The document provides an overview of Chicago style citations. It discusses why citations are used in different styles depending on academic disciplines. Chicago style uses footnote citations and a bibliography. The presentation covers general formatting guidelines, in-text citations, footnote format, bibliography entries, and citing primary sources. Examples are provided to illustrate Chicago citation style. Additional resources for citations are also listed.

1. CHICAGO NB CITATIONS
Notes, bibliography, action!

2. CONTENTS
In this presentation, we will discuss:
• Some important notes and caveats before we begin
• Why we cite sources (and in so many different ways)
• A brief history of Chicago style
• General formatting guidelines
• Title page and body text
• General citation guidelines
• In-text citations and footnotes, including examples
• General bibliography format, including examples
• Selected bibliographic templates
• Citing primary sources
• Additional Resources

3. IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT ALL FORMATS
FOLLOW YOUR
INSTRUCTOR’S GUIDELINES

4. FOLLOW-UP IMPORTANT NOTE
You carry with you in your pocket the largest
repository of information in human history, so
don’t be afraid to look stuff up, mess stuff up,
look up more stuff, mess up that stuff, cry,
drink some water, and try, try, try again.

5. CAVEATS
• Citations can become arbitrarily complex. This presentation covers very broad
strokes. The best thing to do is to get comfortable with a website or other resource
that has all the information you’ll need, including templates, such as the Purdue
OWL (Online Writing Lab) or a style guide.
• I’m not an expert in Chicago NB, and you don’t need to be, either. All you have to
know is where to go and how to find information that will answer the questions you
have.

6. WHY DO WE CITE?

7. WHY DO WE CITE IN SO MANY DIFFERENT
WAYS?
• Academic disciplines emphasize different elements of research
• MLA
• Humanities
• Highlights the ways in which one text influences another
• Author-page number construction of in-text citations lets scholars track down exact sentences being
analyzed
• APA
• Social sciences
• Author-date construction lets scholars see how the research being written about has evolved over
time1
1. “Why Are there Different Citation Styles,” Yale Poorvu Center for Teaching and
Learning, Accessed January 31, 2022, https://poorvucenter.yale.edu/undergraduates/using-
sources/principles-citing-sources/why-are-there-different-citation-styles.

8. CHICAGO STYLE
NOT JUST A PIZZA
• Chicago Style
• Historians
• Footnotes allow reader to focus on the evidence instead of being distracted by the
publication information about that evidence2
• Allows writer to comment on sources, if needed. . . . Notes and Bibliography system
“builds a writer’s credibility by demonstrating their accountability to source material”3
2. “Different Citation Styles.”
3. “Chicago Manual of Style 17th Edition,” The Purdue OWL, Accessed January 31, 2022,
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/chicago_manual_17th_edition/cmos_formatting_and_style_g
uide/chicago_manual_of_style_17th_edition.html.

9. CHICAGO MANUAL OF STYLE
• University of Chicago, 1891
• A way for compositors, typesetters, and proofreaders to create a set of standard
practices
• 1st edition: 1906 (interested nerds—ahem, historians—can find a facsimile of the
first edition here: CMOS 1st Edition
• Most current edition: 17th (2017)4
4. “About the Chicago Manual of Style,” University of Chicago Press, Accessed January
30, 2022, https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/help-tools/about.html.

10. GENERAL FORMATTING GUIDELINES
• 8.5x11” paper
• 1-1.5” margins on all sides
• Easily readable typeface and font size (12 pt is the standard and, as with most
standards, completely ableist)
• Double-space with one space between punctuation
• Page numbers use Arabic numerals and begin on the first page of text (in other
words, not the title page)5
5. “CMOS NB PowerPoint Presentation,” The Purdue OWL, Accessed January 31, 2022,
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/chicago_manual_17th_edition/cmos_formatting_an
d_style_guide/cmos_nb_powerpoint_presentation.html.

11. TITLE PAGE AND BODY TEXT
• Title appears one-third of the way down the page, centered, and written in all caps
• No page numbers
• Name, course, and date, in that order, several lines later, also centered
• Body text is double-spaced with no spaces between paragraphs or sections
• Footnotes and endnotes are single-spaced6
6. “CMOS NB.”

12. GENERAL FORMAT OF CITATIONS
• Rules to keep in mind:
• In-text citations in the form of superscripted note numbers
• Those superscripted note numbers direct readers to a citation in a footnote at the bottom
of the page
• Footnotes correspond to a more complete citation in a Bibliography at the end of the
essay7
7. “CMOS NB.”

13. CATTO BREAK!
Sometimes George has big feelings.

14. RULES FOR THE IN-TEXT CITATION
• Note numbers are superscripted
• Note numbers should be placed at the end of the clause or sentence to which they
refer and should be placed after all punctuation, except for the dash8
8. “General Format,” The Purdue OWL, Accessed January 31, 2022,
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/chicago_manual_17th_edition/cmos_formattin
g_and_style_guide/general_format.html

15. RULES FOR THE FOOTNOTES
• Note numbers are full-sized, followed by a period and then a space
• Indent the first line
• If you’re including commentary, do so after the citation information and separate
with a period
• The first time you cite a source in a footnote, include a full citation; subsequent
citations for the same source should be shortened to the author’s (or authors’) last
names, a shortened version of the title, and the page number9
9. “General Format.” Think of a citation in a footnote like a character in a novel. The first time you
introduce a character, you might use their first and last name; after that, if you continued to refer to
them by their first and last name, your audience would be justifiably annoyed.

16. EXAMPLES
Superscripted in-text citations
Paraphrase:
• Only male actors performed in Greek choruses.10 Note that the superscript comes AFTER
the punctuation.
Direct Quote:
• “Haven’t the very bones of language, in which meaning is always displaced from its
object, the structure of a lament?”11 Note that, unlike in APA or MLA, you’re free to put
punctuation inside the quotation marks.

17. EXAMPLES (CONT’D)
Corresponding footnotes:
10. Helen H. Bacon, “The Chorus in Greek Life and Drama,” Arion: A Journal of the
Humanities and Classics 3, no. 1 (1994-95): 8.
11. Andrew Joron, The Cry at Zero: Selected Prose (Denver: Counterpath Books,
2007), 5.

18. EXAMPLES (CONT’D)
If I were to cite these same sources again, the footnotes would look like this:
[note number]. Bacon, “The Chorus in Greek,” [page or page range].
[note number]. Joron, The Cry at Zero, [page or page range].
Note that the Joron book, because its main title only has four words, only loses its
subtitle; the Bacon article, on the other hand, because its main title has more than
four words, loses part of the main title. In general, shortened titles shouldn’t be longer
than four words.13
13. The Chicago Manual of Style (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2017), 14.30.

19. BIBLIOGRAPHIES
• Separate page at the end of the essay
• Labeled Bibliography, centered, at the top of the page
• Leave two blank lines between the word “Bibliography” and your first entry
• No note numbers
• Leave one blank line in between entries
• As with most types of bibliographies, use a reverse (also called a hanging) indent
• Entries should be alphabetized by the first item in the entry—usually, that will be
the author’s last name or the title of the work14
14. “General Format.”

20. TWO BASIC TEMPLATES FOR
BIBLIOGRAPHY ENTRIES
Books:
Last name, First name. Title of Book. Place of publication: Publisher, Year of
publication.15
Periodicals:
Last name, First name. “Title of Article.” Journal Title volume number, no. issue (year
of publication): total page range.16
15. “General Model for Citing Books in the Chicago Notes and Bibliography System,” The Purdue OWL, Accessed January 31,
2022,
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/chicago_manual_17th_edition/cmos_formatting_and_style_guide/books.html.
16. “Periodicals,” The Purdue OWL, Accessed January 31, 2022,
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/chicago_manual_17th_edition/cmos_formatting_and_style_guide/periodicals.html.

21. EXAMPLES
If I were to create a bibliography using just the two sources from the previous examples (Bacon
and the translation of Sophocles), the bibliography would look like this:
Bibliography
Bacon, Helen H. “The Chorus in Greek Life and Drama.” Arion: A Journal of Humanities
and the Classics 3, no. 1 (1994-95): 6-24.
Joron, Andrew. The Cry at Zero: Selected Prose. Denver: Counterpath Books, 2007.
Note that there’s more space between the individual entries than there is between lines in a
single entry. Note, too, that the first line of each entry is left-justified while subsequent lines
are indented (this is the “reverse” or “hanging” part).

22. DOGGO BREAK!
This is my friend Kim’s dog,
Gwen. I understand that this
position is called a “sploot,” and
that Corgis are famous for it.

23. PRIMARY SOURCES
LET’S GET WEIRD!
Citing primary historical sources, such as unpublished manuscripts, government
documents, playbills, and other theatre-related ephemera17 can become super complex.
Considerations include the type of source, its original author, whether the item is part
of an archived collection, a private collection, no one’s collection (I saw “in the author’s
possession”18 as part of the guidance for footnotes in my research for this
presentation)—you see where I’m going with this.
17. Sarah Campbell, email message to author, January 11, 2022.
18. “General Guidelines for Public and Unpublished Materials,” The Purdue OWL, Accessed January 31,
2022,
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/chicago_manual_17th_edition/cmos_formatting_and_style_g
uide/legal_public_and_unpublished_materials.html

24. GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR LEGAL, PUBLIC,
AND UNPUBLISHED SOURCES
The important thing to remember as you cite these sources is that you’re trying to give the
reader enough information that they can find the thing you cited. According to the Purdue
OWL, this information usually includes:
• Country, city, state, province, county, etc.
• Legislative body, executive department, court, bureau, board commission or committee, etc.
• Subsidiary divisions
• Title, if any, of the document or collection
• Individual author (editor or compiler), if given
• Report number or any other identification necessary or useful in finding the specific document
• Publisher, if different from issuing body19
19. “General Guidelines.”

25. MORE SPECIFIC PRIMARY SOURCES
The Gerth Archives and Special Collections at California State University, Dominguez Hills has some great
examples of citations for archived ephemera (things like postcards, broadsides, posters, and playbills):
Notes
6. Los Angeles Aviation Week, postcard, [1910?], SPC.1996.001, box 9, item 241, 1910 Los Angeles International
Aviation Meet Research Collection, Gerth Archives and Special Collections, California State University,
Dominguez Hills, Carson, CA. https://cdm16855.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16855coll2/id/2752/rec/8.
If using an approximate date, place the date in brackets and add a question mark to indicate uncertainty.
Bibliography
1910 Los Angeles International Aviation Meet Research Collection. Gerth Archives and Special Collections,
California State University, Dominguez Hills, Carson, CA.20
20. “Citations for Archival Materials,” CSUDH Gerth Archives and Special Collections, Accessed
February 2, 2022, https://libguides.csudh.edu/archives-citation/Chicago.

26. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab) has an excellent Chicago Style reference guide:
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/chicago_manual_17th_edition/chicago_style_introd
uction.html
They also have a Chicago NB sample paper, which I would have loved to know about in college:
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/chicago_manual_17th_edition/cmos_formatting_an
d_style_guide/cmos_nb_sample_paper.html
The University of Chicago Press maintains a CMOS page with a handy quick guide:
https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-1.html
They also have an FAQ page:
https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/qanda/data/faq/topics/Documentation/faq0101.html
And a For Students page: http://cmosshoptalk.com/for-students/
And still more FAQs, including this one about how to cite the same thing several times:
http://cmosshoptalk.com/2015/10/27/how-do-i-cite-the-same-source-many-
times/#:~:text=Cite%20the%20page%20number%20in%20the%20text.&text=If%20the%20next%20so
urce%20you,have%20to%20write%20another%20note.

27. ADDITIONAL RESOURCED (CONT’D)
The Writing Center will have all kinds of information on citations. They’re in Room
323 in the Commons: https://www.uidaho.edu/class/writing-center
The Gerth Archives and Special Collections will give you general information about
how to cite archived materials, but you’ll have to adapt it to the U of I archive
protocols: https://libguides.csudh.edu/archives-citation/chicago
The U of I Library has a copy of the CMOS that you can use while you’re there, as well
as other useful links and tips, including citation management software:
https://libguides.uidaho.edu/c.php?g=363154&p=2453775

28. Bibliography
“About the Chicago Manual of Style.” University of Chicago Press. Accessed January 30, 2022.
https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/help-tools/about.html.
Bacon, Helen H. “The Chorus in Greek Life and Drama.” Arion: A Journal of Humanities and the Classics 3, no. 1 (1994-95): 6-
24.
“Chicago Manual of Style 17th Edition.” The Purdue OWL. Accessed January 30, 2022.
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/chicago_manual_17th_edition/cmos_formatting_and_style_guide/chicago
_manual_of_style_17th_edition.html.
“Citations for Archival Materials.” CSUDH Gerth Archives and Special Collections. Accessed February 2, 2022.
https://libguides.csudh.edu/archives-citation/chicago.
“CMOS NB PowerPoint Presentation.” The Purdue OWL. Accessed January 31, 2022.
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/chicago_manual_17th_edition/cmos_formatting_and_style_guide/cmos_n
b_powerpoint_presentation.html.
“General Format.” The Purdue Owl. Accessed January 31, 2022.
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/chicago_manual_17th_edition/cmos_formatting_and_style_guide/general
_format.html.
“General Guidelines for Public and Unpublished Materials.” The Purdue OWL. Accessed January 31, 2022.
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/chicago_manual_17th_edition/cmos_formatting_and_style_guide/legal_p
ublic_and_unpublished_materials.html.

29. “General Model For Citing Books in the Chicago Notes and Bibliography System.” The Purdue OWL. Accessed January 31,
2022.
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/chicago_manual_17th_edition/cmos_formatting_and_style_guide/bo
oks.html.
Joron, Andrew. The Cry at Zero: Selected Prose. Denver: Counterpath Books, 2007.
“Periodicals.” The Purdue OWL. Accessed January 31, 2022.
The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017.
“Why Are there Different Citation Styles?” Yale Puurvu Center for Teaching and Learning. Accessed January 31, 2022.
https://poorvucenter.yale.edu/undergraduates/using-sources/principles-citing-sources/why-are-there-different-citation-
styles.