How to Do a Chicago Style Bibliography: Format, Examples, and Common Mistakes

A bibliography in Chicago style is required for essays, research papers, and scholarly articles in the humanities, history, and related fields. Whether you are a student at UCLA, Stanford, or MIT, or a researcher preparing a manuscript for academic publication, knowing how to do a Chicago style bibliography correctly is one of the most practical citation skills you can develop. A bibliography formatted incorrectly can cost you points on an assignment, delay a submission, or signal to a journal editor that the manuscript needs further preparation before review. This guide covers everything you need to know: what makes Chicago style different, how to format entries for every major source type, and how to avoid the mistakes most writers make.


What Is a Chicago Style Bibliography?

A Chicago style bibliography is an alphabetically organized list of all sources used in a paper or article, appearing at the end of the document. It is part of the Chicago Manual of Style citation system, originally developed by the University of Chicago and now in its seventeenth edition. Chicago style is used primarily in the humanities, including history, literature, arts, and religious studies, and is also widely used in some social sciences.


A bibliography in Chicago style differs from a reference list in other citation systems in several important ways. It includes all sources consulted in the preparation of the paper, not only those directly quoted or paraphrased in the text. This means a source you read for background research but did not directly cite still belongs in the bibliography. For a broader overview of how Chicago style compares to other major citation systems including APA and MLA, read our article on an overview of citation styles.


Chicago Style Systems: Notes and Bibliography vs Author-Date

Chicago style uses two distinct citation systems, and understanding which one applies to your paper is the first step in formatting your bibliography correctly.


  • Notes and Bibliography system. Used primarily in the humanities, including history, literature, and the arts. In this system, sources are cited in footnotes or endnotes within the text, and a full bibliography appears at the end of the paper. This is the system most commonly required at universities including UCLA and Stanford for history and humanities courses. The bibliography lists all sources alphabetically by the author's last name.
  • Author-Date system. Used primarily in the sciences and social sciences, including at institutions like MIT for some disciplines. In this system, sources are cited in parentheses within the text using the author's last name and the year of publication, with a corresponding reference list at the end. The reference list format differs slightly from the bibliography format in the Notes and Bibliography system, as described below.
  • Turabian style. A streamlined version of Chicago style specifically designed for students, developed by Kate Turabian and based on the Chicago Manual of Style. Turabian follows the same basic conventions as Chicago but simplifies some of the more complex rules for student papers. Most undergraduate students at UCLA, Stanford, MIT, and other universities writing in humanities disciplines will encounter Turabian or Chicago interchangeably.

How to Format a Chicago Style Bibliography

The Chicago style bibliography appears at the end of your paper on a new page. Here are the formatting rules that apply to the bibliography as a whole:


  • The page heading "Bibliography" is centered at the top of the page and may be bolded depending on your institution's requirements.
  • Entries are listed in alphabetical order by the author's last name.
  • Each entry uses a hanging indent: the first line of each entry is flush with the left margin, and all subsequent lines are indented by 0.5 inches.
  • Entries are single-spaced within each entry, with one blank line between entries. Note that this differs from the double-spacing used throughout the body of the paper.
  • If you are listing two or more works by the same author, replace the author's name in subsequent entries with a three-em dash (———) followed by a period.

Chicago Style Bibliography Examples by Source Type

Print Books

The general format for a print book in a Chicago style bibliography is:


AuthorLastName, AuthorFirstName. Title of Book in Title Case. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year.

Example:


Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. London: Penguin Classics, 2003.

For a book with two authors, only the first author's name is inverted. For example, a history text used by students at Stanford's history department might be cited as:


Kennedy, David M., and Lizabeth Cohen. The American Pageant: A History of the American People. Boston: Cengage Learning, 2016.

For an eBook, add the format or platform at the end of the entry: "Kindle edition" or "PDF e-book."


Magazine, Journal, and Newspaper Articles

For periodical sources including academic journal articles, magazine articles, and newspaper articles, the format includes both the article title and the publication name:


AuthorLastName, AuthorFirstName. "Title of Article in Title Case." Title of Publication Volume, no. Issue (Year): Page range.

Example of an academic journal article, the type commonly cited in papers written by researchers at MIT or UCLA:


Chomsky, Noam. "Formal Properties of Grammars." Handbook of Mathematical Psychology 2, no. 14 (1963): 323–418.

For a newspaper article accessed online:


Gibbons-Neff, Thomas, and Mujib Mashal. "U.S. Is Quietly Reducing Its Troop Force in Afghanistan." New York Times, October 21, 2019. https://nyti.ms/31xXNQb.

Websites and Online Sources

For websites and online sources, include the author name, page title, site name, publication or last modified date, and URL:


AuthorLastName, AuthorFirstName. "Title of Page." Name of Site. Month Day, Year. URL.

Example:


Fisher, Patti J. "How to Write a Strong Thesis Statement." Editor World. March 15, 2024. https://www.editorworld.com/article/how-to-write-a-strong-thesis-statement.

If no author is listed, begin the entry with the title of the page. If no date is available, use "n.d." in place of the date.


Edited Books and Book Chapters

For a chapter in an edited book, the chapter author is listed first, followed by the chapter title, then the editor and book title:


AuthorLastName, AuthorFirstName. "Title of Chapter." In Title of Book, edited by EditorFirstName EditorLastName, page range. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year.

Example, using a source commonly cited in Stanford humanities courses:


Said, Edward W. "Orientalism Reconsidered." In Literature, Politics and Theory, edited by Francis Barker, Peter Hulme, Margaret Iversen, and Diana Loxley, 210–229. London: Methuen, 1986.

Theses and Dissertations

For doctoral dissertations and master's theses, include the type of document and the institution in the entry:


AuthorLastName, AuthorFirstName. "Title of Thesis or Dissertation." PhD diss. / MA thesis, University Name, Year.

Example, using an MIT doctoral dissertation:


Chen, Wei. "Computational Models of Language Acquisition in Bilingual Children." PhD diss., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2019.

Chicago Style Bibliography vs Reference List: Key Differences

The most important distinction in Chicago style citation is between the bibliography format used in the Notes and Bibliography system and the reference list format used in the Author-Date system. The entries contain the same information but are arranged differently.


  • Bibliography (Notes and Bibliography system): The author's last name comes first, followed by their first name, then the title, then publication details. The year of publication appears near the end of the entry.
  • Reference list (Author-Date system): The author's last name comes first, followed by their first name, then the year of publication in parentheses, then the title and publication details. The year appears immediately after the author's name.

For example, the same source formatted in each system:


Bibliography format:

Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. London: Penguin Classics, 2003.

Reference list format:

Austen, Jane. 2003. Pride and Prejudice. London: Penguin Classics.

Always confirm with your instructor or target journal which system is required before formatting your citations. For guidance on the APA citation system, which is used in many of the same institutions that also use Chicago style depending on the discipline, read our article on the APA citation guide.


Common Chicago Style Bibliography Mistakes to Avoid

  • Using title case for article titles. In Chicago style bibliography entries, article and chapter titles use headline-style capitalization (title case), with most major words capitalized. Book titles also use title case. This differs from APA style, where article titles use sentence case.
  • Forgetting the hanging indent. Chicago style bibliography entries require a hanging indent, where the first line is flush with the left margin and all subsequent lines are indented 0.5 inches. Applying a standard paragraph indent instead produces the wrong visual effect and does not comply with Chicago style.
  • Omitting sources used for background research. A bibliography lists all sources consulted in the preparation of the paper, not only those directly cited in the text. Sources read for background information belong in the bibliography even if they were not directly quoted or paraphrased.
  • Confusing the two Chicago systems. The Notes and Bibliography system and the Author-Date system format entries differently. Using Author-Date formatting in a paper that requires Notes and Bibliography, or vice versa, is a common error that affects the entire bibliography.
  • Incorrect author name inversion for multiple authors. In Chicago style, only the first author's name is inverted (last name first). Subsequent authors are listed in normal order (first name last name). Inverting all authors is incorrect.
  • Missing or incorrectly formatted URLs. For online sources, Chicago style requires the full URL at the end of the entry. Do not add a period after the URL. If a DOI is available, use the DOI in preference to a URL.

FAQs

What is a Chicago style bibliography?

A Chicago style bibliography is an alphabetically organized list of all sources used in preparing a paper, appearing at the end of the document. It is part of the Chicago Manual of Style citation system and is used primarily in the humanities, including history, literature, and the arts. It differs from a reference list in that it includes all sources consulted, not only those directly cited in the text.


How do you format a Chicago style bibliography entry for a book?

For a print book in Chicago Notes and Bibliography style, the format is: AuthorLastName, AuthorFirstName. Title of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year. The title is italicized and uses title case. The entry uses a hanging indent, with the first line flush left and continuation lines indented 0.5 inches.


What is the difference between a Chicago bibliography and a reference list?

In the Notes and Bibliography system, the bibliography lists all sources and places the year of publication near the end of each entry. In the Author-Date system, the reference list places the year of publication immediately after the author's name. The two formats contain the same information but arrange it differently. Always confirm which system your instructor or target journal requires before formatting your citations.


Does a Chicago bibliography include sources you did not directly cite?

Yes. A Chicago style bibliography includes all sources consulted in the preparation of the paper, including those read for background research that were not directly quoted or paraphrased in the text. This is one of the key differences between a Chicago bibliography and a reference list in APA or MLA style, which typically include only sources directly cited in the paper.


What is the difference between Chicago style and Turabian style?

Turabian style is a student-oriented adaptation of the Chicago Manual of Style developed by Kate Turabian. It follows the same basic citation conventions as Chicago but simplifies some of the more complex rules for student papers. Most undergraduate students writing in the humanities will encounter Turabian and Chicago used interchangeably by their instructors. When in doubt, confirm with your instructor which style guide they are using.


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A correctly formatted Chicago style bibliography is an essential part of any academic paper or scholarly article. Getting it right requires attention to detail across every entry, and even experienced writers make formatting errors that affect their grade or their submission. Editor World's professional academic editors are native English speakers from the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada who are available 24/7 to review your manuscript for citation formatting, language quality, and overall presentation. Contact us to get help with your writing project today.