bibliottChicago Citation Generator — 17th edition
Free, accurate Chicago citations in seconds. Built for history, business, fine arts, publishing. AI fills in missing metadata; you copy or export.
What is Chicago 17th edition?
Chicago (also called Turabian when adapted for student papers) is the dominant style in history, fine arts, and book publishing. It supports two systems: notes-bibliography (footnotes + bibliography) used in the humanities, and author-date used in the sciences. The current 17th edition was released in 2017.
When to use Chicago
- History and art history courses
- Fine arts, music, and theater research
- Most US trade-book publishers
- Business and economics journals (often author-date variant)
- Religious studies and theology
Chicago quick reference
In-text citation
Notes-bibliography: a superscript number that maps to a footnote/endnote. Author-date: (Author Year, page).
Notes: …as Smith argues.¹ — Author-date: (Smith 2023, 45).
Bibliography (alphabetical, hanging indent)
Author Last, First. "Title of Article." Journal Name vol., no. # (Year): pages. DOI.
Smith, Jane D. "The Future of Artificial Intelligence in Academic Research." Nature Machine Intelligence 5, no. 3 (2023): 234–45. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42256-023-00001-x.
Author Last, First. Title of Book. City: Publisher, Year.
Brown, Peter. Citation in the Digital Age. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021.
Author. "Title." Site Name. Date. URL.
World Health Organization. "Mental Health: Strengthening Our Response." World Health Organization. March 14, 2024. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-health.
Key Chicago formatting rules
- Decide upfront: notes-bibliography (humanities) or author-date (sciences). Do not mix.
- Footnote 1 (first reference) is the long form; subsequent notes use a shortened form.
- Bibliography uses inverted name order; footnotes use natural order.
- Include place of publication for books; use "and" not "&" for two authors.
- For 4+ authors in the note, use "et al." but list all authors in the bibliography.
Cite specific source types in Chicago
Cite AI tools in Chicago
Other citation styles
Chicago FAQ
Notes-bibliography is the default in the humanities (history, art, religion) and is what most instructors mean when they say "Chicago." Author-date is closer to APA and is used in some sciences and economics journals.
Turabian is essentially Chicago adapted for student papers — same rules, but presented for theses and class assignments rather than publication. Most universities consider them interchangeable.
For graded papers, usually yes. The footnotes cite specific sentences; the bibliography lists every source consulted. A few short papers may use notes-only, but always check your instructor's requirements.