Formatting Your Paper
For Chicago Style publication, pay close attention to the formatting guidelines.
- Double space the main text
- Single-space figure captions and table titles
- Single-space the table of contents, footnotes/endnotes, and bibliography, but add a blank line before and after each item listed in them
- Choose a single font that is readable and widely available, such as Times New Roman (12-point) or Arial (10 point)
- Margins of at least one inch on both sides and at the top and bottom of every page
- Number all pages except preliminary pages, including pages of notes and works cited pages
- Page numbers should be placed at the top right, or bottom center of the page
- One space between sentences (not two spaces)
- Indent new paragraphs one-half inch (Use a tab indent rather than hitting the Space bar)
Notes
- Notes may be listed at the bottom of the page on which the source is referenced (footnotes) OR at the end of the paper (endnotes). Please be consistent and choose to use either footnotes or endnotes, but not both
- Include a note (either endnote or footnote) every time that you use a source, whether through a direct quote or through a paraphrase or summary
- Begin the note with the author's first and last name in standard order; then list the title; and then give the publishing information and page numbers
- Titles of books and periodicals (i.e., journals) should be italicized; quotation marks should be used for chapters, essays, poems, or articles, and the publisher information should not be abbreviated
- Commas are used to separate the different "sections" or "elements":
e.g., Peter Holman, The History of the Raj: Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (New York: Dorset Press, 1996), 18.
- For both footnotes and endnotes, use a superscript number (small numbers raised to the top of the line) that corresponds to a note with the bibliographic information for that source should be placed in the text following the end of the sentence or clause in which the source is referenced. The foot/endnote itself begins with the appropriate full-sized number, followed by a period and then a space
Tip: Use the footnote feature of your word processing software to help format your notes.
- The first note referring to a work must use the full note style. Any following citations for that work can be shortened using the "subsequent note" format. The shortened form should include information for readers to find the full title or direct them to the bibliography. Each example in this guide shows the formatting for full notes and subsequent notes
e.g., 1. Barton Glick, The Dirt of Babylon (New York: Prudence, 2010), 15.
2. Glick, The Dirt, 15.
NOTE: The 17th edition of Chicago Style no longer supports the use of "ibid." for repeating citations. Please use the subsequent note form.
Bibliography Page
- The bibliography page should be entitled "Bibliography"
- Start each bibliographic entry flush with the left margin, and indent all the other lines in the entry. This is called a "hanging indent"
- Single spaced, but with an extra space between each bibliographic entry
- All entries should include the author, title, and publication information
- Titles of books and periodicals (i.e., journals) should be italicized, and quotation marks should be used for articles, chapters, and poems
- The publisher information should not be abbreviated
- Format the authors by inverting the first author listed and separate surname and first name with a comma (i.e., Surname, First name). Additional authors are listed in "First name Surname" format
- All major sections or "elements" are separated by a period
- List entries alphabetically by the surname of the first author or, if there is no author, by title
- If you use more than two entries by the same author(s) in the bibliography, list them alphabetically by title. A 3-em dash (—.) replaces the author's name after the first entry
e.g., Squire, Larry R. “The Hippocampus and the Neuropsychology of Memory.” In Neurobiology of the Hippocampus, edited
by W. Seifert, 491-511. New York: Oxford University Press, 1983.
———. Memory and Brain. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987.
- For works by more than one author, only the first author's name is listed in inverted order. Separate the remaining authors names with a comma, but use the word 'and' before the last authors's name.
- For works with more than 10 authors, list the first seven authors as per usual, followed by et. al. See Section 14.76 for more information.
Additional Resources:
