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Chicago A: 18th edition

Guide to the 18th ed. of Chicago A (Notes and Bibliography)

Basic elements

Footnote

Click on each of the elements below to learn about footnoting books in Chicago 18 style.

The basic elements and formatting for the footnote are:

Footnote number. Given Name(s) Surname and Given Name(s) Surname, Title of Book: Subtitle, Edition (Publisher, Year), Pinpoint.

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

  • List authors full given names in the order they appear, with their first names followed by surname.
  • Use the conjunction 'and' instead of the '&' symbol before the final author.
  • A comma appears between the last author and the book title.

Title of Book: Subtitle

  • Use title case, where prepositions (such as in, the, of,) of less than 5 characters do not start with a capital letter. Format the book title in italics.
  • Format in italics.

Edition

  • When an edition other than the first is used, include the number or description of the edition after the book title (e.g. 2nd ed., or rev. ed.).
  • Omit this information, including the comma after the title, if no edition information is to be included.

(Publisher, Year)

  • In the footnote, list the publisher and year of publication in brackets.
  • A comma appears between the publisher and the year.

Pinpoint

  • In the pinpoint list any relevant page number(s) or sections you are referring to. E.g. 33-35, 401-2.
  • Do not include p. or pp. before the page numbers.

Bibliography

Click on the elements below to learn about the basic requirements for books in your bibliography.

The basic elements and formatting for the bibliographic entry are:

Surname, Given Name(s) and Given Name(s) Surname. Title of Book: Subtitle. Edition Publisher, Year.

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.
  • A full stop appears between the last author and the book title.

Title of Book

  • Use title case, where prepositions (such as in, the, of,) of less than 5 characters do not start with a capital letter. Format the title in italics.
  • Title and subtitle are separated by a colon.
  • Format in italics.

Edition

  • When an edition other than the first is used, include the number or description of the edition after the book title. E.g. 2nd ed., or Rev. ed.

Publisher, Year

  • The year of publication follows the publisher, preceded by a comma.
  • In your bibliography, this information is not surrounded by brackets.

Notes

  • Punctuation and formatting: Footnotes use commas to separate citation elements, while the bibliography uses periods. Footnotes have a first-line indent, and bibliography entries have a hanging indent.
  • Author/s: In the bibliography, the first author's name is inverted (surname first). Don't invert the names of authors whose cultural naming conventions place the family name first.
  • Title: Use title case, except for prepositions consisting of four or fewer letters (for example, as, of, the, in).
  • Ebooks: Online books in fixed-page format, where the online version matches a printed counterpart can be cited without a URL. However, reflowable formats where page numbers do not match (for example, Kindle, Apple Books) should be noted (see CMOS 14.58).
  • Subsequent Footnotes: Chicago discourages the use of Ibid., for citations referring to the immediately preceding footnote. In such cases, the title may be excluded from the subsequent footnote.

Books with 1 author

First footnote

No Given Name(s) Surname, Title of Book: Subtitle, edition (Publisher, Year), Pinpoint.

Examples:

1 Paul Guyer, Kant’s Impact on Moral Philosophy (Oxford University Press, 2024), 20.

2 Tamara Sonn, Islam : History, Religion, and Politics, 3rd ed. (Wiley Blackwell, 2016), 105-8.

Subsequent footnotes

3 Guyer, Kant's Impact, 32.

Bibliography

Surname, Given Name(s). Title of Book: Subtitle. Edition. Publisher, Year.

Examples:

Guyer, Paul. Kant’s Impact on Moral Philosophy. Oxford University Press, 2024.

Sonn, Tamara. Islam : History, Religion, and Politics. 3rd ed. Wiley Blackwell, 2016.

Books with 2 authors

First footnote

No Given Name(s) Surname and Given Name(s) Surname, Title of Book: Subtitle, edition (Publisher, Year), Pinpoint.

Example:

J. Christiaan Beker and N. T. Wright, Paul: Narrative or Apocalyptic (Augsburg Fortress Press, 2023), 78-82.

Subsequent footnotes

3 Beker and Wright, Paul, 132-5.

Bibliography

Surname, Given Name(s) and Given Name(s) Surname. Title of Book: Subtitle. Edition. Publisher, Year.

Example:

Beker, J. Christiaan, and N. T. Wright. Paul: Narrative or Apocalyptic. Augsburg Fortress Press, 2023.

Books with 3-6 authors

For books with 3-6 authors, list all authors in the bibliography citation. Only the first author followed by "et al.", is listed in the footnote entry.

First footnote

No First Author's Given Name(s) Surname et al., Title of Book: Subtitle, edition (Publisher, Year), Pinpoint.

Example:

1 Stanislas Breton et al., A Radical Philosophy of Saint Paul (Columbia University Press, 2011), 141-7.

Subsequent footnotes

3 Breton et al., A Radical Philosophy, 23.

Bibliography

Surname, Given Name(s), Given Name(s) Surname, and Given Name(s) Surname. Title of Book: Subtitle. Edition. Publisher, Year.

Example:

Breton, Stanislas, Joseph N. Ballan, and Ward Blanton. A Radical Philosophy of Saint Paul. Columbia University Press, 2011.

Book with 7+ authors

For books with more than 6 authors, list the first three authors in the bibliography, followed by "et al.". Only the first author followed by "et al.", is listed in the footnote entry.

First footnote

No Given Name(s) Surname et al., Title of Book: Subtitle, edition (Publisher, Year), Pinpoint.

Example:

1 Nicola Whiteing et al., Case Studies for Health, Research and Practice in Australia and New Zealand (Council of Australian University Librarians, 2023), 68.

Subsequent footnotes

3 Whiteing et al., Case Studies for Health, 99-100.

Bibliography

Surname, Given Name(s), Given Name(s) Surname, and Given Name(s) Surname. Title of Book: Subtitle. Edition. Publisher, Year.

Example:

Whiteing, Nicola, Lucy Shinners, Nicole Graham et al., Case Studies for Health, Research and Practice in Australia and New Zealand. Council of Australian University Librarians, 2023.

Edited book

First footnote

No Editor's Given Name(s) Surname, ed., Title of Book: Subtitle (Publisher, Year), Pinpoint.

Example:

4 Jessica Lark, ed., Why are We ‘Artists’?: 100 World Art Manifestos (Penguin, 2017), 217-19.

Subsequent footnotes

7 Lark, Why are We ‘Artists’?, 219.

Bibliography

Editor Last name, First name, ed(s). Title of Book. Publisher, Year.

Example:

Lark, Jessica, ed. Why are We ‘Artists’?: 100 World Art Manifestos. Penguin, 2017.

Notes

  • Editor/s: In the bibliography, the first author's name is inverted (surname first). Don't invert the names of authors whose cultural naming conventions place the family name first.

Encyclopedias & dictionaries

First Footnote

Full work

No Given Name(s) Surname and Given Name(s) Surname, Title of Reference Work, edition (Name of Publisher, Year), Pinpoint.

1 W. R. F. Browning, A Dictionary of the Bible, 2nd ed. (Oxford University Press, 2010), s.v. "Obed".

Entry in work

No Entry Author's Given Name(s) Surname, "Entry Title," in Title of Reference Work, ed. Editor's Given Name(s) and Surname (Name of Publisher, Year), Pinpoint.

2 Dale Tuggy, "Trinity," in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Spring 2016 ed., ed. Edward N. Zalta (Stanford University, 2015. Article published July 23, 2009; last modified March 18, 2016), para. 12, https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2016/entries/trinity/.

Bibliography

Full work

Entry Author's Surname, Given Name(s). Title. Edition. Name of Publisher, Year of Publication.

Browning, W. R. F. A Dictionary of the Bible. 2nd ed. Oxford University Press, 2010.

Entry in work

Entry Author's Surname, Given Name(s). "Entry Title." In Title of Reference Work: Subtitle. Edition, edited by Editor Given Name(s) Surname. Publisher: Copyright Year. Article date published and modified.

Tuggy, Dale. "Trinity." In Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Spring 2016 ed., edited by Edward N. Zalta. Stanford University, 2015. Article published July 23, 2009; last modified March 18, 2016. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2016/entries/trinity/.

Notes

  • Well known reference works, such as major dictionaries and encylopaedias, are not cited in the bibliography. They are cited in the footnotes only.
  • s.v. (sub verbo) (shown in the first example above) means under the word, and is used in the pinpoint to point to works arranged alphabetically, rather than page numbers, for example, s.v. "Wadsworth, Jeremiah".
  • Author/s: If there is no author listed, start the entry from the title. For multiple authors, check the author layout table for in-text and bibliography format.

Translated book

First footnote

No Author's Given Name(s) Surname, Title of Book: Subtitle, trans.Translator's Given Name(s) Surname (Publisher, Year), Pinpoint.

Example:

4 Walter Kasper, Theology and Church, trans. Margaret Kohl (Crossroad, 1989), 159.

Subsequent footnotes

7 Kasper, Theology and Church, 160-2.

Bibliography

Author's Last name, First name. Title of Book: Subtitle. Translated by Translator's Given Name(s) Surname. Publisher, Year.

Example:

Kasper, Walter. Theology and Church. Translated by Margaret Kohl. Crossroad, 1989.