• 3-minute read
• 7th July 2018

Chicago Referencing – How to Format Repeat Citations

Chicago referencing is a great way of citing sources in an essay. But does writing out a footnote every time feel like a chore? Then we have good news for you! Repeat citations in Chicago footnote referencing can be shortened to save time and prevent repetition. But how does this work? In this post, we look at how to format repeat citations in your work.

Footnote Citations

In Chicago footnote referencing, after giving full source information in the first footnote, you can shorten subsequent citations of the same source to prevent repetition. These shortened footnotes should include the author’s surname, a shortened title, and the page(s) cited:

1. Michael Bragg, The History of Physics in Our Time (London: R4 Publications, 2002), 189.
2. Wang Fei, A Golden Age: Science in Pre-Qing China (New York: Penguin Books, 2010), 23.
3. Bragg, The History of Physics in Our Time, 200.

The third footnote above is a repeat citation of the first. If citing two people with the same surname in your work, make sure to include the initial of the person you are citing again as well as their surname.

In addition, when citing the same source repeatedly, you can shorten the citation even further to just the author’s name and a page number:

1. Michael Bragg, The History of Physics in Our Time (London: R4 Publications, 2002), 189.
2. Wang Fei, A Golden Age: Science in Pre-Qing China (New York: Penguin Books, 2010), 23.
3. Bragg, The History of Physics in Our Time, 200.
4. Bragg, The History of Physics in Our Time, 112.
5. Fei, A Golden Age, 235.
6. Fei, 117.
7. Bragg, The History of Physics in Our Time, 12.

The key is making sure the source you’re citing is clear each time.

Author–Date Referencing

Chicago also sets out an author–date system. If you are using this referencing style, you can cite the same source more than once by simply repeating the in-text citation. For instance:

The exclusion principle is key to the development of quantum physics (Bragg 2002). Its formulation by Wolfgang Pauli in 1925 was a ‘decisive contribution’ to the history of science (Bragg 2002, 189).

To avoid errors with this system, then, all you need to do is:

• Check that all quotations are accompanied by the correct page number.
• Make sure names and years are consistent in repeat citations of sources.

And if you’d like any extra help making sure the referencing in your work is correct, we have expert proofreaders available. Sign up for a 500-word free trial to find out how our proofreading service works.