Chicago Style Footnotes
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The Chicago Humanities style does not use parenthetical citations. Chicago Scientific, on the other hand, calls for parenthetical citations with no footnotes.
Footnotes and parenthetical citations examples as per the Chicago Manual of Style. Learn the basics here, and then use our footnoter tool to automatically insert footnotes into your next paper.
For a book:
Your topic? The Cardiff Giant hoax that mesmerized America in the nineteenth century.
You write: It only took scientist O. C. Marsh twenty minutes to figure out the mystery of the giant, supposedly a three-hundred-year-old statue.
The footnote in Chicago Humanities will look like this:
1Mark Jaffe, The Gilded Dinosaur: The Fossil War Between E.D. Cope and O.C. Marsh and the Rise of American Science (New York: Crown Publishers, 2000), 1-8.
Here’s the Chicago Humanities abbreviated footnote format:
2Jaffe, The Gilded Dinosaur: The Fossil War Between E.D. Cope and O.C. Marsh and the Rise of American Science, 1-8.
In Chicago Scientific, it will look like this –
It only took scientist O. C. Marsh twenty minutes to figure out the mystery of the giant, supposedly a three-hundred-year-old statue. (Jaffe 2000, 1-8)
For a book section:
Same topic. Same book. Somewhat different footnote form.
In Chicago Humanities, the footnote will look like this:
1Mark Jaffe, "Chapter One," in The Gilded Dinosaur: The Fossil War Between E.D. Cope and O.C. Marsh and the Rise of American Science, 1 - 8. (New York: Crown Publishers, 2000).
An abbreviated footnote in Chicago Humanities:
2Jaffe, 1-8.
In Chicago Scientific, it will look like this –
It only took scientist O. C. Marsh twenty minutes to figure out the mystery of the giant, supposedly a three-hundred-year-old statue. (Jaffe 2000, 1-8)
For an encyclopedia:
You’re doing a paper that covers advances in medicine. In it, you use information from The Columbia Encyclopedia.
The footnote in Chicago Humanities will look like this:
“Human Genome Project,” in The Columbia Encyclopedia, ed. Paul Lagasse (New York: Columbia University Press, 2004), 6:22847.
It’s looks the same in Chicago Scientific.
“Human Genome Project,” in The Columbia Encyclopedia, ed. Paul Lagasse (New York: Columbia University Press, 2004), 6:22847.
As an abbreviated footnote.
In Chicago Scientific, it will look like this –
The Human Genome Project was 83 percent complete in 2000 after ten years of mapping the twenty-three pairs of human chromosomes. Genes for such diseases as a type of breast cancer, cystic fibrosis, Huntington’s disease and neurofibromatosis were located. (Columbia University, 22847)
For a journal item:
Slogging around for material on American war memorials, you happen across an American Forests journal item by Gabriela Rodrigues detailing Memorial Trees. These were planted to honor the soldiers of World War I and later the Second World War and victims of the 9-11 terrorist attacks.
The footnote would look this this in Chicago Humanities –
1Gabriela Rodrigues, "Preserving history by saving sycamores," American Forests.
The abbreviated footnote in Chicago Humanities format:
2Rodrigues.
In Chicago Scientific, it will look like this –
War memorials sometimes fall victim to neglect or vandalism. Thirty-three Memorial Trees planted in a small town in Pennsylvania in honor of veterans of World War I were almost toppled by chainsaws. (Rodrigues)
For a magazine article:
Your professor wants a paper on the great American political system. You’ve narrowed the topic to the 2008 presidential election. Still a large subject, you whittled even further to the campaign strategies of front runners Hillary Clinton and Rudolph Guiliani. You find an excellent article in The New Yorker by P. J. Boyer, Mayberry Man: Why the heartland likes Rudy Giuliani.
The footnote will look like this in Chicago Humanities–
1Peter Boyer, "Mayberry Man: Why the heartland likes Rudy Giuliani," The New Yorker, August 20, 2007, 44-61.
An abbreviated footnote in Chicago Humanities –
2Boyer, "Mayberry Man: Why the heartland likes Rudy Giuliani," 44-61.
In Chicago Scientific, it will look like this –
Rudy Giuliani learned an important lesson about politicking from a real pro, longtime New York attorney general, Louis Lefkowitz. They were working the streets of Manhattan when a man questioned Guiliani on one of his positions, a position the man opposed. Giuliani spent a long time trying to change the man’s opinion. Finally Lefkowitz put his arm around the inexperienced candidate and said, “Hey kid, you’re not gonna get this guy’s vote.”("The New Yorker," 2007)
For a newspaper article:
In a paper examining the problems in the airline industry, you bring up the computer snafu at Los Angeles International Airport in August 2007.
“Planes were held up for hours because of glitch in the United States Customs and Border Protection agency’s computers. Seventeen thousand passengers were affected all because of a network card in a desktop computer that wasn’t working properly.”
You picked this up from a New York Times article.
The footnote will look like this inChicago Humanities,–
1John Schwartz, "Who Needs Hackers?," New York Times, September 12, 2007, H1, H7.
An abbreviated footnote in the Chicago Humanities format –
2Schwartz, "Who Needs Hackers?," Hi, H7.
In Chicago Scientific, it will look like this–
Planes were held up for hours because of glitch in the United States Customs and Border Protection agency’s computers. Seventeen thousand passengers were affected all because of a network card in a desktop computer that wasn’t working properly. (Schwartz 2007)
For a Web site:
Your paper deals with how to get fit. You examine different devices and their promises of firmer thighs and so on. You conclude that the best way to get your body looking better is to work out more and properly.
As an example, you use abdominal exercises.
“Many people fall for the ab stimulators. They’re good in physical therapy for soft-tissue injuries. Pretty much useless for working your abs. Instead, do a circuit of exercises that include knee touches, ankle smacks, hip thrusts, butterfly sit-ups, and others.”
You discovered all this information on a YouTube page.
The footnote will look like this in Chicago Humanities–
1Jackdanyells, "How to workout Your Abs Without Buying Stupid Crap", http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrUUEujszlY.
Chicago Humanities doesn’t abbreviate Web site footnotes.
In Chicago Scientific, it will look like this:
Many people fall for the ab stimulators. They’re good in physical therapy for soft-tissue injuries. Pretty much useless for working your abs. Instead, do a circuit of exercises that include knee touches, ankle smacks, hip thrusts, butterfly sit-ups, and others. (Jackdanyells)
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