Using Footnotes for Citations in Chicago Style
The Chicago Manual of Style allows you to use both the author-date system of citations or the footnote-bibliography system. Of course, you can’t use a mix of both! But each time you refer to a source in your main text, you can insert a footnote or endnote number.
Full vs. Short Notes in Chicago Style
When you’re following Chicago style for footnotes, you’ve two options: full and short notes. Full notes provide the complete publication details of the source you’ve referred to, at least at the very first time this source is cited. See the example given below:
- Mary Dingdongbell, “I am the Happiest Christmas Tree,” in Let Us Sing and Dance Together Forever, ed. David Walkalong (Boston: Jimjam Press, 2000), 94.
Short notes provide a summarized version of the source details, usually only the author’s last name, shortened title of the work, and page number if applicable. They’re used for the second and subsequent citations of a source that you’re citing multiple times in your paper. See this example:
- Dingdongbell, “Christmas Tree,” 94.
When a work has multiple authors, you use “and” between author names. In a full note, you list the first name, middle name or initials if any, and then last name. In a short note, in contrast, you list just the last name(s). In both full and short notes, if you’ve 4 or more authors, you use “et al.” after the first author.
Here’s a tip that can save you a lot of time and space: when you’re referring to the source that is
immediately preceding, you can just use “ibid.” instead in your footnote. “Ibid.” is an abbreviation of the Latin “ibidem,” which means “in the same place.” So when you use “ibid.” in a footnote, you’re basically directing your reader to the citation that immediately precedes it.