Free Chicago Citation Generator
Generate correctly formatted Chicago-style citations for journal articles, books, and websites. Enter a DOI to auto-fill the details, or use manual entry — then copy the formatted citation straight into your bibliography.
Our academic writing consultants can refine your manuscript and help structure your full paper.
How Chicago Style Works
Chicago style (from The Chicago Manual of Style) is widely used in history and some social sciences. It has two variants: Notes-Bibliography, which uses numbered footnotes or endnotes, and Author-Date, which uses parenthetical in-text citations similar to APA. This tool generates a bibliography/reference-list-style entry usable in either system.
Chicago Journal Article Citation
Smith, John A., and Kate Lee. "Understanding Academic Motivation in Graduate Students." Journal of Educational Psychology 14 (2021): 112-128.
Format: Author(s). "Title of Article." Journal Name Volume (Year): pages.
Chicago Book Citation
Smith, John A. Research Methods in Social Science. Academic Press, 2020.
Format: Author(s). Title of Book. Publisher, Year.
Chicago Website Citation
Smith, John A. "How to Write a Literature Review." Tezyar Research Blog, 2022. https://example.com/article.
Format: Author. "Title of Page." Site Name, Year. URL.
Chicago In-Text Citations
Author-Date variant: (Smith and Lee 2021, 112) — no comma before the year. Notes-Bibliography variant: a superscript number in the text corresponding to a footnote with the full citation on first mention, and a shortened form on repeat citations.
Chicago Notes-Bibliography vs Author-Date
Notes-Bibliography is more common in history and the humanities and uses footnotes/endnotes with a bibliography at the end. Author-Date is more common in the sciences and social sciences and uses in-text parenthetical citations with a reference list, functionally similar to APA. Check which variant your department or journal expects before finalizing your paper.
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This tool generates a bibliography-style entry that works for both variants — for Notes-Bibliography, use it as your bibliography entry and create a shortened footnote; for Author-Date, use it as your reference-list entry with (Author Year) in-text citations.
No — Author-Date style doesn't use footnotes for citations, only parenthetical in-text citations like (Smith 2021). Footnotes in that variant are reserved for substantive commentary, not source citations.
This follows The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition, the current standard used by most journals and university departments requiring Chicago style.