The pattern at a glance
- BibliographyLast, First. Title of Book: Subtitle. Edition. Publisher, Year.
- First footnote1. First Last, Title of Book: Subtitle, ed. (Publisher, Year), page.
- Author-dateLast, First. Year. Title of Book. Publisher. In text: (Last Year, page)The 18th-edition quick guide examples print no place of publication.
Notes and bibliography for books
Chicago's notes system puts a superscript number in your sentence and the citation in a footnote. The first note for a book gives the author's name in normal order, the italic title, the publication facts in parentheses and the page: Wayne C. Booth et al., The Craft of Research, 4th ed. (University of Chicago Press, 2016), 45.
Subsequent notes shorten to surname, short title and page: Booth et al., Craft of Research, 52. The bibliography at the end lists each book once, author inverted, with periods between the parts.
In the Chicago 18th style file the bibliography lists up to six authors in full and shortens longer lists to the first three plus "et al.", while notes use the first author plus "et al." from three authors on. The five authors of The Craft of Research all appear in the bibliography example below.
Editions, places and the 17th edition
- Edition: write "4th ed." after the title, in roman type.
- Place of publication: the 18th edition dropped it from its examples; the 17th edition used City: Publisher. The generator follows whichever edition you select.
- Subtitles: include them after a colon, both in notes and bibliography.
- Revised or posthumous works, such as Turabian's manual revised by later editors, can name the revisers after the title if your course expects it.
Checking a Chicago book citation before submission
Compare each footnote with its bibliography entry. The facts must match exactly: the same spelling of the author's name, the same edition, the same publisher and year. A common slip is citing the 4th edition in the notes and listing the 3rd edition in the bibliography after a quick copy from a library catalogue.
Check that short notes still identify the book. If you cite two books by Booth, "Booth, Craft" and "Booth, Rhetoric" keep them apart; if you cite only one, the short title may stay brief. Page numbers in notes must be pages of the edition you list.
The bibliography is alphabetical by the first author's surname and uses a hanging indent. The generator's rich-text copy keeps the hanging indent when you paste into Google Docs or Word.
Field by field: Chicago book entry
The book form fields and their place in a Chicago citation.
| Field | What to enter | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| Authors | All authors; the bibliography inverts the first. | Title page. |
| Title | Title and subtitle, headline-style, italic. | Title page. |
| Edition | Number for later editions. | Title page. |
| Publisher | As printed, e.g. University of Chicago Press. | Title page. |
| Place | Used only by the 17th edition. | Title page. |
| Year | Copyright year of your edition. | Copyright page. |
Chicago book reference examples
Three books checked by ISBN and formatted in Chicago 18th notes-bibliography. Each block shows the bibliography entry and the first footnote.
Five authors, fourth edition
Chicago 18th (notes and bibliography): Reference entry
Booth, Wayne C., Gregory G. Colomb, Joseph M. Williams, Joseph Bizup, and William T. FitzGerald. The Craft of Research. 4th ed. University of Chicago Press, 2016.
First footnote: Wayne C. Booth et al., The Craft of Research, 4th ed. (University of Chicago Press, 2016).
The bibliography lists all five authors; the note uses Booth et al. Open Library's author field named only Booth, so the other four came from the edition's by-statement.
Checked against ISBN record (checked on 25 October 2026). Open Library edition record lists five authors in its by-statement but only Wayne C. Booth in the author field; fourth edition, 2016.
Long title with subtitle, ninth edition
Chicago 18th (notes and bibliography): Reference entry
Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations: Chicago Style for Students and Researchers. 9th ed. University of Chicago Press, 2018.
First footnote: Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations: Chicago Style for Students and Researchers, 9th ed. (University of Chicago Press, 2018).
Turabian's manual is the student version of Chicago. The subtitle follows a colon and the edition is "9th ed.".
Checked against ISBN record (checked on 25 October 2026). Open Library edition record: ninth edition, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2018, revised by Wayne C. Booth and others.
Single author, one-word title
Chicago 18th (notes and bibliography): Reference entry
Obama, Michelle. Becoming. Crown, 2018.
First footnote: Michelle Obama, Becoming (Crown, 2018).
The simplest Chicago book entry: author, italic title, publisher and year. Add the page to the footnote when you quote.
Checked against ISBN record (checked on 25 October 2026). Open Library edition record: Crown, 13 November 2018.
Formatted by the same citation engine that runs the generator above (citeproc-js with the official CSL style file). Italics follow the style.
Footnotes and author-date citations for books
In notes-bibliography the page goes at the end of the note; in author-date it follows the year.
- First note: 1. Michelle Obama, Becoming (Crown, 2018), 112.
- Shortened note: 2. Obama, Becoming, 115.
- Author-date: (Turabian 2018, 64)
- Four or more authors: (Booth et al. 2016, 45)
Chicago book citation mistakes
- Notes formatted like bibliography entries. Notes use commas and parentheses; bibliography entries use periods.
- Pages in the bibliography. For a whole book, pages appear only in notes or in-text citations.
- Mixing editions. Do not combine 17th-edition places with 18th-edition formatting in one paper.
- Short title too short. Keep enough words to identify the book: Craft of Research, not Craft.
Chicago book citation FAQ
How do I reference a book in Chicago style?
Bibliography: Last, First. Title. Publisher, Year. First note: First Last, Title (Publisher, Year), page.
Do I need the city in Chicago 18?
The 18th-edition quick guide examples do not include it. If your instructor follows the 17th edition, add City: before the publisher.
How do I cite a chapter of a Chicago book?
For an edited book, cite the chapter in quotation marks followed by In, the book title and the editors. For an authored book, cite the book and give pages.
Can the generator make author-date entries?
Yes. Choose Chicago author-date in the style menu; the year then follows the author.
Style guides used on this page
Rules on this page were checked against these pages on 25 October 2026.