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Northwestern How to Cite Your Work

Citing with the Chicago Manual of Style

Below are some basics. For citing sources not mentioned here, consult the downloadable MLA handout on this page. 

The Chicago style is commonly used for citing sources in the history discipline. The Chicago style recommends in-text citations that refer readers to a list of references. At the end of the paper, a list of references provides publication information about the source.

To learn more about this style, visit the excellent guide maintained by the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL).

Books (single author)

1. Raúl Zibechi, Territories in Resistance: A Cartography of Latin American Social Movements (Oakland, CA: AK Press, 2012), 44.

2. Zibechi, Territories in Resistance, 33.

Books (Two or more authors)

1. Jerry Lembcke and William M. Tattam, One Union in Wood: A Political History of the International Woodworkers of America (New York: Harbour, 1984), 89.

2. Lembcke and Tattam, One Union in Wood, 89–91.

 

For four or more authors, list only the first author in the note, followed by et al. (“and others”):

Books (Editor, translator, or compiler instead of author)

1. Richmond Lattimore, trans., The Iliad of Homer (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1951), 71–82.

2. Lattimore, Iliad, 34.

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Article in a print journal

1. Joshua I. Weinstein, “The Market in Plato’s Republic,” Classical Philology 104 (2009): 440.

2. Weinstein, “Plato’s Republic,” 452–53.

Article in an online journal/ journal article from a library database

Include a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) if the journal lists one. If no DOI is available, list a URL.

1. Ann Schofield, “Rebel Girls and Union Maids: The Woman Question in the Journals of the AFL and IWW, 1905–1920,” Feminist Studies 9 (1983): 335, accessed February 23, 2013, doi:10.1111/j.1468-0130.2008.00504.x.
2. Schofield, “Rebel Girls and Union Maids,” 345.

Article in a newspaper or popular magazine

If you consulted the article online, include a URL. Newspaper articles do not always identify an author; if that is the case, begin the citation with the article title.

1. Eric Bennett, “How Iowa Flattened Literature,” Chronicle Review, February 14, 2014, B6.

2. Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Robert Pear, “Wary Centrists Posing Challenge in Health Care Vote,” New York Times, February 27, 2010, accessed February 28, 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/us/politics/28health.html.

1. Bennett, “How Iowa Flattened Literature,” B6.

2. Stolberg and Pear, “Wary Centrists.”

Websites

Because websites change frequently, be sure to include an access date or, if available, a date that the site was last modified.

1. “Greater Naugatuck Valley History Consortium,” date accessed January 31, 2014, http://gnvhc.wordpress.com/.

2. “About,” Greater New Haven Labor History Association, accessed January 30, 2014, http://www.laborhistory.org/about.

3. “Greater Naugatuck Valley.”

4. “About.”

Generative AI

AI Model, Publisher of Model, date of content generation, URL. 

Example:

ChatGPT, OpenAI, March 7, 2023, https://chat.openai.com/chat.

Chicago Manual of Style

Download a Handout on Chicago-style Citation

Why Citation is Important

Plagiarism occurs when you use another person’s words or ideas and present them as your own, intentionally or unintentionally.

To find out more, you can watch this video.