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Chicago A (Notes & bibliography)

Guide to the 17th edition

Basic elements

Footnote

Click on each of the elements below to learn more about footnoting journal articles in Chicago 17 style.

The basic elements and formatting for the footnote are:

Footnote number. Given Name(s) Surname and Given Name(s) Surname, “Title of Article,” Journal Title Volume, no. Issue (Year): Pinpoint, DOI link or Database Name or URL.

Footnote number
  • In your footnotes, the reference numbers can either be in superscript (without a full-stop), or full-sized followed by a period (for example, 1.).
  • The first line of each footnote is indented.
Authors
  • Authors are presented with their full given names and initials followed by surname.
  • Use the conjunction 'and' instead of the '&' symbol before the final author.
Title of Article
  • Article title is in headline case, where minor words (such as 'of', 'and') do not start with a capital letter.
  • Put a comma after the article title.
  • Surround with inverted commas " ".
Journal Title
  • Format in italics.
  • Journal title is in capitalised headline case, where minor words (such as 'of' and 'and') do not start with a capital letter.
  • Omit the initial 'The' from the start of journal titles.
Volume
  • The volume number, follows the journal title without punctuation in between.
Issue
  • The issue number follows the volume number, separated by a comma and preceded by "no."
Year
  • Enter the year in brackets followed by a colon.
Pinpoint
  • If you refer to a particular passage, list the relevant page number/s after a colon.
DOI link, database or URL
  • Include a web link to the DOI at the end of the reference.
  • List the database name if accessed via a commercial database and there is no DOI.
  • List the URL if freely available on the web and there is no DOI.

Subsequent footnote

Subsequent citations of sources already given in full in an earlier footnote should be shortened wherever possible. Click on the elements below to see the requirements of shortened footnotes in Chicago 17 style.

The basic elements and formatting for the subsequent footnote entry are:

Surname and Surname. “Short Title of Article,” Pinpoint.

Footnote
  • In your footnotes, the reference numbers can either be in superscript (without a full-stop), or full-sized followed by a period (e.g. 1.).
  • The first line of each footnote is indented.
Authors
  • For subsequent citations, only the surnames of the authors are listed in the footnote.
  • For 4 or more authors, use the last name of the first author followed by "et al.".
Short Title of Article
  • When more than 4 words long, the title of the work is often shortened.
  • Don't use ibid, when repeating a citation in the next footnote.
  • In these instances omit the short title, and have the author's name(s) and pinpoint only.
Pinpoint
  • In the pinpoint, list the relevant page number(s). E.g 33-35, or 401-2.
  • Do not include p. or pp. before the page number(s).

Bibliography

Click on the elements below to learn about the basic requirements for your bibliography in Chicago 17 style.

The basic elements and formatting for the bibliographic entry are:

Surname, Given Names(s) and Given Name(s) Surname. “Title of Article.” Journal Title Volume, no. Issue (Year): Page range. DOI link or Database Name or URL.

Authors
  • List authors full given names in the order they appear.
  • The first author's name is inverted with surname appearing first.
  • Use the conjunction 'and' instead of the '&' symbol before the final author.
  • End with a full stop.
Title of Article
  • Enter the article title followed by a full stop and surround with quotation marks.
  • Use capitalised headline-style for the article title (where minor words such as ‘of’, ‘and’ etc. do not start with a capital letter).
  • Title and subtitle are separated by a colon.
Journal Title
  • Enter in italics.
  • Use capitalised headline case, where minor words (such as 'of' and 'and') do not start with a capital letter.
  • Omit the initial 'The' from the start of journal titles.
Volume
  • The volume number, follows the journal title without any punctuation in between.
Issue
  • The issue number follows the volume number, separated by a comma and preceded by "no."
Year
  • Enter the year in brackets followed by a colon.
Pages
  • Enter pages, for example, 150-71 or 31.
  • Do not use p. or pp. in front of the page number/s.
DOI link, database or URL
  • Include a web link to the DOI at the end of the reference.
  • If there is no DOI, and the source was accessed via a library database, list the database name.li>
  • Only add URLs for freely available articles on the web without a DOI.

 

Article with 1 author

First footnote

No Given Name(s) Surname, "Title of Article," Journal Title Volume, no. Issue (Year): Pinpoint, DOI link or Database Name or URL.

Examples:

1 Linda Daley, “This Photograph, These People and the Invention of Australian Indigenous Art," Third Text 24, no. 6 (2010): 667, https://doi.org/10.1080/09528822.2010.517915.

2 Peter LaSalle, “Conundrum: A Story about Reading,” New England Review 38, no. 1 (2017): 95, Project MUSE.

Subsequent footnotes

3 Daley, "This Photograph,” 670.

Bibliography

Surname, Given Name(s). "Title of Article." Journal Title Volume, no. Issue (Year): Page range. DOI link or Database Name or URL.

Examples:

Daley, Linda. “This Photograph, These People and the Invention of Australian Indigenous Art.” Third Text 24, no. 6 (2010): 665-79. https://doi.org/10.1080/09528822.2010.517915.

LaSalle, Peter. “Conundrum: A Story about Reading.” New England Review 38, no. 1 (2017): 95–109. Project MUSE.

Notes

  • Footnotes have commas between citation elements, while the bibliography uses full stops. 
  • Author's name is inverted (with surname first) for the bibliography but not for the footnotes.
  • Headline case is used for titles, except for minor words (for example, and, the, of) 
  • Footnotes have the first line indented, while the bibliography has a hanging indent. 
  • Include all citation information, the first time a source appears in your document's footnotes. Subsequent footnotes of the same source include only the author’s surname, the article title, and the page number(s).
  • Chicago discourages the use of Ibid., when referring to a work in the immediately preceding footnote. In these instances, the article title can be excluded from the subsequent footnote.
  • Include a web link to the DOI at the end of the reference. If no DOI, list the database name, if accessed via a commercial database.  Add URLs for freely available articles on the web, without a DOI

Article with 2 authors

First footnote

No Given name(s) Surname and Given Name (s) Surname, "Title of Article," Journal Title Volume, no. Issue (Year): Pinpoint, DOI link or Database Name or URL.

Examples:

1 Anoop C. Choolayil and Laxmi Putran, "The Covid-19 Pandemic and Human Dignity: the Case of Migrant Labourers in India," Journal of Human Rights and Social Work 6 (2021): 234, https://doi.org/10.1007/s41134-021-00185-x.

2 Daniel Varga and Svetlana Talis, “Byzantine Archaeological Remains in Beer Sheva, Israel,” Athens Journal of History 7, no. 3 (2021): 210, https://www.athensjournals.gr/history/2021-7-3-2-Varga.pdf.

Subsequent footnotes

3 Choolayil and Putran, "The Covid-19 Pandemic and Human Dignity,” 227-31.

Bibliography

Surname, Given Name(s) and Given Name(s) Surname. "Title of Article." Journal Title Volume, no. Issue (Year): Page range. DOI link or Database Name or URL.

Examples:

Choolayil, Anoop C., and Laxmi Putran. "The Covid-19 pandemic and human dignity: the case of migrant labourers in India." Journal of Human Rights and Social Work 6 (2021): 225-36. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41134-021-00185-x.

Varga, Daniel, and Svetlana Talis. "Byzantine Archaeological Remains in Beer Sheva, Israel." Athens Journal of History 7, no. 3 (2021): 203-216. https://www.athensjournals.gr/history/2021-7-3-2-Varga.pdf.

Notes

  • Footnotes have commas between citation elements, while the bibliography uses full stops. 
  • First author's name is inverted (with surname first) for the bibliography but not for the footnotes.
  • Headline case is used for titles, except for minor words (for example, and, the, of).
  • Footnotes have the first line indented, while the bibliography has a hanging indent. 
  • Include all citation information, the first time a source appears in your document's footnotes. Subsequent footnotes of the same source include only the author’s surname, the article title, and the page number(s).
  • Chicago discourages the use of Ibid., when referring to a work in the immediately preceding footnote. In these instances, the article title can be excluded from the subsequent footnote.
  • Include a web link to the DOI at the end of the reference. If no DOI, list the database name, if accessed via a commercial database.  Add URLs for freely available articles on the web, without a DOI

Article with 3 authors

First footnote

No Given name(s) Surname, Given Name (s) Surname, and Given Name (s) Surname, "Title of Article," Journal Title Volume, no. Issue (Year): Pinpoint, DOI link or Database Name or URL.

Examples:

1 Rien M.J.P.A. Janssens, Zbigniew Zylicz, and Henk A.M.J. Ten Have. "Articulating the Concept of Palliative Care: Philosophical and Theological Perspectives." Journal of Palliative Care 15, no. 2 (1999): 38-44, https://doi.org/10.1177/082585979901500207.

2 Kathleen Maas Weigert, Kurt Schlichting and Jay Brandenberger, "Institutional Commitment to the Catholic Social Tradition: Implicit or Explicit?" Journal of Catholic Higher Education 37, no. 1 (2018): 12-15.

Subsequent footnotes

3 Janssens, Zylics, and Ten Have, "Articulating the Concept of Palliative Care,” 40-42.

Bibliography

Surname, Given Name(s), Given Name(s) Surname, and Given Name(s) Surname. "Title of Article." Journal Title Volume, no. Issue (Year): Page range. DOI link or Database Name or URL.

Examples:

Janssens, Rien M.J.P.A., Zbigniew Zylicz, and Henk A.M.J. Ten Have. "Articulating the concept of palliative care: philosophical and theological perspectives." Journal of Palliative Care 15, no. 2 (1999): 38-44. https://doi.org/10.1177/082585979901500207.

Weigert, Kathleen Maas, Kurt Schlichting, and Jay Brandenberger. "Institutional Commitment to the Catholic Social Tradition: Implicit or Explicit?" Journal of Catholic Higher Education 37, no. 1 (2018): 9-51.

Notes

  • Footnotes have commas between citation elements, while the bibliography uses full stops. 
  • First author's name is inverted (with surname first) for the bibliography but not for the footnotes.
  • Headline case is used for titles, except for minor words (for example, and, the, of).
  • Footnotes have the first line indented, while the bibliography has a hanging indent. 
  • Include all citation information, the first time a source appears in your document's footnotes. Subsequent footnotes of the same source include only the author’s surname, the article title, and the page number(s).
  • Chicago discourages the use of Ibid., when referring to a work in the immediately preceding footnote. In these instances, the article title can be excluded from the subsequent footnote.
  • Include a web link to the DOI at the end of the reference. If no DOI, list the database name, if accessed via a commercial database.  Add URLs for freely available articles on the web, without a DOI

Article with 4-10 authors

First footnote

No Given Name(s) Surname et al., "Title of Article," Journal Title Volume, no. Issue (Year): Pinpoint, DOI link or Database Name or URL.

Examples:

1 Siyu Duan et al., "Disentangling the cultural evolution of ancient China: a digital humanities perspective," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications 10, no. 1 (2023): 12-13. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-01811-x.

2 Jody Jessup-Anger et al., "Examining the role of the Catholic environment in students' search for meaning," Journal of College Student Development 57, no. 5 (2016): 522-537, https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.2016.0055.

Subsequent footnotes

3 Duan et al., "Disentangling the cultural evolution,” 3.

Bibliography

Surname, Given Name(s), Given Name(s) Surname, Given Name(s) Surname, and Given Name(s) Surname. "Title of Article." Journal Title Volume, no. Issue (Year): Page range. DOI link or Database Name or URL.

Examples:

Duan, Siyu, Jun Wang, Hao Yang, and Qi Su. "Disentangling the cultural evolution of ancient China: a digital humanities perspective." Humanities and Social Sciences Communications 10, no. 1 (2023): 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-01811-x.

Jessup-Anger, Jody, Jonathan C. Dooley, Rachel Leih, Elizabeth Mueller, and Kathleen Lis Dean. "Examining the role of the Catholic environment in students' search for meaning." Journal of College Student Development 57, no. 5 (2016): 522-537. https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.2016.0055.

Notes

  • For articles with 4-10 authors, list all authors in bibliography citation. Only the first author followed by "et al.", is listed in the footnote entry.
  • Footnotes have commas between citation elements, while the bibliography uses full stops. 
  • First author's name is inverted (with surname first) for the bibliography but not for the footnotes.
  • Headline case is used for titles, except for minor words (for example, and, the, of).
  • Footnotes have the first line indented, while the bibliography has a hanging indent. 
  • Include all citation information, the first time a source appears in your document's footnotes. Subsequent footnotes of the same source include only the author’s surname, the article title, and the page number(s).
  • Chicago discourages the use of Ibid., when referring to a work in the immediately preceding footnote. In these instances, the article title can be excluded from the subsequent footnote.
  • Include a web link to the DOI at the end of the reference. If no DOI, list the database name, if accessed via a commercial database.  Add URLs for freely available articles on the web, without a DOI

Article with 11+ authors

First footnote

No Given Name(s) Surname et al., "Title of Article," Journal Title Volume, no. Issue (Year): Pinpoint, DOI link or Database Name or URL.

Examples:

1 Yoav Vaknin et al., "Reconstructing biblical military campaigns using geomagnetic field data," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 119, no. 44 (2022): 5, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2209117119.

Subsequent footnotes

3 Vaknin et al., "Reconstructing biblical military campaigns,” 5-6.

Bibliography

Surname, Given Name(s), Given Name(s) Surname, Given Name(s) Surname, Given Name(s) Surname, Given Name(s) Surname, Given Name(s) Surname, Given Name(s) Surname et al. "Title of Article." Journal Title Volume, no. Issue (Year): Page range. DOI link or Database Name or URL.

Examples:

Vaknin, Yoav, Ron Shaar, Oded Lipschits, Amihai Mazar, Aren M. Maeir, Yosef Garfinkel, Liora Freud et al. "Reconstructing biblical military campaigns using geomagnetic field data." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 119, no. 44 (2022): e2209117119. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2209117119.

Notes

  • For articles with more than 10 authors, list the first seven authors in the bibliography, followed by "et al.".
  • Footnotes have commas between citation elements, while the bibliography uses full stops. 
  • First author's name is inverted (with surname first) for the bibliography but not for the footnotes.
  • Headline case is used for titles, except for minor words (for example, and, the, of).
  • Footnotes have the first line indented, while the bibliography has a hanging indent. 
  • Include all citation information, the first time a source appears in your document's footnotes. Subsequent footnotes of the same source include only the author’s surname, the article title, and the page number(s).
  • Chicago discourages the use of Ibid., when referring to a work in the immediately preceding footnote. In these instances, the article title can be excluded from the subsequent footnote.
  • Include a web link to the DOI at the end of the reference. If no DOI, list the database name, if accessed via a commercial database.  Add URLs for freely available articles on the web, without a DOI