Cite Your Sources Clearly
The Chicago Manual of Style (sometimes known as CMoS) is a style guide published by the University of Chicago Press. Within, you will find information on two referencing styles:
At Proofed, we use the notes and bibliography system from the 17th edition of CMoS as a default. This is also the version used by most universities. But we can work with the author–date version, too, so let us know if you have a preferred style.
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In the notes and bibliography version of Chicago referencing, you cite a source by giving a superscript number in the text. For example:
The question of whether it is a ‘pizza’ or a ‘pie’ remains unanswered.¹
This points to a footnote at the bottom of the page, which is where you provide source details. The content of a footnote will depend on the source type, but it would usually look like this:
¹ Jess Levey, Understanding Illinois Cuisine (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1998), 2–3.
The footnote above is for a book. As it is the first citation of the source, we have given full publication information. At the end of the footnote, moreover, we include a pinpoint citation to show the reader which part of the book we have cited (i.e. pages 2–3).
Citations are accompanied by an entry in a bibliography at the end of the document. This is usually similar to the first footnote citation of the source. The main differences are:
For instance, we would list the book cited above as follows:
Levey, Jess. Understanding Illinois Cuisine. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1998.
In Chicago referencing, as well as citing sources, you will need a bibliography or reference list. This is a list of every source cited in your document. The rules for this are:
For more information on both versions of Chicago referencing, see our blog. You can also find Chicago’s own online citation guides here.
The other version of Chicago referencing uses in-text citations. This means giving the author’s name and a year of publication in brackets when you cite a source:
Gastronomical analysts disagree strongly on the definition (Levey 1998).
As shown above, citations usually go at the end of the relevant clause. However, if the author is named in the text, we would give the citation immediately afterwards:
Levey (1998) argues that the pizza–pie dichotomy is unhelpful.
Furthermore, if we were quoting a source, we would give page numbers after a comma:
This is because ‘pizza and pie are both delicious’ (Levey 1998, 43).
Here, for example, we’re quoting page 43 of the Levey source.
Finally, any source you cite should be added to a reference list. This is where you provide full publication information. Like in the footnote version of this system, the exact format here will depend on the source type. But we would list the book above as follows:
Levey, Jess. 1998. Understanding Illinois Cuisine. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
As you can see, this is similar to the format for a book in the footnote version of Chicago referencing. The only difference is the placement of the year of publication.
Our expert editors can work with a range of referencing styles, including:
We can work with other referencing styles on request, too. Just let us know which system you’re using when you upload your work, and we’ll tailor our service accordingly. For more information on legal referencing styles, such as OSCOLA and AGLC, see our dedicated legal referencing page.
Let our expert editors show you what they can do.