Chicago/Turabian Basics: Footnotes

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Published June 28, 2012. Updated January vii, 2022.

This is your how-to guide for footnotes following the Chicago Transmission of Fashion, 17th edition. It volition help you sympathise footnotes vs endnotes, teach you how to create them, and evidence real examples you tin learn from.

Hither's a run-through of everything this page includes:

  • What is a footnote?
  • Footnotes vs. Endnotes
  • Why Nosotros Use Footnotes
  • Creating footnotes
  • Bibliography

A footnote is a note that provides additional information or references for the reader.

A footnote is indicated with a superscript numeral (like this1) within the text that corresponds to the same numeral at the lesser of the page, which is followed by the reference or boosted information. The footnote should be included direct following the text it pertains to, usually after any punctuation.

In Chicago way (notes-bibliography style), footnotes are used instead of in-text citations to cite sources and to reduce interruption to the flow of the writing. However, footnotes tin also be used to provide an additional explanation that would be difficult or distracting to include in the torso of the text, to betoken the reader to additional reading or background information, to clarify a term or editorial decision, or to provide whatsoever other data that cannot be included within the text itself.

People working in the humanities—literature, history, and the arts—are the principal users of the Chicago footnotes and bibliography arrangement.

The main difference betwixt footnotes and endnotes is that footnotes are included at the bottom of each page, whereas endnotes are included at the end of a chapter, commodity, or book.

Whether to use footnotes or endnotes depends on personal preference likewise as the number of footnotes/endnotes needed. For example, in a text that has a significant number of notes, it may exist meliorate to format them as endnotes since the footnotes would accept upwards a lot of room at the bottom of each page, making the text harder to read.

Hither's a quick overview of the two note styles:

Footnotes vs endnotes

Chicago footnotes provide a note each time a source is referenced and are oft combined with a bibliography at the end. The footnote usually includes the author's name, publication title, publication information, appointment of publication, and page number(due south) if information technology is the showtime time the source is being used. For any boosted usage, just use the author'south last name, publication title, and date of publication.

Footnotes should match with a superscript number at the end of the judgement referencing the source. You should begin with i and continue numerically throughout the paper. Do non start the guild over on each folio.

In the text:

Throughout the first half of the novel, Strether has grown increasingly open up and at ease in Europe; this quotation demonstrates openness and ease.1

In the footnote:

1. Henry James, The Ambassadors (Rockville: Serenity, 2009), 34-twoscore.

When citing a source more than than once, use a shortened version of the footnote.

2. James, The Ambassadors, xiv.

Chicago footnotes provide a note each time a source is referenced and are oft combined with a bibliography at the end.

  • If y'all utilize a bibliography: You do non need to provide the full commendation in the footnotes, but rather a shortened course of the citation. The reader tin can consult your bibliography to find the full reference.
  • If you only include footnotes and not a bibliography: Y'all must include the full citation the first fourth dimension yous reference the work. The side by side time you use the same work, yous can simply use the shortened citation class.

Footnotes should:

  • Include the pages on which the cited information is found so that readers easily find the source.
  • Match with a superscript number (example: i) at the finish of the sentence referencing the source.
  • Begin with one and go along numerically throughout the paper. Exercise not offset the order over on each page.

Sometimes you may not be able to observe all of the information generally included in a commendation. This is common for online fabric and older sources. If this happens, merely use the information you have to form the citation.

  • No author: Utilise the championship in the writer's position.
  • No date of publication: "northward.d." (no engagement) can be used as a placeholder.
  • You lot may use "n.p." to indicate no publisher, no place of publication, or no page.

Looking for extra help creating footnotes? Check out the Chicago footnotes generator that comes with a subscription to EasyBib Plus.

Citing sources with more than 1 writer

If there are two or three authors, include their total names in the order they announced on the source.

In the shortened grade, listing the last names of all authors of a work with two or three authors.

Structure:

    1. 1st Writer Offset name Terminal proper noun and 2nd Author First name Terminal proper noun, Title (Place of publication: Publisher, Year), page number(s).
    2. 1st Author Final proper noun and 2nd Author Last proper name, Shortened championship, folio number(s).

Example:

    1. Alexander Aciman and Emmett Rensin, Twitterature: The World's Greatest Books in Twenty Tweets or Less (New York: Penguin Books, 2009), 47-48.
    2. Aciman and Rensin, Twitterature, 25.

Citing sources with 4 or more authors

If in that location are more 3 authors, listing just the first writer followed by "et al." Listing all the authors in the bibliography.

In the shortened form, if in that location are more than than three authors, only give the last name of the first author followed by "et al."

Construction:

    1. 1st Author Beginning proper name Last name et al., Championship (Place of publication: Publisher, Year), page number(south).
    2. 1st Writer Last name et al., Shortened title, folio number(southward).

Example:

    1. Karen White et al., The Forgotten Room (New York: Berkley, 2016), 33-38.
    2. White, Forgotten, 52.

Go help with footnotes past using the EasyBib Plus Chicago footnotes generator.

Citing sources with other correspondent information

You may want to include other contributor data in your footnotes such as editor, translator, or compiler. If there is more ane of any given contributor, include their total names in the order they appear on the source.

    1. Harry Mulisch, The Attack, trans. Claire Nicolas White (New York: Pantheon Books, 1985), 14.
    2. Mulisch, Assault, 29.If the contributor is taking place of the author, apply their full name instead of the author's and provide their contribution.

If the contributor is taking the place of the writer, use their full name instead of the author's and provide their contribution.

    1. Theo Hermans, ed., A Literary History of the Low Countries (Rochester: Camden House, 2009), 372.
    2. Hermans, Low Countries, 301.

If you lot accept a corporate author, use that name in identify of the author.

Citing sources with no author

It may non be possible to find the writer/contributor information; some sources may non even have an author or correspondent- for instance, when you cite some websites. Only omit the unknown information and continue with the footnote as usual.

Case Book (New York: Scholastic, 2010), 65.

Citing a role of a work

When citing a specific part of a work in the Chicago footnotes format, provide the relevant page(south) or section identifier. This can include specific pages, sections, or volumes. If page numbers cannot be referenced, simply exclude them.

Article in a book:

    1. Kristen Poole, "Dr. Faustus and Reformation Theology," in Early on Modern English Drama: A Critical Companion, ed. G.A. Sullivan et al. (Oxford: Oxford University Printing, 2006), 100.
    2. Poole, "Dr. Faustus," 102.

Chapter in a book:

    1. Garrett P. Serviss, "A Trip of Terror," in A Columbus of Infinite (New York: Appleton, 1911), 17-32.
    2. Serviss, "Trip," 20.

Introduction, afterword, foreword, or preface:

    1. Scott R. Sanders, introduction to Touchstone Anthology of Gimmicky Creative Nonfiction: Piece of work from 1970 to Nowadays, ed. Lex Williford and Michael Martone (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007), 10-xii.
    2. Sanders, "Introduction," xi.

Commodity in a journal:

    1. William Yard. Jacoby, "Public Attitudes Toward Public Spending," American Journal of Political Science 38, no. 2 (May 1994): 336-61.
    2. Jacoby, "Public Attitudes," 345.

Citing group or corporate authors

In your footnotes, cite a corporate author like you lot would a normal writer.
American Medical Association, Journal of the American Medical Clan: 12-43.

Citing secondary sources

It is more often than not discouraged in Chicago fashion to cite material that you cannot examine in its original class. If this is absolutely necessary, you must cite both the original work and the secondary one in Chicago footnotes.

    1. Alphabetic character, J.B. Rhine to Aldous Huxley, August 15, 1957, Parapsychology Laboratory Records (1983-1984), Rare Volume, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Knuckles University, Durham, North Carolina, quoted in Stacy Horn, Unbelievable: Investigations into Ghosts, Poltergeists, Telepathy, and Other Unseen Phenomena, from the Duke Parapsychology Laboratory, (New York: HarperCollins, 2009).

Citing the Bible

When you cite the Bible, include the abbreviated championship of the volume, the affiliate(s), and the poetry(due south) referenced. Yous employ a colon between chapter and verse. Too, include the version you are referencing. The version must be spelled out for a general audition, simply it may be abbreviated for specialists.

    1. Prov. 3:5-10 (AV).

OR

    1. Prov. iii:5-10 (Authorized King James Version).

Citing online sources

For online sources, Chicago footnotes more often than not follow the aforementioned principles every bit printed works.The URL, database name, or DOI need to be included so that the reader can easily find the work cited.

Website:

"Twitter Privacy Policy," Privacy Policy, Twitter, last modified January ane, 2020, https://twitter.com/en/privacy.

News article:

Eliot Chocolate-brown, "In Silicon Valley, the Large Venture Funds Keep Getting Bigger," Wall Street Journal, July 25, 2017, https://www.wsj.com/articles/in-silicon-valley-the-big-venture-funds-proceed-getting-bigger-1501002000.

Eastward-book:

Cynthia J. Cyrus, The Scribes for Women'due south Convents in Tardily Medieval Deutschland (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2009), ProQuest Ebook Central.

Social media:

EasyBib (@EasyBib), "Writing a research paper?," Twitter, January 21, 2020, 5:twenty p.k., https://twitter.com/EasyBib/condition/1219746511636049920.

Online video:

Doritos, "The Cool Ranch Long Grade feat. Lil Nas X and Sam Elliott," YouTube video, 01:thirty, posted February ii, 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6qchztaw9g.

Electronic personal communication:

    1. Jane Smith, email message to author, January ane, 2020.
    2. John Smith, Facebook straight message to author, January 2, 2020.

Bibliography

The Chicago Manual of Manner. 17ed. Chicago: The University of Chicago Printing, 2017.

Published June 28, 2012. Updated March 11, 2020.

Written by Janice Hansen. Janice has a doctorate in literature and a master'southward degree in library science. She spends a lot of fourth dimension with rare books and citations.

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