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Citation and Writing Guide: Chicago Manual of Style

This Guide is intended to help students with various aspects of the general writing process from citation and formatting in both APA and MLA , Grammar, Plagiarism.

Introduction

Chicago style was created by the University of Chicago. It is a set of rules for publications, including research papers.

In Chicago style, you must cite sources that you have paraphrased, quoted, or otherwise used to write your research paper. Cite your sources in two places:

  1. In the body of your paper where you add a footnote (which appears in the footer at the bottom of the page).
  2. In the bibliography at the end of your paper.

     

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Chicago Style Videos

Online Citation Generators

There are a number of quality citation generators available on the internet today. Below is one that we've found helpful. 

Commonly Used Term in Chicago Style

Access Date: The date you first look at a source. The access date is added to the end of citations for all websites except library databases.

Bibliography: Contains details on ALL the sources cited in a text or essay, and supports your research and/or premise.

Citation: Details about one cited source.

Citing: The process of acknowledging the sources of your information and ideas.

Footnote: Details about one source that you cited in the text of your paper, which appears in the footer at the bottom of the page.

Paraphrasing: Taking information that you have read and putting it into your own words.

Plagiarism: Taking, using, and passing off as your own, the ideas or words of another.

Quoting: The copying of words of text originally published elsewhere. Direct quotations generally appear in quotation marks and end with a citation.

Why We Cite

Citing your sources is a way to demonstrate academic honesty and is a way to avoid plagiarism.

Citing your work shows that you have:

  • Completed quality research by listing the sources that you used to get your information.
  • Are a responsible scholar by giving credit to other researchers and acknowledging their ideas.
  • Provided a way for your reader to easily find the sources that have you used by citing them accurately in your paper using a bibliography, works cited page or reference list.

Chicago Style is commonly used to format papers and cite sources within history, art history and other humanities. 


When to Cite Sources

When you are writing your research paper, any information you quote, summarize, or paraphrase must be cited and documented. You must document all of your sources to avoid plagiarism.

*adapted from https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/

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