Chicago manual of style has two styles: one that uses endnotes and footnotes, and one that uses parenthetical citations. See our Chicago Style author-date resource if your discipline uses parenthetical citations.
The Chicago Manual of Style is a reference and style guide that uses footnotes or endnotes. It is most often used in the humanities because the thorough information in the citation is useful to other researchers.
For information on the citation format for sources not covered in this guide, refer to the Chicago Manual of Style, 17thed.
Documenting Sources
Sources must be documented in two places: in a bibliography, and either in footnotes or endnotes.
Sample Paragraph
In the 1840s, a camera cost only $5, but developing images was prohibitively expensive, and only those above the middle class could participate in a hobby that required such a significant financial investment.1 The financial constraints of daguerreotype photography forced all Canadian practitioners to engage with the medium as an occupation instead of as a hobby,2 and in spite of the high costs, many entrepreneurs saw photography as a potentially profitable endeavour. To offset the cost of production, Canadian daguerreotype photographers charged an exorbitant amount, typically ranging between $3 and $5 for one image, making it a luxury item only available to wealthy individuals such as John A. Macdonald or Louis Joseph Papineau, both of whom sat for portraits.3
1 Seiberling and Bloore, Amateurs, Photography, and the Mid-Victorian Imagination, 4; Taylor, Impressed by Light, vii, 57.
2 Ralph Greenhill, Early Photography in Canada (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1965), 22.
3 Ralph Greenhill and Andrew J. Birrell, Canadian Photography, 1839-1920 (Toronto: Coach House Press, 1979), 25; Colleen Skidmore, “Women Workers in Notman’s Studio. ‘Young Ladies of the Printing Room,’” History of Photography 20, no. 2 (1996): 127; [Unknown Photographer]. Daguerreotype. Daguerreotype of John A. Macdonald. [n.d.]. PA-121571. John A. Macdonald family locket [graphic material]. R14218-0-6-E. Acc. 1968-086. LAC; Thomas Coffin Doane. Daguerreotype. Louis-Joseph Papineau (1786-1871), politician. c 1852. Mikan no. 3195235. 1974-095 NPC.
Footnotes and Endnotes: Guidelines
Insert a footnote or an endnote when you use a direct quote, paraphrase information, or need to add further explanation to your text. Check with your discipline to see if footnotes or endnotes are preferred. Footnotes are placed in the footer section of each page, while endnotes are placed in a separate section directly following your text but preceding your bibliography. Both are single spaced.
To create a footnote or endnote, use a superscript. Number your notes sequentially throughout the entire paper, and match the citation to the corresponding number in the footnote/endnote location.
Footnotes and endnotes tell readers exactly where you found specific information. Because footnotes and endnotes are meant to reflect the location of your evidence, they can contain the citation information for more than one source. See note 3 in the sample above.
Bibliography: Guidelines
The bibliography is a list of all material you consulted for your project, even if you did not cite it in your text. Sources are listed alphabetically in a section titled “Bibliography” that is placed at the very end of your assignment.
What to do when bibliographic information is missing
- Missing author: Cite by title
- Missing date: Use n.d. in place of the date
- Missing publisher: Use n.p. in place of the publisher
- Missing place of publication: Use n.l. in place of the location
Sample Bibliography
Please note that a reference list will always occur on its own page. Review a sample bibliography (PDF).