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Chicago Citation Style - 17th Edition

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Guidelines for Building a Citation

Numbers in parentheses refer to specific pages in the Chicago 17th Edition manual.

Each entry in your Bibliography usually contains the following information, in this order: author(s) or editor(s), title of work, and facts of publication. There are specific rules around the formatting of each part of the citation. The general format for a book is given below; refer to The Chicago Manual of Style for more information.

In Chicago style, books "serve as a model for constructing documentary notes and bibliography entries for many other types of sources. (p. 693)." See the entire "books" section (sections 14.100 - 14.163) for more information and examples.

Author or Editor Information (sections 14.72 - 14.84)

Author's names are given as they appear on the title page. In the Bibliography, invert the order of the first author's names (e.g. last name first) so that they will appear correctly in the alphabetical list.

If there is no author, begin the entry with the title, ignoring any introductory articles (e.g. The, A, An) (section 14.79).

In a reference to an edited book, insert the editor's name in place of the author's name, followed by a comma and the abbreviation "ed." (without the quotation marks) (section 14.103).

Title of Work (sections 14.85 - 14.99)

Capitalize first and last words in titles and subtitles, and capitalize all other major words. Chicago calls this"headline style" capitalization (sections 8.157 - 8.160).

Titles and subtitles of books and periodicals are italicized (section 8.163).

Arrange your Bibliography in one alphabetical sequence by the surname of the author, or by title or keyword if there is no author (sections 14.62 & 14.65).

For an edition other than the first, identify the edition of your source by number (e.g. 2nd ed.) or by name (e.g. Rev. ed. for "revised edition"). The edition statement comes after the name of the editor, translator, or compiler if there is one, or, otherwise, after the title of the book (section 14.113).

Facts of Publication (city, publisher, date, {medium/format}) (sections 14.127 - 14.146)

List the location, publisher’s name, and year of publication as they appear on the title page or copyright page (section 14.127). If there is more than one city, list the first one only (section 14.129).

If the city may be unknown to readers or may be confused, add the abbreviation of the state, province, or country (section 14.130). For accepted abbreviations, see sections 10.27 & 10.28.

If no date is available, use the abbreviation n.d. (section 14.145).

For electronic sources include a URL or DOI or an indication of the medium consulted (e.g. DVD, CD-ROM) (sections 14.161 - 14.163).