202, no. 4 (2023): 471–85. https://doi.org/10.1086/725865.

Hebert, B. T. “The Island of Bolsö: A Study of Norwegian Life.” Sociological Review 17, no. 4 (1925): 307–13. EBSCOhost.

Kwon, Hyeyoung. “Inclusion Work: Children of Immigrants Claiming Membership in Everyday Life.” American Journal of Sociology 127, no. 6 (2022): 1818–59. https://doi.org/10.1086/720277.

Lindquist, Benjamin. “The Art of Text-to-Speech.” Critical Inquiry 50, no. 2 (2023): 225–51. https://doi.org/10.1086/727651.

Many authors

Journal articles often list many authors, especially in the sciences. For works by two authors, list both in the bibliography and in a note (as in the Dittmar and Schemske example above). For three or more authors, list up to six in the bibliography; for more than six authors, list the first three, followed by “et al.” (“and others”). In a note, list only the first, followed by “et al.” Note that the bibliography entry for the Dror example below (which credits eighteen authors) includes an article ID in place of a page range; in a note, specific page numbers may be cited as shown.

Note

7 Amiel A. Dror et al., “Pre-Infection 25-Hydroxyvitamin D3 Levels and Association with Severity of COVID-19 Illness,” PLOS ONE 17, no. 2 (2022): 4–5, e0263069, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0263069.

Shortened note

8 Dror et al., “Pre-Infection,” 7.

Bibliography entry

Dror, Amiel A., Nicole Morozov, Amani Daoud, et al. “Pre-Infection 25-Hydroxyvitamin D3 Levels and Association with Severity of COVID-19 Illness.” PLOS ONE 17, no. 2 (2022): e0263069. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0263069.

News or magazing arrticle

Articles from newspapers or news sites, magazines, blogs, and the like are cited similarly. Page numbers, if any, can be cited in a note but are omitted from a bibliography entry. For articles consulted online, include a URL or the name of the database.

Notes

1 Dani Blum, “Are Flax Seeds All That?,” New York Times, December 13, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/13/well/eat/flax-seeds-benefits.html.

2 Rebecca Mead, “Terms of Aggrievement,” New Yorker, December 18, 2023, 21.

3 Rob Pegoraro, “Apple’s iPhone Is Sleek, Smart and Simple,” Washington Post, July 5, 2007, LexisNexis Academic.

4 Elana Klein, “Meet Flip, the Viral Video App Giving Away Free Stuff,” Wired, December 21, 2023, https://www.wired.com/story/flip-viral-video-app-shopping-free-stuff/.

Shortened notes

5 Blum, “Flax Seeds.”

6 Mead, “Terms of Aggrievement,” 23–24.

7 Pegoraro, “Apple’s iPhone.”

8 Klein, “Meet Flip.”

Bibliography entries (in alphabetical order)

Blum, Dani. “Are Flax Seeds All That?” New York Times, December 13, 2023. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/13/well/eat/flax-seeds-benefits.html.

Klein, Elana. “Meet Flip, the Viral Video App Giving Away Free Stuff.” Wired, December 21, 2023. https://www.wired.com/story/flip-viral-video-app-shopping-free-stuff/.

Mead, Rebecca. “Terms of Aggrievement.” New Yorker, December 18, 2023.

Pegoraro, Rob. “Apple’s iPhone Is Sleek, Smart and Simple.” Washington Post, July 5, 2007. LexisNexis Academic.

Readers’ comments are cited in the text or in a note but omitted from a bibliography:

Note

9 Michelle (Reno), December 15, 2023, comment on Blum, “Flax Seeds.”

Book review

Note

1 Alexandra Jacobs, “The Muchness of Madonna,” review of Madonna: A Rebel Life, by Mary Gabriel, New York Times, October 8, 2023.

Shortened note

2 Jacobs, “Muchness of Madonna.”

Bibliography entry

Jacobs, Alexandra. “The Muchness of Madonna.” Review of Madonna: A Rebel Life, by Mary Gabriel. New York Times, October 8, 2023.

Interview

Interviews are usually cited under the name of the interviewee rather than the interviewer.

Note

1 Joy Buolamwini, “ ‘If You Have a Face, You Have a Place in the Conversation About AI,’ Expert Says,” interview by Tonya Mosley, Fresh Air, NPR, November 28, 2023, audio, 37:58, https://www.npr.org/2023/11/28/1215529902/unmasking-ai-facial-recognition-technology-joy-buolamwini.

Shortened note

2 Buolamwini, interview.

Bibliography entry

Buolamwini, Joy. “ ‘If You Have a Face, You Have a Place in the Conversation About AI,’ Expert Says.” Interview by Tonya Mosley. Fresh Air, NPR, November 28, 2023. Audio, 37:58. https://www.npr.org/2023/11/28/1215529902/unmasking-ai-facial-recognition-technology-joy-buolamwini.

Thesis or dissertation

Note

1 Yuna Blajer de la Garza, “A House Is Not a Home: Citizenship and Belonging in Contemporary Democracies” (PhD diss., University of Chicago, 2019), 66–67, ProQuest (13865986).

Shortened note

2 Blajer de la Garza, “House,” 93.

Bibliography entry

Blajer de la Garza, Yuna. “A House Is Not a Home: Citizenship and Belonging in Contemporary Democracies.” PhD diss., University of Chicago, 2019. ProQuest (13865986).

Web page

Date

It is often sufficient simply to describe web pages and other website content in the text (“As of November 15, 2023, Google’s privacy policy stated . . .”). If a more formal citation is needed, it may be styled like the examples below. If a source does not list a date of publication or revision, include an access date. Alternatively, if a publicly available archive of the content has been saved using the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine or similar service, the link for that version may be cited.

Notes

1 “Privacy Policy,” Privacy & Terms, Google, effective November 15, https://policies.google.com/privacy.

2 “Wikipedia: Manual of Style,” Wikimedia Foundation, last modified December 19, 2023, 21:54 (UTC), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style.

3 “About Yale: Yale Facts,” Yale University, accessed March 8, 2022, https://www.yale.edu/about-yale/yale-facts.

or

3 “About Yale: Yale Facts,” Yale University, archived March 8, 2022, at https://web.archive.org/web/20220308143337/https://www.yale.edu/about-yale/yale-facts.

Shortened notes

4 Google, “Privacy Policy.”

5 “Wikipedia: Manual of Style.”

6 “Yale Facts.”

Bibliography entries (in alphabetical order)

In the notes, the title will usually come first (as in the examples above); in a bibliography entry, the source should be listed under the owner or sponsor of the site.

Google. “Privacy Policy.” Privacy & Terms. Effective November 15, 2023. https://policies.google.com/privacy.

Wikimedia Foundation. “Wikipedia: Manual of Style.” Last modified December 19, 2023, at 21:54 (UTC). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style.

Yale University. “About Yale: Yale Facts.” Accessed March 8, 2022. https://www.yale.edu/about-yale/yale-facts.

or

Yale University. “About Yale: Yale Facts.” Archived March 8, 2022, at https://web.archive.org/web/20220308143337/https://www.yale.edu/about-yale/yale-facts.

Social media content

Citations of content posted to social media can usually be limited to the text (as in the first example below). A note may be added if a more formal citation is needed. In rare cases, a bibliography entry may also be appropriate. In place of a title, quote up to the first 280 characters of the post. Comments are cited in reference to the original post.

Text

The Instagram post included a photo of the president delivering a eulogy at the National Cathedral and referred to O’Connor as “gracious and principled” (@potus, December 19, 2023).

Notes

1 NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb), “👀 Sneak a peek at the deepest & sharpest infrared image of the early universe ever taken—all in a day’s work for the Webb telescope. (Literally, capturing it took less than a day!),” Twitter (now X), July 11, 2022, https://twitter.com/NASAWebb/status/1546621080298835970.

2 Chicago Manual of Style, “Is the world ready for singular they? We thought so back in 1993,” Facebook, April 17, 2015, https://www.facebook.com/ChicagoManual/posts/10152906193679151.

Shortened notes

3 NASA Webb Telescope, “👀 Sneak a peek.”

4 Michele Truty, April 17, 2015, 1:09 p.m., comment on Chicago Manual of Style, “singular they.”

Bibliography entry

Chicago Manual of Style. “Is the world ready for singular they? We thought so back in 1993.” Facebook, April 17, 2015. https://www.facebook.com/ChicagoManual/posts/10152906193679151.

Video or podcast

Notes

1 Vaitea Cowan, “How Green Hydrogen Could End the Fossil Fuel Era,” TED Talk, Vancouver, BC, April 2022, 9 min., 15 sec., https://www.ted.com/talks/vaitea_cowan_how_green_hydrogen_could_end_the_fossil_fuel_era.

2 Eric Oliver, “Why So Many Americans Believe in So Many ‘Crazy’ Things,” moderated by Andrew McCall, virtual lecture, February 23, 2022, posted March 21, 2022, by University of Chicago, YouTube, 1:01:45, https://youtu.be/hfq7AnCF5bg.

3 Lauren Ober, host, The Loudest Girl in the World, season 1, episode 2, “Goodbye, Routine; Hello, Meltdown!,” Pushkin Industries, September 13, 2022, 41 min., 37 sec., https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/loudest-girl-in-the-world.

Shortened notes

4 Cowan, “Green Hydrogen,” at 6:09–17.

5 Oliver, “Why.”

6 Ober, “Goodbye, Routine.”

Bibliography entries (in alphabetical order)

Unless it is clear from context, “video” or the like may be specified in the bibliography.

Cowan, Vaitea. “How Green Hydrogen Could End the Fossil Fuel Era.” TED Talk, Vancouver, BC, April 2022. Video, 9 min., 15 sec. https://www.ted.com/talks/vaitea_cowan_how_green_hydrogen_could_end_the_fossil_fuel_era.

Ober, Lauren, host. The Loudest Girl in the World. Season 1, episode 2, “Goodbye, Routine; Hello, Meltdown!” Pushkin Industries, September 13, 2022. Podcast, 41 min., 37 sec. https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/loudest-girl-in-the-world.

Oliver, Eric. “Why So Many Americans Believe in So Many ‘Crazy’ Things.” Moderated by Andrew McCall. Virtual lecture, February 23, 2022. Posted March 21, 2022, by University of Chicago. YouTube, 1:01:45. https://youtu.be/hfq7AnCF5bg.

Personal communication

Personal communications, including email and text messages and direct messages sent through social media, are usually cited in the text or in a note only; they are rarely included in a bibliography.

Note

1 Sam Gomez, Facebook direct message to author, August 1, 2024.

ChatGPT and artificial intelligence

The Chicago styles recommends that references to ChatGPT and other similar services are treated the same way as personal communication. Personal communication and text generated by large language models cannot be reproduced or found, and they should therefore not appear in the reference list.

Reports etc.

Flyers, rapports, pamphlets and other free publications are sorted as books. Author and publisher data may not fit the usual pattern, but sufficient information should be provided to identify the document.

Laws

Chicago recommends The Blue Book: A Uniform System of Citation, published by the Harvard Law Review Association, to cite legal and public documents, statutes, and other government documents. Laws are usually not placed in the bibliography, only in the footnote.

Art

Information about paintings, photographs, sculptures, or other art is usually presented in the text instead of notes or bibliography. If a note or some other bibliographic information is necessary, write the artist’s name, the art title (in italics) and the date/year, followed by information about the art and placement of the art. Provide the URL for the artwork if published online.

Guide

See also the guide at NTNU Oppgaveskriving

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