The Chicago Manual of Style presents two basic documentation systems, the humanities style (notes and bibliography) and the author-date system. The humanities style is preferred by many in literature, history, and the arts. This style presents bibliographic information in notes and, often, a bibliography. Below are some common examples of materials cited in the humanities style.
- Based on Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition, 2010).
- The number at the end of each citation represents a page number.
- For second and subsequent citations of a particular source, use short title form: Author’s last name, shortened title, and the page number.
1. Books
For book editions (second, third, etc.), give the edition information after the title. For reprinted (republished) books, where original date is helpful, place the original publication date before the publication information for the reprint.
One author or editor
Note:
Geoffrey Clark, Betting on Lives: The Culture of Life Insurance in England, 1695-1775 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1999), 85.
Bibliography:
Clark, Geoffrey. Betting on Lives: The Culture of Life Insurance in England, 1695-1775. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1999.
Two or three authors or editors
Note:
Sheila McIntyre and Len Travers, eds., The Correspondence of John Cotton Jr. (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2009), 104.
Bibliography:
McIntyre, Sheila, and Len Travers, eds. The Correspondence of John Cotton Jr. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2009.
Four or more authors or editors
Note:
Geoffrey Clark et al., eds. The Appeal of Insurance (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2010), 210.
Bibliography:
Clark, Geoffrey, Gregory Anderson, Christian Thomann, and J.-Matthias Graf von der Schulenburg, eds. The Appeal of Insurance. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2010.
Editor and/or translator in addition to author
Note:
Rosa Luxemburg, The Complete Works of Rosa Luxemburg, vol. 3, Political Writings 1. On Revolution: 1897-1905, ed. Axel Fair-Schulz, Peter Hudis, and William A. Pelz, trans. Henry Holland, Alicja Mann, and George Shriver (New York: Verso Books, 2018), 48.
Bibliography:
Luxemburg, Rosa. The Complete Works of Rosa Luxemburg. Vol. 3, Political Writings 1. On Revolution: 1897-1905. Edited by Axel Fair-Schulz, Peter Hudis, and William A. Pelz. Translated by Henry Holland, Alicja Mann, and George Shriver. New York: Verso Books, 2018.
Chapter or other part of an edited book
Note:
Thomas N. Baker, "National History in the Age of Michelet, Macauley, and Bancroft," in A Companion to Western Historical Thought, ed. Lloyd Kramer and Sarah Maza (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2002), 196.
Bibliography:
Baker, Thomas N. "National History in the Age of Michelet, Macauley, and Bancroft." In A Companion to Western Historical Thought, edited by Lloyd Kramer and Sarah Maza, 185-204. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2002.
Preface, foreword, introduction, or similar part of a book
Note:
Axel Fair-Schulz and Mario Kessler, introduction to East German Historians Since Reunification, ed. Axel Fair-Schulz and Mario Kessler (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2007), xx.
Bibliography:
Fair-Schulz, Axel and Mario Kessler. Introduction to East German Historians Since Reunification, xi–xxxvii, edited by Axel Fair-Schulz and Mario Kessler. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2007.
Letter in a Published Collection
Note:
John Cotton Jr. to John Winthrop Jr., March 8, 1664, in The Correspondence of John Cotton Jr, 1658-1691, edited. Sheila McIntyre and Len Travers (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2009), 50.
Bibliography:
Cotton, John Jr. to John Winthrop Jr., March 8, 1664. In The Correspondence of John Cotton Jr, 1658-1691, edited by Sheila McIntyre and Len Travers. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2009.
Book published electronically
If a book is available in more than one format, you should cite the version you consulted.
Note:
Thomas N. Baker, Sentiment and Celebrity: Nathaniel Parker Willis and the Trials of Literary Fame (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 36, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/potsdam/detail.action?docID=272681&query=sentiment+and+celebrity.
Bibliography:
Baker, Thomas N. Sentiment and Celebrity: Nathaniel Parker Willis and the Trials of Literary Fame. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/potsdam/detail.action?docID=272681&query=sentiment+and+celebrity.
2. Periodicals
Article in a print journal
Note:
Kevin D. Smith, "A Fragmented Freedom: The Historiography of Emancipation and Its Aftermath in the British West Indies," Slavery & Abolition 16, no. 1 (April 1995): 87.
Gaylynn Welch, “Suffrage at the School House Door: The 1880 New York State School Suffrage Campaign,” New York History 98, no. 3-4 (Summer/Fall 2017): 329.
Bibliography:
Smith, Kevin D. "A Fragmented Freedom: The Historiography of Emancipation and Its Aftermath in the British West Indies." Slavery & Abolition 16, no. 1 (April 1995): 101-130.
Welch, Gaylynn. “Suffrage at the School House Door: The 1880 New York State School Suffrage Campaign.” New York History 98, no. 3-4 (Summer/Fall 2017): 329-342.
Article in an online journal
The following example shows where you would place the access date if required.
Note:
Libbie Freed, "Every European Becomes a Chief: Travel Guides to Equatorial Africa, 1900-1958," Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History 12, no. 2 (Fall 2011), accessed July 16, 2020, https://doi:10.1353/cch.2011.0024.
Bibliography:
Freed, Libbie. "Every European Becomes a Chief: Travel Guides to Equatorial Africa, 1900-1958." Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History 12, no. 2 (Fall 2011). https://doi:10.1353/cch.2011.0024.
News or magazine article
Newspaper articles may be cited in running text (“As Kevin Shea noted in a Watertown Daily Times article on February 25, 2019, . . . ”) instead of in a note or an in-text citation, and they are commonly omitted from a bibliography or reference list. The following example shows a more formal version of the citation. If you consulted the article online, include a URL or the name of the database.
Note:
Kevin Shea, “Chilean patchworks for protest on display,” Watertown Daily Times, February 25, 2019.
Bibliography:
Shea, Kevin. “Chilean patchworks for protest on display.” Watertown Daily Times, February 25, 2019.
3. Book Reviews
Scholarly journal
Note:
Steven Stannish, review of One God or Many? Concepts of Divinity in the Ancient World, by Barbara Nevling Porter, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 63 (2004): 297.
Bibliography:
Stannish, Steven. Review of One God or Many? Concepts of Divinity in the Ancient World, by Barbara Nevling Porter, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 63 (2004): 297-298.
Newspaper or magazine
Note:
Burl Burlingame, “Ethnic tales explore complexities of Japanese experience,” review of Creating the Nisei Market: Race and Citizenship in Hawai‘i’s Japanese American Consumer Culture, by Shiho Imai, Star Advertiser, June 19, 2011.
Bibliography:
Burlingame, Burl. “Ethnic tales explore complexities of Japanese experience.” Review of Creating the Nisei Market: Race and Citizenship in Hawai‘i’s Japanese American Consumer Culture, by Shiho Imai. Star Advertiser, June 19, 2011.
4. Thesis or Dissertation
Note:
Shiho Imai, “Nisei Voices: Japanese American High School Students in Hawaii, 1920-1930” (master’s thesis, Tufts University, 1998), 27.
Kevin David Smith, "'In God We Trust': Religion, the Cold War, and Civil Rights in Milwaukee, 1947-1963" (PhD diss., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1999), 213.
Bibliography:
Shiho Imai, “Nisei Voices: Japanese American High School Students in Hawaii, 1920-1930.” Master’s thesis, Tufts University, 1998.
Smith, Kevin David. "'In God We Trust': Religion, the Cold War, and Civil Rights in Milwaukee, 1947-1963." PhD diss., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1999.
5. Website and Online Database
Websites may be cited in running text (“On its Website, the Canadian Museum of History states . . .”) instead of in an in-text citation, and they are commonly omitted from a bibliography or reference list. The following example shows the more formal version of the citation. For a source that does not list a date of publication or revision, include an access date.
Website
Note:
Sheila McIntyre, "1677" in "A Chronology of Canadian Postal History," Canadian Museum of History, accessed July 13, 2020, https://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/cpm/chrono/chs1506e.html.
Bibliography:
McIntyre, Sheila. "1677" in "A Chronology of Canadian Postal History." Canadian Museum of History. Accessed July 13, 2020. https://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/cpm/chrono/chs1506e.html.
Indirect use: Using something quoted in a secondary source
This is “generally to be discouraged” according to the Chicago Manual: “If an original source is unavailable, however, both the original and the secondary source must be listed.” (CMS, 727.)
Note:
Thomas Blades de Walden, “The Upper Ten and Lower Twenty” (1854), quoted in Erin Blake More, “Before the One Percent, Americans Represented the ‘Upper Ten’,” accessed July 9, 2020. https://www.history.com/news/before-the-one-percent-americans-resented-the-upper-ten.
Bibliography:
More, Erin Blake. “Before the One Percent, Americans Represented the ‘Upper Ten’.” Accessed July 9, 2020. https://www.history.com/news/before-the-one-percent-americans-resented-the-upper-ten.
6. Online Video
Note:
“Major in History – Teacher,” YouTube video, 1:21, posted by Experiential Education Office – SUNY Potsdam, January 31, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4f0mJDGN8w.
Bibliography:
“Major in History – Teacher,” YouTube video, 1:21. Posted by Experiential Education Office – SUNY Potsdam, January 31, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4f0mJDGN8w.
7. Interviews
Interviews are usually run in to the text or cited in notes only.
Note:
Mairama, interview by author, Mbang Mboum, Cameroon, April 18, 2003 and Baba Garba Aboubakar, interview by author, Tibati, Cameroon, April 29, 2003.
Source: Libbie Freed, “Networks of (colonial) power: roads in French Central Africa after World War I,” History and Technology 26, no. 3 (September 2010): 203-223.