bibliottHow to Cite a PDF in Chicago 17th edition
Format, in-text rule, and a copy-paste example for PDFs in Chicago. Citing a PDF — usually a report, government document, or working paper.
Chicago format for PDFs
Author. Title of Document. City: Publisher, Year. PDF. URL.
United Nations. World Happiness Report 2023. New York: United Nations, 2023. PDF. https://worldhappiness.report/ed/2023/WHR+23.pdf.
Pro tip
Chicago wants "PDF" after the year as a format note.
Information you need
Before generating your Chicago citation, gather these details from the pdf:
Author or organization
Year
Title
Publisher
URL or DOI
[PDF] format note (some styles)
Common mistakes to avoid
✗Citing the PDF as a website without identifying the underlying source type
✗Forgetting that many PDFs are reports, not books
✗Listing google.com or scribd.com as the publisher
Other Chicago guides
Frequently asked questions
For a pdf in Chicago, you'll need: Author or organization, Year, Title, Publisher, URL or DOI, [PDF] format note (some styles). bibliott auto-detects most of these from a URL or DOI.
Citing the PDF as a website without identifying the underlying source type
Yes — the example follows the official Chicago 17th edition format. Replace the author, title, year and other fields with your source's data, or use the bibliott generator to do it automatically.