The Chicago Manual of Style contains two citation styles: Author-Date and Notes-Bibliography. Notes-Bibliography is the most commonly used of the two at Wells College, and is therefore the focus of this guide. For information on Author-Date Style, contact your librarians or view The Chicago Manual of Style located in the Ready Reference collection at the circulation desk.
The Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) is the most commonly used method of source documentation in history courses, although some humanities courses may also require this method. Research in history emphasizes the origins of sources, therefore footnotes and/or endnotes are used to show on-page where a particular reference was derived. This “Quick Guide” offers examples and guidelines for the general format of CMS research papers, notes, and bibliographies based on the Chicago Manual of Style 17th edition.
The basic format for CMS is citations provided in footnotes or endnotes supplemented by a bibliography. The notes are numbered and correspond to numbers in the text, provided in superscript.
The basic structure of a footnote is generally author, title, and facts of publication. These elements are separated by commas, and the facts of publication are enclosed in parentheses. The page number is also provided when referencing a particular passage.
The basic structure of a bibliographic entry is the same as the footnote structure, with the exception that the elements are separated by periods and the publication information is not enclosed in parentheses.