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Chicago A: Notes and Bibliography Style:  Footnote citations

UON Library guide to Chicago A: Notes and Bibliography Style 17th edition

General rules for footnote citations

 

Basic Structure of a Footnote

  • A footnote lists the author, title, and publication details, in that order.
  • Elements are separated by commas; the publication details are enclosed in parentheses. 
  • Authors’ full names are presented in standard order (first name first). 
  • Titles are capitalised headline-style, e.g. Introduction to Psychology
  • Titles of larger works (e.g., books and journals) are italicised; titles of smaller works (e.g., chapters, articles) or unpublished works are enclosed in quotation marks. 
  • If a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) is available for your source, cite the DOI instead of URL or database name 
  • Chicago does not require access dates in the citations for web sources unless no date of publication can be determined.

 

General Rules for Footnotes

  • Footnote number in the text leads readers to the footnote at the bottom of the same page.
  • In-text note numbers should generally be placed at the end of a sentence after the punctuation (eg. full stops, brackets and commas, except for the dash, which it precedes.).
  • In-text footnote numbers run in sequential order across the document, i.e. each repeated citation will have a new number, even when the cited pages are the same.
  • Footnote number at bottom of page can be either in normal size with a period, e.g. 1., or in superscript, e.g. 1
  • Footnotes should be single line spaced, with the first line indented by half an inch (1.27 cm).
  • If a source has four or more authors, list only the first author followed by et al.
  • When no author (unknown author) is available, cite the work by its title in both footnotes and bibliography.
  • When no date is available, the abbreviation “n.d.” replaces the date.
  • For secondary sources, include both the original and the secondary sources in footnotes and bibliography.
  • Cite a source in full for the first time, and use a shortened citation for repeated footnotes. Use of ibid. is not encouraged in Chicago 17th edition.
  • A shortened citation includes only author surname, shortened title (for titles of four words or more), and page(s) cited, e.g. 2. Weller, Digital Scholar, 51. 
  • To avoid repetition, the title of a work just cited may be omitted, e.g. 3. Weller, 53. 
  • A short direct quotation (word-for-word) should be run in to the surrounding text and enclosed in quotation marks; a long quotations (eg a hundred words or more) should be set off as block quotation (indented and without quotation marks).  Place the in-text note number after the quotation, and in the footnote include the page number/s where the quotation appeared. 
  • Page numbers are also required when citing secondary citations or paraphrasing specific information.
  • For multiple citations within one note, order them by importance; if they are equally important, alphabetise them by author's surname. Use a semi colon (;) between them to separate the citations.
  • Such terms as editor/edited by, translator/translated by, volume, and edition are abbreviated.
  • In a slide-based presentation using software such as PowerPoint or Keynote, when you borrow material (quotations, paraphrases, images, videos, and whatever else you copy or adapt), you may provide the citations by:
    • including brief or full footnote citations on each slide, and/or 
    • adding a bibliography on a slide at the end.

Sample footnotes

 

Chicago A features numbered footnotes in the text. Sources are cited in numbered footnotes and each footnote corresponds to a raised (superscript) number in the text.

See a sample of footnotes on the CMOS site.

Chicago A Footnote Abbreviations

 

Abbreviations are used regularly in the footnote citations. 

  • The names of months that are longer than four letters can be abbreviated or spelled out as needed. 

Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. and Dec.

  • The abbreviation fig. may be used for figure, but table, map, plate, and other illustration forms are spelled out.

  • Common academic abbreviations used in the footnotes: 
    • ​Where confusion may result, spell out the word instead.
    • The plurals of the noun abbreviations given here other than p. are formed through the addition of s (e.g. chaps. for chapters).

 

  Abbreviation   Full Term   Abbreviation   Full Term
           app.   appendix

para.

  paragraph

chap.

  chapter

pt.

  part

ed.

  editor, edition,

  edited by

rev.

  revised

et al.

  and others

sec.

  section

n.d.

  no date

ser.

  series

no.

   number

suppl.

  supplement

p.

  page

trans.

  translator/s,

  translated by

pp.

  pages

vol.

  volume
 

 

 

How to Insert a Footnote in MS Word

 

To insert a footnote into the text in MS Word:

  • click where you want to insert a footnote in the text, then
  • click the References tab on the top menu, and then 
  • click Insert Footnote.

A superscript note number will be inserted into the text, and a corresponding footnote number created at the bottom of page.

 

To change the footnote number from superscript to normal size:

  • Highlight the footnote number
  • On the Home tab, click the Superscript icon X2
  • To change it back, click the icon again

 

For more information see the following sites from MS support:

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