The material in this guide was adapted from:
University of Chicago. The Chicago Manual of Style (17th ed.). University of Chicago Press, 2017.
by Claire Pienaar on behalf of the NWP Learning Commons. Last updated October 1, 2021.
The Chicago Manual of Style, currently on its 17th edition, contains a series of guidelines for formatting your paper and recording the sources used as support in the paper. Chicago has two forms:
Both styles also include a detailed bibliography at the end of the paper, listing all the sources used in the paper in alphabetical order and their publication information. One good way to stay organized is to create a full bibliographic entry at the same time as your in-text citation. This will save you a lot of time creating and managing your citations.
So, when is Chicago needed?
Note: It is important to give credit to the authors and sources that inspired the original ideas in your writing. Not giving proper or sufficient credit is considered plagiarism, which can lead to serious consequences. Click on the link below to understand plagiarism and how to avoid it. If you are concerned or unsure about plagiarism on a specific assignment, talk to your instructor.
Important terms to remember
Paraphrased vs. direct quote: To paraphrase means to take someone's idea or words and put them into your own words - in this case, do not use quotation marks. A direct quote is when you take someone's idea word for word - in this case, use quotation marks. For any information that came from another source, paraphrased or directly quoted, always include an in-text citation to indicate where that information came from.