Note: This is an advanced guide to Chicago (CMoS) Author-Date Citations, useful for professional editors, academics, and students looking to bump up their grades with flawless referencing! If you’re new to Chicago and feel a little lost, check out our introduction to Chicago referencing. For extra help from Chicago experts, try our student proofreading services for free, or learn more about our editing services for businesses.
The Chicago Manual of Style (CMoS) uses both a footnote and bibliography system and an author-date system to cite sources.
This guide is to the author-date approach. You can access the CMoS notes and bibliography guide here.
This guide includes all information related to CMoS 17th ed. The customer should use this (the most up-to-date) edition, but please watch out for any customer comments saying that they’re using an older one.
You should also pay attention to the requested dialect (usually US, Australian, or UK English) and note:
CMoS author-date uses in-text citations to credit a source. The most basic form is the author’s last name and year followed by a comma and page number(s).
No date (n.d.)
If a source has no date, use “n.d.” in the citation and corresponding reference list entry.
Page numbers
Include a page number in the citation if a direct quote or paraphrasing is used in the text. Do not use “p.” in front of the page numbers. If a page range is needed, use an en dash.
The citation for a direct quote or paraphrasing can go in two places: with the author name at the beginning of the citation or directly following the quote or paraphrasing.
Repeating or subsequent citations
If the same source is referenced without another intervening citation and they are close to each other, the customer may use a shortened citation (only the page number) or ibid. (ibid., page number). CMoS recommends that, if you do use ibid., you should do so consistently.
Avoid overusing either form. For example, the occasional ibid. or page number without the author name is appropriate in an extended discussion in a work of fiction, but you should make sure that it is clear to the reader which source you are citing.
Organization as author (reference list and in-text citations)
Corporate (group/organizational) authors are given at the start of bibliographic entries even if the publisher is the same as the author.
If a group/organization’s name is given as an acronym in in-text citations, the acronym should be used in the reference list as well (to make it easier to find), with the full name given in parentheses afterward.
NISO (National Information Standards Organization). 2010. Bibliographic References. ANSI/NISO Z39.29-2005. Bethesda, MD: NISO, approved June 9, 2005; reaffirmed May 13, 2010.
Pseudonym authors
If the author’s real name is not known, write [pseud.] following the pseudonym in the reference list ([pseud.] is usually omitted in in-text citations, however). If the author’s real name is known, write their real name in square brackets instead.
In the case of common pseudonyms, you would usually omit the author’s real name, but it can be included if the customer wishes.
If two authors share the same last name and have works from the same year, use their initials to differentiate them in in-text citations.
Comaroff, Jean. 1993. Modernity and Its Malcontents: Ritual and Power in Postcolonial Africa. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Comaroff, Bob. 1993. Of Revelation and Revolution. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
If multiple entries are written by the same author, list them chronologically and use the 3-em dash to replace the author’s name after the first entry for that author.
If multiple entries are written by the same author and are from the same year, use YYYYa, YYYYb, etc. to differentiate the works in the reference list and the in-text citations. Entries with the same author and year should be listed alphabetically according to the first main word in the title (i.e., ignore articles).
NB: If two (or more) sources are by the same two (or more) authors, only use a, b, etc. if their names are in the same order for both sources. If the sources swap name orders, do not use a, b, etc.; treat them as normal.
Fogel, Robert William. 2004a. The Escape from Hunger and Premature Death, 1700–2100: Europe, America, and the Third World. New York: Cambridge University Press.
———. 2004b. “Technophysio Evolution and the Measurement of Economic Growth.” Journal of Evolutionary Economics 14, no. 2 (June): 217–21. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00191-004-0188-x.
If two or more sources are cited in the same in-text citation, list them alphabetically by the first author and add a semicolon to separate them.
If an in-text citation is citing multiple works by the same author, list the years following the author’s last name chronologically, separated by commas. If the citation gives multiple years and page numbers, list the page number after the year and following a comma and use a semicolon to separate that work from the next. See the examples below for clarification.
There is no corporate or individual author provided for your source, start the reference list entry with the title of the source (ordered alphabetically. In the in-text citation, use a shortened version of the title (up to four words including articles or prepositions).
Works that have “Anonymous” listed as the author should be cited accordingly and listed in the reference list alphabetically. However, do not put “anonymous” for a source with no attributed author.
Secondary sources are not encouraged but may be necessary if the original source is not available. In these cases, the source given in the reference list is the one that is quoted. In the in-text citation, you should mention the original work in the text itself and provide “(quoted in Author YYYY)” as the citation.
Costello, Bonnie. 1981. Marianne Moore: Imaginary Possessions. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
CMoS author-date uses a reference list on a separate page at the end of a document. All works cited in the text should point to a full reference entry in the reference list. Exceptions to this include personal communications (e.g., emails and social media posts), well-known encyclopedias and dictionaries, and web pages.
The reference list should begin at the end of a document (before the index) and on a separate page. It should be titled “References” at the top of the page.
The reference list should be single spaced and use hanging indents.
Reference list entries should be listed alphabetically by the first author’s last name, organization name, titles, descriptions in square brackets, or abbreviations (i.e., whatever the reference list entry begins with).
The biggest difference between CMoS author-date and notes and bibliography is the placement of the date of a source (pay close attention to this detail).
In author-date, the year of publication of a source directly follows the author’s(/s’) name(s) and is followed by a period. If a source lists a month and day/season (e.g., journal articles or online sources), this information should go later in the reference (see the example reference list entry for specific formatting guidelines).
For sources with no date (n.d.), such as web pages, use an “Accessed” or “Modified” date in the entry (see the specific reference list entry for specific formatting guidelines).
Author Names
The first author listed in a source is written in Last Name, First Name order. All other authors and contributors’ names are written in First and Last Name order.
“And” is used between two/the last two authors, not an ampersand
Dates
If available, the year a source was written or published, as appropriate, should appear in all reference entries.
If an accessed date or modification date is needed for a source (e.g., for an online source), it should go before the URL and should take the following form: Month Day, Year (e.g., Accessed April 24, 2023).
Titles
Titles are written in title case unless they are in a language other than English.
Titles of large works are italicized.
Short works, such as articles or chapters of a book, and unpublished works, such as working papers, use quotation marks.
When to Use Abbreviations
Noun forms such as editor, translator, volume, and edition are abbreviated in a reference entry, but verb forms (e.g., edited by, translated by) are spelled out.
Punctuation
Elements are separated by periods. See the examples for more specific formatting guidelines.
Printed media references and in-text citations follow the basic CMoS formats outlined thus far in the guide.
Author Last Name, First Name. Year. Title of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher.
Strayed, Cheryl. 2012. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Author Last Name, First Name. Year. “Chapter of Book.” In Title of Book, edited by Editor First and Last Name, Page Range. Publisher Location: Publisher.
Gould, Glenn. 1984. “Streisand as Schwarzkopf.” In The Glenn Gould Reader, edited by Tim Page, 308–11. New York: Vintage Books.
Author Last Name, First Name. Year. “Title of Article.” Name of Journal volume no., issue no. # (Month/season): page range.
Bagley, Benjamin. 2015. “Loving Someone in Particular.” Ethics 125, no. 2 (January): 477–507.
Audiovisual media may have other contributors, such as performers, directions, composers, featured artists, etc. List other contributors’ roles using the abbreviation guidelines given earlier (i.e., nouns are abbreviated and verbs are written out).
Director Last Name, First Name, dir. Release year. Film Title. Distributor details, year of edition cited. Format/URL
Shankman, Adam, dir. 2007. Hairspray. New York City, NY: New Line Cinema. https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B01DDOQA44/.
Last Name, First Name, role. Year. Name of TV Show. Season and Episode number, “Episode Title.” Featured contributors. Date and channel of first airing. Medium or URL.
Morgan, Peter, writer. 2019. The Crown. Season 3, episode 3, “Aberfan.” Directed by Benjamin Caron. Aired November 17 on Netflix. https://www.netflix.com/watch/80215733.
Artist Last Name, First Name, role. Date. “Title of Song.” Featured contributors. Song location, Publisher, format, additional information.
Holiday, Billie, vocalist. 1958. “I’m a Fool to Want You.” By Joel Herron, Frank Sinatra, and Jack Wolf. Recorded February 20, 1958, with Ray Ellis. Track 1 on Lady in Satin. Columbia CL 1157, 33⅓ rpm.
Online sources may require an accessed or modification date. If there is no date, use n.d. in place of the year.
Keep in mind that website pages do not have to be listed in the reference list and can just be mentioned in the text. This is up to the discretion of the customer. Keep a consistent approach and follow the customer’s lead in this situation.
Author Last Name, First Name. Year. “Title of Article.” Name of Journal volume no., issue no. (Month/season): page range. DOI/URL/Database Name.
Liu, Jui-Ch’i. 2015. “Beholding the Feminine Sublime: Lee Miller’s War Photography.” Signs 40, no. 2 (Winter): 308–19. https://doi.org/10.1086/678242.
Organization/Author Last Name, First Name. Year. “Title of Webpage.” Accessed Date. URL.
Alliance for Linguistic Diversity. n.d. “Balkan Romani.” Endangered Languages. Accessed April 6, 2016. http://www.endangeredlanguages.com/lang/5342.
Author Last Name, First Name. Year. “Title of Video.” Filmed Date at Filming Location. Video, Video Length. URL.
Lyiscott, Jamila. 2014. “3 Ways to Speak English.” Filmed February 2014 in New York, NY. TED video, 4:29. https://www.ted.com/talks/jamila_lyiscott_3_ways_to_speak_english.
Author Last Name, First Name. Year. Title of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher. URL/Database Name.
Borel, Brooke. 2016. The Chicago Guide to Fact-Checking. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ProQuest Ebrary.
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