Chicago/Turabian Basics: Footnotes

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Published June 28, 2012. Updated January 7, 2022.

This is your how-to guide for footnotes following the Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition. Information technology volition help you lot understand footnotes vs endnotes, teach you how to create them, and show existent examples y'all can acquire from.

Here'due south a run-through of everything this page includes:

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

A footnote is a notation that provides additional data or references for the reader.

A footnote is indicated with a superscript numeral (similar this1) inside the text that corresponds to the same numeral at the bottom of the page, which is followed by the reference or additional information. The footnote should be included directly following the text it pertains to, usually after any punctuation.

In Chicago style (notes-bibliography fashion), footnotes are used instead of in-text citations to cite sources and to reduce interruption to the period of the writing. All the same, footnotes can also be used to provide an additional explanation that would be difficult or distracting to include in the body of the text, to point the reader to additional reading or background information, to clarify a term or editorial decision, or to provide any other data that cannot be included inside the text itself.

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

The chief departure between footnotes and endnotes is that footnotes are included at the bottom of each folio, whereas endnotes are included at the end of a chapter, article, or volume.

Whether to use footnotes or endnotes depends on personal preference as well as the number of footnotes/endnotes needed. For case, in a text that has a meaning number of notes, it may be improve to format them as endnotes since the footnotes would take up a lot of room at the bottom of each page, making the text harder to read.

Here's a quick overview of the two notation styles:

Footnotes vs endnotes

Chicago footnotes provide a note each time a source is referenced and are often combined with a bibliography at the end. The footnote usually includes the author's name, publication championship, publication information, appointment of publication, and folio number(due south) if it is the outset fourth dimension the source is being used. For any additional usage, merely use the writer's last proper noun, publication title, and appointment of publication.

Footnotes should friction match with a superscript number at the end of the sentence referencing the source. You should begin with 1 and continue numerically throughout the paper. Do not outset the social club over on each page.

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:

ane. Henry James, The Ambassadors (Rockville: Repose, 2009), 34-40.

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

ii. James, The Ambassadors, 14.

Chicago footnotes provide a annotation each fourth dimension a source is referenced and are ofttimes combined with a bibliography at the end.

  • If you use a bibliography: You do non need to provide the total commendation in the footnotes, but rather a shortened form of the citation. The reader can consult your bibliography to find the total reference.
  • If you only include footnotes and not a bibliography: You must include the full commendation the offset time you lot reference the work. The adjacent time you utilise the same work, y'all tin just use the shortened citation form.

Footnotes should:

  • Include the pages on which the cited information is constitute so that readers easily find the source.
  • Friction match with a superscript number (example: ane) at the end of the sentence referencing the source.
  • Brainstorm with 1 and continue numerically throughout the newspaper. Practice not start the lodge over on each page.

Sometimes you may not be able to observe all of the information more often than not included in a citation. This is common for online textile and older sources. If this happens, simply utilize the data you lot have to form the citation.

  • No author: Use the title in the author'due south position.
  • No date of publication: "n.d." (no date) can be used equally a placeholder.
  • Yous may use "n.p." to indicate no publisher, no place of publication, or no folio.

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

Citing sources with more than 1 author

If there are ii or three authors, include their full names in the order they appear on the source.

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

Construction:

    1. 1st Author Offset proper name Last proper name and second Author Start name Final name, Title (Place of publication: Publisher, Yr), folio number(s).
    2. 1st Author Final proper noun and second Author Concluding name, Shortened title, 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 there are more than than three authors, list only the beginning author followed by "et al." List all the authors in the bibliography.

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

Structure:

    1. 1st Author Beginning proper noun Last name et al., Championship (Place of publication: Publisher, Year), page number(s).
    2. 1st Author Terminal proper noun et al., Shortened title, page number(s).

Example:

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

Become help with footnotes by using the EasyBib Plus Chicago footnotes generator.

Citing sources with other correspondent information

Y'all may want to include other contributor information in your footnotes such as editor, translator, or compiler. If there is more than one of any given correspondent, include their full names in the lodge 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, utilize their total name instead of the author's and provide their contribution.

If the contributor is taking the identify of the author, use their total proper noun instead of the author's and provide their contribution.

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

If y'all have a corporate author, use that name in place of the author.

Citing sources with no author

It may not be possible to observe the author/contributor information; some sources may non even take an author or contributor- for instance, when you cite some websites. Simply omit the unknown information and proceed with the footnote as usual.

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

Citing a part of a work

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

Commodity in a book:

    1. Kristen Poole, "Dr. Faustus and Reformation Theology," in Early 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 volume:

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

Introduction, afterword, foreword, or preface:

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

Article in a journal:

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

Citing group or corporate authors

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

Citing secondary sources

Information technology is generally discouraged in Chicago style to cite textile that you cannot examine in its original course. If this is absolutely necessary, yous must cite both the original work and the secondary 1 in Chicago footnotes.

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

Citing the Bible

When you cite the Bible, include the abbreviated title of the book, the chapter(s), and the verse(s) referenced. Yous use a colon between chapter and verse. Also, include the version you are referencing. The version must be spelled out for a full general audience, just it may exist abbreviated for specialists.

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

OR

    1. Prov. 3:v-x (Authorized Male monarch James Version).

Citing online sources

For online sources, Chicago footnotes generally follow the same principles as printed works.The URL, database proper noun, or DOI need to exist included then that the reader can easily find the work cited.

Website:

"Twitter Privacy Policy," Privacy Policy, Twitter, last modified January 1, 2020, https://twitter.com/en/privacy.

News article:

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

E-volume:

Cynthia J. Cyrus, The Scribes for Women'south Convents in Late Medieval Germany (Toronto: Academy of Toronto Press, 2009), ProQuest Ebook Central.

Social media:

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

Online video:

Doritos, "The Absurd Ranch Long Form feat. Lil Nas 10 and Sam Elliott," YouTube video, 01:30, posted February 2, 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?five=Q6qchztaw9g.

Electronic personal communication:

    1. Jane Smith, electronic mail message to writer, January ane, 2020.
    2. John Smith, Facebook directly bulletin to author, January ii, 2020.

Bibliography

The Chicago Transmission of Style. 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 chief's degree in library science. She spends a lot of time with rare books and citations.

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