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A Chicago footnote is a numbered note at the bottom of the page that gives the source for a quotation, idea or figure in your text. In the 18th edition (2024) of The Chicago Manual of Style, the first note for a source is a full note, and every later note for it is a shortened note. The footnotes sit alongside a bibliography at the end of the manuscript, which is the Notes and Bibliography system of Chicago style.
How do you do Chicago style footnotes?
Use your word processor’s built-in footnote function rather than typing numbers by hand: it inserts the superscript number in the text, numbers the notes in order and places the note text at the foot of the page. The note itself starts with a number that is not superscripted (CSU Channel Islands Writing and Multiliteracy Center handout, 2026). Write the full note for a source the first time you cite it, and a shortened note every time after that.
Footnote format: the template and its elements
The book template, as given by the Trinity University library guide to the 18th edition, is:
Note number. Author First Last, Title (Publisher, Year), page number used.
- Note number: the footnote number, followed by a period.
- Author: first name first, then last name (not inverted as in the bibliography).
- Title: in italics. There is no comma after the title before the parenthesis.
- Publication details: publisher and year inside parentheses. The 18th edition (CMOS 14.30) no longer requires the place of publication for books.
- Page: the specific page you are citing, not the whole page range of the work.
Chicago style footnotes examples
The examples below are the sample notes printed in the Trinity University and CSU Channel Islands guides; they are real works used to show the pattern.
Book with one author
12. Kathleen E. Welch, Electric Rhetoric: Classical Rhetoric, Oralism, and a New Literacy (MIT Press, 1999), 147.
Chapter in an edited book
Pattern: Note number. Author First Last, "Chapter Title," in Book Title, ed. Editor First Last (Publisher, Year), page.
12. Ida B. Wells, “Lynch Law in All Its Phases,” in With Pen and Voice: A Critical Anthology of Nineteenth-Century African-American Women, ed. Shirley Wilson Logan (Southern Illinois University Press, 1995), 82.
Journal article
Pattern: Note number. Author First Last, "Article Title," Journal Name volume, no. issue (Year): page, DOI.
1. Douglas Brownlie, “Toward Effective Poster Presentations: An Annotated Bibliography,” European Journal of Marketing 42, no. 11/12 (2007): 1276, https://doi.org/10.1108/03090560710821161.
The 18th edition says the month or season can usually be dropped from journal citations (CMOS 13.26). The Trinity guide keeps it only where it is part of the journal’s official date, as in Configurations 2, no. 1 (Winter 1994).
Book with several authors
11. Michael A. Patten, Guy McCaskie, and Philip Unitt, Birds of the Salton Sea: Status, Biogeography, and Ecology (University of California Press, 2003), 37.
With four or more authors, both guides allow the first author followed by “et al.” in the note. For the wider rules on that abbreviation, see et al. citation usage rules.
Shortened notes (and what happened to ibid.)
After the first full note, a shortened note carries the author’s last name, a keyword title and the page. Using the Welch book above:
18. Welch, Electric Rhetoric, 209.
For a chapter with three authors, the CSU Channel Islands handout shortens the title in quotation marks: Silvia, Delaney, and Marcovitch, “Research Poster,” 118. The Chicago manual’s 18th-edition summary lists shortened notes as replacing “ibid.” (CMOS 13.37), with author-title, author-only and title-only forms. The CSU Channel Islands handout says ibid. is discouraged in the 18th edition, while the Trinity guide still describes it as permitted but optional. In a thesis or manuscript, shortened notes throughout are the safe choice unless your supervisor or publisher asks for ibid.
Footnote versus bibliography entry
The same source is written twice in the Notes and Bibliography system, and the two forms differ in small, checkable ways.
| Element | Footnote | Bibliography |
|---|---|---|
| Author name | First Last | Last, First |
| Publication details | Inside parentheses, with commas | After the title, separated by periods |
| Page | The specific page cited | Inclusive page range for a journal article |
| Layout | Numbered, at the foot of the page | Alphabetical, hanging indent |
Compare the Welch note above with its bibliography entry: Welch, Kathleen E. Electric Rhetoric: Classical Rhetoric, Oralism, and a New Literacy. MIT Press, 1999. This system also differs from the author-date parenthetical citation system; citation styles and referencing formats compares the families.
How do you do footnotes in Chicago style? Common errors
- Putting a comma after the title before the opening parenthesis of the publication details.
- Superscripting the number inside the note text; only the reference number in the body text is superscripted.
- Inverting the author name (Last, First) in a note; that form belongs in the bibliography.
- Repeating the full note for a source already cited, instead of a shortened note.
- Adding the place of publication for a book out of habit from earlier editions.
- Citing a whole page range in a note where the specific page is expected.
- Typing footnote numbers by hand, so they fall out of order when you edit.
Sources differ on how many authors a note should list in full: both library guides write out three authors, while the Chicago manual’s 18th-edition summary gives the first author plus “et al.” for more than two authors in notes (CMOS 13.23). Follow your publisher’s or institution’s instruction where it gives one, and apply it consistently.
Chicago edition covered
This page follows the Chicago Manual of Style, 18th edition (2024), the current edition as of October 2026. For getting a whole manuscript into shape, see research paper format, and for a book citation across styles see how to cite from a book.
FAQ
How to do Chicago style footnotes?
Insert footnotes with your word processor’s footnote tool, give the full citation (author, title, publication details in parentheses, specific page) the first time a source appears, and use a shortened note (author, short title, page) afterwards.
How to do footnotes in Chicago style?
Number them consecutively through the text, put the note text at the bottom of the same page, and write the author first name first with no comma before the parenthesis. Add a bibliography at the end listing the same sources with the author’s last name first.
Is ibid. still used in Chicago footnotes?
The 18th edition prefers shortened notes (CMOS 13.37). Library guides differ on whether ibid. is discouraged or merely optional, so ask your supervisor or publisher.
Do I need a bibliography as well as footnotes?
The Notes and Bibliography system uses both, as the CSU Channel Islands and Trinity guides describe it. The author-date system uses parenthetical citations and a reference list instead.
Sources
- The Chicago Manual of Style Online, “What’s New in the 18th Edition”, https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/help-tools/what-s-new.html (read 2026-10-28).
- Trinity University Library, “18th Edition Chicago Notes Bibliography Style”, https://lib.trinity.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/18th-Edition_Chicago-Notes-Bibliography-Style.pdf (read 2026-10-29).
- CSU Channel Islands Writing and Multiliteracy Center, “Chicago Notes and Bibliography” (updated February 2026), https://www.csuci.edu/wmc/pdf/citations/wmc-chicago-notesbib-18threv2026.pdf (read 2026-10-29).
