Chicago Citation Generator
This free Chicago citation generator follows the Chicago Manual of Style, 18th edition. Paste a DOI, web address, ISBN or title and get the footnote and the bibliography entry for notes and bibliography style, or switch to author-date. Check the details, then copy one source or your whole bibliography.
Or fill in the fields below by hand. Check every citation against the source before you submit.
Reference in Chicago 18th edition (notes and bibliography)
Look up a source or type a title and an author to see the citation.
Formatting by citeproc-js (CPAL-1.0) with Citation Style Language styles (CC BY-SA 3.0). Book data from Open Library, article data from Crossref, DataCite and PubMed. citeproc-js source code
Writing a thesis in LaTeX? Convert a Word or PDF draft into LaTeX with your notes intact.
Convert a fileWhat Is a Chicago Citation Generator?
Notes and Bibliography
In history, literature and the arts, Chicago marks each source with a superscript number that points to a footnote, and lists all sources in a bibliography. A Chicago citation generator writes both the note and the bibliography entry.
Author-Date for the Sciences
Chicago’s second system cites (Smith 2020, 15) in the text and lists sources in a reference list, much like APA. Choose Chicago author-date in the style menu to switch.
Following the 18th Edition
The Chicago citation generator uses the official style files for the 18th edition (2024), which drops the place of publication for books and prefers shortened notes to ibid.
Why Use Our Chicago Citation Generator?
Footnote and Bibliography Together
Every lookup shows the first full note and the bibliography entry side by side, so you can paste the note at the foot of the page and the entry at the end without retyping names.
An Alphabetical Bibliography
Add sources to the list and they are sorted by author surname, ready to paste under Bibliography with a hanging indent.
Try the general citation generatorChicago in LaTeX
For theses written in LaTeX, biblatex-chicago turns a .bib file into Chicago notes or author-date. Get a BibTeX entry for any DOI here.
Open DOI to BibTeXHow to Use It in 3 Steps
Step 1: Paste a Source
Paste a DOI, URL, ISBN, PMID or title into the Chicago citation generator and press Cite, or pick a source type and type the details.
Step 2: Choose Notes or Author-Date
Keep notes and bibliography for humanities papers, or switch the style to Chicago author-date if your field or teacher asks for in-text citations.
Step 3: Copy the Note and Entry
Paste the note into a footnote at the right place in your text, then add the entry to your bibliography list and copy it when every source is in.
Convert your thesis to LaTeXOfficial references: The Chicago Manual of Style · biblatex-chicago (CTAN)
Chicago Citation Generator FAQ
- How to do Chicago style citation?
- In notes and bibliography style, put a superscript number after the sentence, write the full note at the foot of the page, and list the source in an alphabetical bibliography. The Chicago citation generator writes the note and entry for you.
- How to do Chicago style in text citations?
- In author-date style, give the author’s surname, the year and the page with no comma before the year: (Smith 2020, 15). In notes and bibliography style, the in-text marker is a superscript number pointing to a footnote.
- How to do Chicago style citation in Google Docs?
- Google Docs’ Tools > Citations includes Chicago author-date only. For footnotes, use Insert > Footnote and paste the note from the Chicago citation generator. No browser extension is needed for either.
- What is Chicago style citation?
- The referencing rules in the Chicago Manual of Style, published by the University of Chicago Press. It has two systems: notes and bibliography, used in the humanities, and author-date, used in the sciences.
- Does Chicago style use footnotes or in text citations?
- Both, depending on the system. Notes and bibliography uses numbered footnotes or endnotes; author-date uses parenthetical in-text citations. Use the one your instructor or publisher asks for, and do not mix them.
- What does Chicago style citation look like?
- A bibliography entry for a journal article: LeCun, Yann, Yoshua Bengio, and Geoffrey Hinton. “Deep Learning.” Nature 521, no. 7553 (2015): 436–44. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14539.
- Where does the page number go in Chicago style citation?
- At the end of the note, after a comma: Smith, Title, 15. In author-date, after the year and a comma: (Smith 2020, 15). The bibliography gives page ranges only for articles and chapters.
- Are MLA and Chicago citations the same?
- No. MLA cites author and page in parentheses and lists Works Cited. Chicago notes style uses numbered footnotes and a Bibliography, and Chicago author-date adds the year: (Smith 2020, 15).
- Do Chicago citations have hanging indent?
- Bibliography and reference list entries do: the first line is flush left and the rest are indented 0.5 inch. Footnotes are the opposite, with the first line indented like a paragraph.
- How to Chicago style citation a website?
- Author. “Page Title.” Website Name. Month Day, Year. URL. Add an access date only if the page shows no date. Paste the URL into the Chicago citation generator to fill this in.
- How to Chicago style citation a book?
- Bibliography: Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book. Publisher, Year. Note: Firstname Lastname, Title of Book (Publisher, Year), page. The 18th edition no longer needs the place of publication.
- How to cite a citation within a citation Chicago?
- Name both works with quoted in: Freud, Interpretation of Dreams, 45, quoted in Jones, Life of Freud, 112. Cite the original directly whenever you can find it.
- How to do Chicago author date citation?
- Write (Surname Year, page) in the text and list sources in a reference list, with the year right after the author. Choose Chicago author-date in the style menu above to get both.
- How to do Chicago style citation bibliography?
- Title a new page Bibliography and list every source alphabetically by author surname, each with a hanging indent. Add your sources to the list in the Chicago citation generator and copy them together.
- How to Chicago style citation a YouTube video?
- Creator or channel, “Video Title,” YouTube video, length, Month Day, Year, URL. Choose Web page as the type and put the channel in the author field.
- What is DOI in Chicago citation?
- A Digital Object Identifier, a permanent link for a published article or book. Chicago prefers it to a URL and writes it at the end as https://doi.org/ followed by the DOI.
- Does this Chicago citation generator use the 18th edition?
- Yes. It uses the official CSL styles for the Chicago Manual of Style, 18th edition (2024), for both notes and bibliography and author-date.
- How do I cite a PDF in Chicago style?
- Cite the book, article or report the PDF contains, not the file. Paste the DOI or ISBN printed in it, or add the URL where you found the PDF.
Have a whole page of notes, a scan or a PDF? Convert it to LaTeX that compiles.
Convert a file