Sally the Scribe

The Everything Guide to Chicago Style Citations

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by

Sally Eubanks
in

If you’re a student, researcher, or writer working in history, literature, or the arts, chances are you’ll need to use Chicago Style at some point. Specifically, the Notes and Bibliography system—a powerful, flexible format that uses footnotes and endnotes to credit sources while keeping your text clean and readable. In this guide, you’ll learn how to format your entire paper, cite everything from books to YouTube and even ChatGPT, and polish your grammar to meet academic expectations.

Title Page Formatting in Chicago Style

Chicago Style prefers a title page rather than just a heading on the first page. Here’s how to format it:

  • Center everything vertically and horizontally.
  • Include:
    • Your full name
    • Your instructor’s name
    • The course title
    • The date (in Month Day, Year format)
    • The title of your paper (centered halfway down the page)
  • Do not bold, italicize, or underline your title.
  • Do not include a page number on the title page.

Example layout:

The Politics of Memory in American History

Sally Eubanks
Dr. Carter
History 2301
April 23, 2025

On the following pages, include your last name and page number in the top-right header.

General Paper Formatting

  • Font: Times New Roman, 12 pt
  • Spacing: Double-spaced text, single-spaced footnotes
  • Margins: 1 inch on all sides
  • Indent new paragraphs by half an inch
  • Use footnotes, not parenthetical citations

How to Use Footnotes

Whenever you quote, paraphrase, or reference a source, add a superscript number at the end of the sentence. At the bottom of the page, repeat that number followed by your citation in the correct format.

Example:

The narrative voice in this novel redefines the role of memory in historical fiction.¹

  1. Jill Lepore, These Truths: A History of the United States (New York: W. W. Norton, 2018), 242.

Use shortened citations for sources already cited in earlier footnotes:

  1. Lepore, These Truths, 120.

Citing Different Sources in Footnotes

Books:

  1. Jill Lepore, These Truths: A History of the United States (New York: W. W. Norton, 2018), 242.

Articles in Edited Volumes:

  1. Henry Jenkins, “Interactive Audiences? The ‘Collective Intelligence’ of Media Fans,” in The New Media Book, ed. Dan Harries (London: BFI Publishing, 2002), 157–70.

Webpages:

  1. “History of the Chicago Manual of Style,” The Chicago Manual of Style Online, accessed April 22, 2025, https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/home.html.

YouTube Videos:

  1. CrashCourse, “The French Revolution: Crash Course World History #29,” YouTube video, 11:49, July 14, 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTTvKwCylFY.

ChatGPT (Programming Example):

  1. OpenAI, ChatGPT response to a question about Python error handling, April 23, 2025, https://chat.openai.com.

Bibliography Formatting

Your bibliography appears on a separate page at the end of your paper with the title “Bibliography” centered at the top. List entries in alphabetical order by author’s last name. Use hanging indents and single-spacing within entries, with a blank line between them.

Sample Bibliography (Formatted for WordPress)

Bibliography

CrashCourse. “The French Revolution: Crash Course World History #29.” YouTube video, 11:49. July 14, 2012. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTTvKwCylFY.
Jenkins, Henry. “Interactive Audiences? The ‘Collective Intelligence’ of Media Fans.” In The New Media Book, edited by Dan Harries, 157–70. London: BFI Publishing, 2002.
Lepore, Jill. These Truths: A History of the United States. New York: W. W. Norton, 2018.
OpenAI. ChatGPT response to a question about Python error handling. April 23, 2025. https://chat.openai.com.
The Chicago Manual of Style Online. “History of the Chicago Manual of Style.” Accessed April 22, 2025. https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/home.html.

Grammar Tips for Chicago Style

  • Use Oxford commas: Chicago style insists on clarity, and the serial comma helps. Example: red, white, and blue.
  • Spell out numbers from one to one hundred, unless they are part of data, statistics, or tables.
  • Avoid contractions in formal papers (use do not instead of don’t).
  • Use proper capitalization for titles in the bibliography: capitalize all major words.
  • Italicize titles of books, journals, and standalone works. Use quotation marks for articles, chapters, or short works.

By mastering the Chicago Notes and Bibliography format, you’re not just citing sources—you’re giving your writing a scholarly edge. With this guide, you can format papers like a pro, cite everything from traditional texts to modern AI tools, and impress professors or editors with your attention to detail.

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