Scribbr Chicago Citation Generator
Accurate Chicago citations, verified by experts, trusted by millions.
Save hours of repetitive work with Scribbr's Chicago Citation Generator.
Stop wasting hours figuring out the correct citation format. With Scribbr's citation generator, you can search for your source by title, URL, ISBN, or DOI and generate accurate Chicago style citations in seconds. No experience needed.
| ⚙️ Styles | Chicago 17th edition |
|---|---|
| 📚 Sources | Websites, books, articles |
| 🔎 Autocite | Search by title, URL, DOI, ISBN |
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Autocite
Search for your source by title, URL, DOI, ISBN, and more to retrieve the relevant information automatically.
Chicago style 17th edition
Scribbr's Citation Generator supports the two most commonly used Chicago styles: notes and bibliography and author-date (as well as APA, MLA and Harvard).
Export to Bib(La)TeX
Easily export in BibTeX format and continue working in your favorite LaTeX editor.
Export to Word
Bibliography finished? Export to Word with perfect indentation and spacing set up for you.
Sorting, grouping, and filtering
Organize the reference list the way you want: from A to Z, new to old, or grouped by source type.
Save multiple lists
Stay organized by creating a separate bibliograpies for each of your assignments.
Fonts
Choose between Times New Roman, Arial, Calibri, and more options to match your style.
Industry-standard technology
The Scribbr Citation Generator is built using the same citation software (CSL) as Mendeley and Zotero, but with an added layer for improved accuracy.
Annotations
Create perfectly formatted annotated bibliographies with just a few clicks.
Quick tips
Explanatory tips help you get the details right to ensure accurate citations.
Citation guides
Getting to grips with citation is simple with the help of our highly-rated Chicago citation guides.
Secure backup
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How to cite in Chicago style
Chicago style (sometimes called Turabian style) is one of the most popular citation styles used by students and academics. The main resource for students using Chicago style is A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (9th edition).
Chicago presents two options for source citation: notes and bibliography style, widely used in humanities subjects; and author-date style, mainly used in the sciences. Scribbr’s free citation generator can automatically create citations in both of these styles for a wide variety of sources.
Below, the rules of notes and bibliography style are explained in more detail.
Chicago bibliography entries
The basics
The bibliography appears at the end of your paper, listing full information on all the sources you cited. A Chicago bibliography entry typically mentions the author, title, publisher or publication in which the source is contained, publication date, and URL or DOI if available.
Depending on the source type, you may omit some of this information when it’s unavailable or irrelevant, and include other details when they’re needed to identify the source.
Reference examples
The exact format of a bibliography entry depends on the source type you’re citing. The rules indicate what details to include for each source and how to format the information (e.g., italics, capitalization). Explore the tabs below to see examples for the main source types.
| Format | Author last name, First name. “Page Title.” Website Name. Month Day, Year. URL. |
|---|---|
| Example | McCombes, Shona. “Types of Research Designs Compared | Guide & Examples.” Scribbr. Last modified October 10, 2022. https://www.scribbr.com/methodology/types-of-research/. |
Missing information
Sometimes, not all of the suggested information will be available for the source you want to cite. The table below shows what to do when certain commonly included details are not available for your source.
| Missing element | What to do | Example |
|---|---|---|
| No author | List the organization that published the source in the author position. If the same name would normally appear later in the entry, omit it there. | Scribbr. “An Introduction to Research Methods.” Accessed June 11, 2020. https://www.scribbr.com/category/methodology/. |
| No date | List an access date instead for online sources with no publication or revision date.
Or write “n.d.” (no date) in place of the date if the source is not online. | Scribbr. “How to Write a Research Paper.” Accessed October 25, 2022. https://www.scribbr.com/category/research-paper/.
Le Guin, Ursula K. The Dispossessed. London: Victor Gollancz, n.d. |
| No title | Include a description in place of the title, in plain text. | Doe, John. Poetic manuscript. 1355. |
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Chicago footnotes
The basics
Chicago footnotes are used to cite sources in the text. Each footnote is indicated at the relevant point in the text by a superscript number,1 while the note itself appears at the bottom of the page. A footnote should be added each time you quote or paraphrase a source.
All of the sources you cite in footnotes should be included in your bibliography.
Footnote examples
Chicago provides guidance for full notes (giving complete information) and short notes (giving only the author’s last name, shortened title, and page number). Use a full note the first time you cite a source and short notes for any subsequent citations of that source.
Full notes generally give the same information as bibliography entries, but presented slightly differently. You can see examples of full and short notes for the most common source types in the tabs below.
| Full note | 1. Shona McCombes, “Types of Research Designs Compared | Guide & Examples,” Scribbr, last modified October 10, 2022, https://www.scribbr.com/methodology/types-of-research/. |
|---|---|
| Short note | 2. McCombes, “Types of Research Designs.” |
Missing information
As with bibliography entries, Chicago provides advice on what to do when information you would usually include in your footnotes is missing—summarized in the table below.
| Missing element | What to do | Example |
|---|---|---|
| No author | In a full note, just leave the author name out, listing the title first.
In a short note, list the name of the organization responsible for the source in the first position. | 1. “An Introduction to Research Methods,” Scribbr, accessed June 11, 2020, https://www.scribbr.com/category/methodology/.
2. Scribbr, “Introduction to Research Methods.” |
| No date | List an access date instead for online sources with no publication or revision date.
Or write “n.d.” (no date) in place of the date if the source is not online. | 1. “How to Write a Research Paper,” accessed October 25, 2022, https://www.scribbr.com/category/research-paper/.
2. Ursula K. Le Guin, The Dispossessed (London: Victor Gollancz, n.d.), 105. |
| No page number | Use another locator such as a paragraph or chapter number if available.
With websites, generally just leave out this part of the citation. | 1. Le Guin, The Dispossessed, ch. 5.
2. McCombes, “Types of Research Designs.” |
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Tools and resources
Scribbr offers a wide variety of tools and resources to help with citation and other aspects of academic writing:
- Citation generator: Scribbr’s free citation generator can also create flawless citations in other citation styles, like APA, MLA, and Harvard.
- Free plagiarism checker: Detect and fix plagiarism issues with the most accurate plagiarism checker available, powered by Turnitin.
- Free grammar checker: Automatically fix tricky language errors with Scribbr’s highly accurate grammar checker, powered by QuillBot.
- AI Proofreader: Upload and improve unlimited documents and earn higher grades on your assignments. Try it for free!
- Paraphrasing tool: Avoid accidental plagiarism and make your text sound better.
- Summarizer: Read more in less time. Distill lengthy and complex texts down to their key points.
- AI detector: Find out if your text was written with ChatGPT or any other AI writing tool. ChatGPT 2 & ChatGPT 3 supported.
- Proofreading services: Make sure your writing is clear and professional with the help of an expert editor.
- Citation checker: Check your work for citation errors and missing citations.
- Comprehensive guide to Chicago style: Understand all the rules of Chicago style, and learn how to cite a wide variety of sources.
- Guides and videos: Explore our Knowledge Base, our YouTube channel, and a wide variety of other educational resources covering topics ranging from language to statistics.