Chicago Footnote Style

The Chicago Footnote Style follows most of the rules of the footnotes and endnotes style as described in the last blog – they can be used interchangeably – although there are minor differences between the two. Follow this guide to reference accurately according to the style required by your lecturer or university.

Repeated Works

When using footnotes or endnotes, Latin terms such as ibid and op cit are often used to show where a source has been repeated or previously cited earlier in the essay to save repeating the same information. When using the Chicago Footnote Style these are more commonly replaced with the author’s name and the page number, as follows:

[1] Peter Bodkins, How to Reference Correctly, (London: Fictitious Publishing, 2012), 123.

2 Bodkins, 123.

Using Abbreviated Forms

References repeated more than once can be stripped down to the minimum when being cited later in your essay.

[1] Peter Bodkins, How to Reference Correctly, (London: Fictitious Publishing, 2012), 123.

becomes

[1] Bodkins, How to Reference, 123.

This might also reasonably be stripped down to How to or just Reference – anything which bears a commonality with the original reference.

In addition to the footnotes and endnotes link provided in the previous blog entry, the following link also provides an extensive guide to referencing using the Chicago Footnote Style, which follows the same principles:

https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/16/ch14/ch14_toc.html. A subscription is required but a free 30 day membership is currently available.

Take care when using the Chicago Footnote Style because it can be confused with the Chicago Author-date Style, as discussed in my next blog entry.

Really – Don’t Forget the Bibliography

Also, don’t forget that you’ve got to include a bibliography at the end of your essay. After you’ve constructed full references in the footnotes it can be easy to overlook its inclusion but remember, unless otherwise instructed, a bibliography is always required.