Chicago Format Guide
Chicago 17th Edition, Explained
Chicago auto-formatting is on our roadmap and coming soon. In the meantime, this free guide covers the Chicago rules you need for history papers, theses, and academic publications.
See What Works TodayChicago auto-formatting is coming soon. Today StyleMyPaper formats APA 7th Edition papers. The Chicago guide below is free to use.
What is Chicago Style?
Chicago style is a citation and formatting system published by the University of Chicago Press, currently in its 17th edition. It is the standard for history, the arts, and many humanities disciplines, as well as some social sciences and academic publishing. Students writing theses and dissertations in these fields often follow the student-oriented adaptation known as Turabian style, which is based on the Chicago Manual.
What sets Chicago apart from every other major style guide is that it offers two distinct citation systems within the same guide. Instructors, publishers, and departments choose one system and stick with it. The two are not interchangeable. Understanding which system applies to your paper is the first thing to confirm before you format a single citation.
Two Systems, One Style Guide
Chicago 17th Edition contains two complete citation systems. They look different and follow different rules.
Notes-Bibliography
- +Footnotes or endnotes for every citation
- +Full bibliography at the end of the paper
- +Preferred in history, literature, and the arts
- +First note is full citation; later notes use short form
Example footnote
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (London: Penguin, 2003), 42.
Author-Date
- +Parenthetical citations in the text
- +Full reference list at the end of the paper
- +Common in sciences and social sciences
- +Similar to APA but with different formatting rules
Example in-text citation
(Shelley 2003, 42)
Chicago Style Formatting Questions
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