Chicago Style:  Notes And BiblioGraphy

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Chicago Manual of Style Explained

The Chicago Manual of Style refers to how an essay is formatted. This style is commonly the preferred method of format and citation used in humanities classes, most frequently history.  This page will focus on the "Notes and Bibliography" version of Chicago Style. The main difference between the Chicago Style, APA, and MLA formats is the use of endnotes or footnotes for citation of sources. Chicago Style calls for:

• A superscript number for each source used in the text

• A corresponding endnote or footnote

• An end-of-paper bibliography

Watch our quick video explanation

Basic Format of a Chicago Style Paper

Essays written in the Chicago Style should follow these characteristics:

Paper: White paper, 8 1/2 x 11 inches 

Margins:  1 inch (top, bottom, left, and right) ; 1 inch = 2.5 cm 

Text Formatting:

• Font: Times New Roman (this is the most accepted font, though other easily readable 12-point fonts may be acceptable--check with your instructor if unsure)

• Size: 12 point

• Do not justify the text; instead, align along the left margin

• indent all paragraphs one half-inch from the margin, using the Tab button

• Double-space the entire research paper, including lines separating different paragraphs (make sure not to add an extra space between paragraphs)

Page Numbers: Include a page number in the upper right of every page.

Title:  Every Chicago Style essay should have a title, which should be centered and appear on a page of its own. Beneath that, add your name, class name, and date. (See the formatting sample above.)

Footnotes and endnotes: All sources need to be cited within the text, in a footnote or endnote, and on a Bibliography page, which should be the last page of the essay. In-text citations need to include the author's last name, if available, and page number, if applicable. If the source that is cited does not list an author name, the title of the source should be used instead. All other information, such as publisher, date, location, etc. should appear in the footnote and bibliography. Detailed information and examples can be found on this site's Footnotes and Citations Page.