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Chicago style citation generator
Footnotes and bibliography entries in Chicago 18th edition notes-bibliography style. You get the full first note, the short note for later references and the bibliography entry — all three from one form.
Your citation types itself here as you fill in the form — or auto-fill it above.
Formatting runs in your browser. Auto-fill uses Crossref (DOI), Open Library and Google Books (ISBN) and the page’s own metadata (URL). Always check against the source.
Your card drawer
0 / 50Citations you save are filed here — the last 50, kept only in this browser. Nothing is uploaded.
One source, three shapes
In Chicago style the same book is written three different ways depending on where it appears. Switch between them and watch what changes.
Kimmerer describes the reciprocity between people and plants as a form of gratitude that shapes land management practice.1
1. Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants (Milkweed Editions, 2013), 45.
The first time you cite a source, the note gives everything in natural order — first name first — separated by commas, with publication facts in parentheses and the page you used at the end.
Chicago bibliography examples
| Source | Example |
|---|---|
| a website | World Health Organization. “Climate Change and Health.” World Health Organization, October 12, 2023. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/climate-change-and-health. |
| a book | Kahneman, Daniel. Thinking, Fast and Slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011. |
| a journal article | Watson, James D., and Francis H. C. Crick. “Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid.” Nature 171, no. 4356 (April 25, 1953): 737–738. https://doi.org/10.1038/171737a0. |
| a YouTube video | Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell. “The Immune System Explained I – Bacteria Infection.” YouTube, July 1, 2014. Video, 6:47. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQGOcOUBi6s. |
| ChatGPT | OpenAI. ChatGPT. GPT-6. Response to “Explain the main causes of the French Revolution,” September 20, 2026. https://chatgpt.com. |
| a newspaper article | Woodward, Bob, and Carl Bernstein. “GOP Security Aide among Five Arrested in Bugging Affair.” The Washington Post, June 19, 1972. |
For page layout, note numbering and when to use a bibliography at all, read the Chicago style guide.
Chicago citation questions
Which Chicago edition does CiteFast use?
The Chicago Manual of Style, 18th edition (2024), notes-and-bibliography system — the one used in history and most humanities courses.
Notes-bibliography or author-date?
Notes-bibliography uses footnotes and a bibliography and is standard in the humanities. Author-date, used in the sciences, looks much like APA: (Kahneman 2011, 45). Check your assignment; if it says “Chicago” without more detail in a history class, it almost always means notes-bibliography.
Should I still use “Ibid.”?
Chicago 18 discourages Ibid. and recommends a short note (author, short title, page) for repeat citations instead. Some instructors still accept it.
Do footnotes and the bibliography look different?
Yes. Notes list the author first name first and separate parts with commas; bibliography entries invert the first author, use periods and hanging indents. The generator shows both.
What does the 45 in the footnote mean?
It is a placeholder for the page you are citing. Replace it with your actual page number, or delete it for a web page.