“Use Chicago style” can mean numbered notes with a bibliography or parenthetical citations with a reference list. Identify the assigned system first, then apply its citation rules and the paper-formatting requirements given by your instructor.
Chicago style uses either notes-bibliography, with numbered footnotes or endnotes plus a bibliography, or author-date, with parenthetical citations plus a reference list. Most history and humanities papers use notes-bibliography. Student papers commonly use one-inch margins, readable type, double-spaced text, consistent page numbers, and instructor-approved title-page rules.
Choose between Chicago’s two citation systems
Chicago has two separate citation systems. Notes-bibliography uses superscript numbers connected to footnotes or endnotes. Author-date uses parenthetical citations in the text. Do not combine them unless your instructor specifically requests a hybrid format.
History, literature, art history, and other humanities courses commonly use notes-bibliography. Sciences and some social sciences are more likely to use author-date, but the assignment wording is more reliable than the subject.
Weak: The prompt requests footnotes, but the paper cites a passage as “(Lepore 2018, 125).” Strong: The sentence ends with a superscript number, and footnote 1 gives the full source citation.
Choose notes-bibliography if the prompt says “footnotes,” “endnotes,” “notes,” or “bibliography.” Example: “Use Chicago footnotes and include a bibliography.”
Choose author-date if the prompt says “parenthetical citations,” “in-text citations,” “author-date,” or “reference list.” Example: “Cite sources as (Author Year, Page).”
Check the required edition. A CMOS 17 book note includes the publication city—“(New York: W. W. Norton, 2018)”—while CMOS 18 normally omits it: “(W. W. Norton, 2018).”
Set margins, type, spacing, and paragraph indents
The Chicago Manual of Style does not impose one universal classroom-paper layout. Instructors often use Turabian’s student-paper conventions, so a course handout or department template takes priority.
A safe default is a readable font, one-inch margins, double-spaced body text, and half-inch first-line paragraph indents. For example, use 12-point Times New Roman throughout rather than changing between 11-point Calibri in the body and 10-point Arial in quotations.
Weak: The paper has 0.7-inch margins, extra blank lines between paragraphs, and manually inserted spaces for indents. Strong: All margins are one inch, body text is double-spaced, and the word processor applies a 0.5-inch first-line indent.
Margins: 1 inch on every side unless the assignment specifies another measurement.
Font: use one legible font, such as 12-point Times New Roman or 11-point Arial or Calibri.
Body spacing: double-space the main text and avoid extra blank lines between ordinary paragraphs.
Notes and bibliography: a common Turabian setup single-spaces each note or entry and leaves a blank line between entries.
Alignment: use left-aligned text with a ragged right margin unless instructed to justify it.
Paragraphs: set a 0.5-inch first-line indent through the paragraph settings, not with repeated spaces.
Format the title page and page numbers consistently
A title page is not automatic in every Chicago paper. Use one if the assignment or institutional template requires it. Otherwise, place the title and identifying information at the top of the first text page.
On a Turabian-style title page, place the paper title about one-third of the way down. Put your name, course, instructor, and date on separate lines farther down the page. Do not display a page number on the title page.
A simple title-page arrangement is: “The Chicago Fire and Urban Reform,” followed below by “Alex Rivera,” “HIST 210,” “Professor Morgan,” and “October 18, 2026.” The first page of the paper’s main text then begins with Arabic page number 1.
Use the page-number location required by the instructor; the upper-right corner is a common choice.
Keep the number in the header or footer rather than typing it into the body.
Do not display a number on the title page. If the paper includes front matter, it may use lowercase Roman numerals such as ii and iii.
Continue Arabic numbering through the text, bibliography, and appendixes unless the assigned template says otherwise.
Weak: The title page displays “1,” and the first text page displays “2.” Strong: The title page has no visible number, and the main text begins with page 1 under the common student-paper convention.
Place and number footnotes without breaking the sequence
In notes-bibliography style, insert a superscript note number after the relevant punctuation. Weak: “The policy changed¹.” Strong: “The policy changed.¹” After a quotation, the marker also follows the closing quotation mark and punctuation.
Place the number at the end of the sentence or clause containing the borrowed material. If a sentence contains two separately sourced claims, place each number after the clause it supports rather than stacking unrelated citations at the end.
Number notes consecutively from 1 through the paper. Do not restart at 1 on each page. A long work may restart numbering by chapter, but a student paper should do so only when instructed.
Use the word processor’s Insert Footnote command. It creates the marker, places the note at the bottom of the correct page, and renumbers later notes after revisions.
Use footnotes at the bottom of each page when the prompt requests footnotes. Endnotes belong together in a separate notes section before the bibliography.
Begin the note with its corresponding number. Example: “1. Jill Lepore, *These Truths: A History of the United States*…”
Avoid manually typing superscript numbers. Deleting a manual note 4 will not automatically change notes 5 through 12.
Do not attach two markers such as “claim.¹²” when one footnote can contain both sources separated by a semicolon.
Write the first full note and later shortened notes
The first note for a source normally gives the author’s name in regular order, the full title, publication details, and the cited page. A CMOS 17 book note looks like this: “1. Jill Lepore, *These Truths: A History of the United States* (New York: W. W. Norton, 2018), 125.”
Later notes use the author’s surname, a shortened title, and the page: “2. Lepore, *These Truths*, 130.” The shortened title should remain recognizable. For example, shorten *These Truths: A History of the United States* to *These Truths*, not simply *Truths*.
CMOS 17 allows “ibid.” for an immediately repeated source but discourages relying on it. “Ibid.” becomes unclear or incorrect when notes are moved or another citation is inserted. A shortened note remains understandable after revision.
Weak first note: “1. Lepore, p. 125.” Strong first note: “1. Jill Lepore, *These Truths: A History of the United States* (New York: W. W. Norton, 2018), 125.”
Weak repeated note: “2. Jill Lepore, *These Truths: A History of the United States* (New York: W. W. Norton, 2018), 130.” Strong shortened note: “2. Lepore, *These Truths*, 130.”
Weak revision practice: “3. Ibid., 130” remains after a different source is inserted as note 2. Strong revision practice: “3. Lepore, *These Truths*, 130” still identifies the source.
For CMOS 18, the equivalent full note normally omits the city: “Jill Lepore, *These Truths: A History of the United States* (W. W. Norton, 2018), 125.”
Turn note citations into bibliography entries
A bibliography entry is not a footnote copied onto a separate page. The author’s surname comes first, publication details are not enclosed in parentheses, and major elements are separated by periods rather than commas.
Compare the same book in both locations. Note: “1. Jill Lepore, *These Truths: A History of the United States* (New York: W. W. Norton, 2018), 125.” Bibliography: “Lepore, Jill. *These Truths: A History of the United States*. New York: W. W. Norton, 2018.”
The note ends with the page used because it supports a specific passage. The bibliography entry for a whole book does not include that page. It identifies the complete source.
Start the bibliography on a new page with the centered heading “Bibliography,” unless the assigned template specifies another heading style.
Alphabetize entries by the first author’s surname. For example, Douglass appears before Lepore.
Apply a 0.5-inch hanging indent: the first line begins at the left margin, and later lines are indented.
Do not number or bullet bibliography entries.
Weak: “Jill Lepore, *These Truths* (New York: W. W. Norton, 2018), 125.” Strong: “Lepore, Jill. *These Truths: A History of the United States*. New York: W. W. Norton, 2018.”
Use author-date citations when the assignment requires them
Chicago author-date replaces routine source notes with parenthetical citations. Put the author’s surname and year together without a comma, then add a comma before the page: “(Lepore 2018, 125).”
The matching reference-list entry places the year immediately after the author: “Lepore, Jill. 2018. *These Truths: A History of the United States*. New York: W. W. Norton.” Under CMOS 18, omit “New York:” unless the source or assignment requires it.
Use the heading “References” for the reference list. Alphabetize entries by surname and use hanging indents, just as in a bibliography.
Specific page: “The reform changed the city’s political structure (Lepore 2018, 125).”
Whole work: “Lepore (2018) presents a broad national history.”
Page range: “(Lepore 2018, 125–27).”
Weak hybrid: “The policy changed (Lepore, 2018, p. 125).¹” Strong author-date form: “The policy changed (Lepore 2018, 125).”
Do not add a source footnote after every author-date citation. Reserve notes for substantive comments if the instructor permits them.
Notes and bibliography entries compared
Each pair starts with the form students produce, followed by what CMOS 17 requires.
History paper using notes-bibliography
Weak The assignment requires Chicago footnotes, but the paper uses “(Lepore 2018, 125)” in the text and labels the source page “References.”
Stronger The text ends with a superscript marker. The first note gives “1. Jill Lepore, *These Truths: A History of the United States* (New York: W. W. Norton, 2018), 125,” and the source appears under “Bibliography.”
The strong version follows one Chicago system consistently: numbered notes for citations and a bibliography for the source list.
Social science paper using author-date
Weak The paper combines a superscript footnote with an APA-like citation: “(Lepore, 2018, p. 125).¹”
Stronger The sentence uses the Chicago author-date form “(Lepore 2018, 125),” and the full source appears in an alphabetized reference list.
Chicago author-date omits the comma between author and year and does not use “p.” before a page number.
Repeated citation in a humanities paper
Weak Every reference repeats the complete note: “4. Jill Lepore, *These Truths: A History of the United States* (New York: W. W. Norton, 2018), 130.”
Stronger After the first full citation, the paper uses “4. Lepore, *These Truths*, 130.”
Chicago shortened notes identify the source without repeating all publication details.
Chicago bibliography page
Weak 1. Jill Lepore, *These Truths: A History of the United States* (New York: W. W. Norton, 2018), 125.
Stronger Lepore, Jill. *These Truths: A History of the United States*. New York: W. W. Norton, 2018.
Bibliography entries invert the author’s name, use periods between major elements, omit parentheses around publication data, and do not include a single cited page for a whole book.
Block quotation in notes-bibliography style
Weak A six-line quotation remains inside quotation marks, is centered, and ends with a note marker before the final period.
Stronger The quotation starts on a new line, is indented 0.5 inch from the left, has no quotation marks, and places the superscript note marker after the final punctuation.
Chicago sets long prose quotations as blocks and places note markers after punctuation.
Common mistakes and how to fix them
Weak — Mixing notes-bibliography and author-date: “The policy changed (Lepore 2018, 125).¹”
Strong — Use either “The policy changed.¹” with a footnote and bibliography, or “The policy changed (Lepore 2018, 125)” with a reference list.
Weak — Placing the footnote marker before punctuation: “The policy changed¹.”
Strong — Put the superscript after the punctuation: “The policy changed.¹”
Weak — Manually typing every superscript note number and then deleting note 3 during revision.
Strong — Use Insert Footnote so the word processor automatically changes the former notes 4 and 5 to notes 3 and 4.
Weak — Repeating a complete book citation in every footnote.
Strong — Give the full citation once, then use a shortened note such as “Lepore, *These Truths*, 130.”
Weak — Leaving “Ibid., 130” after inserting a different source immediately before it.
Strong — Replace it with the stable shortened form “Lepore, *These Truths*, 130.”
Weak — Copying a footnote directly into the bibliography with the author’s first name first and publication data in parentheses.
Strong — Change it to bibliography form: “Lepore, Jill. *These Truths: A History of the United States*. New York: W. W. Norton, 2018.”
Weak — Putting quotation marks around a five-line block quotation and indenting only its first line.
Strong — Remove the quotation marks and indent the entire block 0.5 inch from the left margin.
What is the proper format for a Chicago-style paper?
Use either notes-bibliography or author-date consistently. A typical student paper has one-inch margins, readable type, double-spaced body text, half-inch paragraph indents, consistent page numbers, and a bibliography or reference list. Instructor requirements take priority.
Is Chicago style the same as MLA?
No. MLA normally uses author-page citations such as “(Lepore 125)” and a Works Cited list. Chicago notes-bibliography uses numbered notes, while Chicago author-date uses citations such as “(Lepore 2018, 125).”
Does Microsoft Word have a Chicago-style template?
Word can insert footnotes and generate some Chicago citations through References > Style, but it does not guarantee a correctly formatted student paper. Confirm the Chicago edition and citation system, then check margins, spacing, title-page rules, notes, and source entries.
Is Chicago formatting the same as APA?
No. Both offer author-date citations, but their details differ. Chicago writes “(Lepore 2018, 125),” while APA writes “(Lepore, 2018, p. 125).” Chicago also offers the separate notes-bibliography system, which APA does not.
How long should a quote be to use a block quotation in Chicago style?
Set a prose quotation as a block when it runs five or more lines in the paper; poetry of two or more lines is also commonly blocked. Start it on a new line, indent the full passage, remove quotation marks, and put the citation after the final punctuation.
How is Turabian related to Chicago style?
Turabian is a student-focused adaptation of Chicago. It uses the same notes-bibliography and author-date systems but gives more specific guidance for student papers, theses, title pages, margins, and spacing. Turabian’s ninth edition corresponds to CMOS 17.
