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Citation Help: Chicago AD

Chicago Author-Date, 17th Edition

Cite in two places, in the text and at the end of the paper.

  • Parenthetical in-text citations (author date) appear in parentheses at the end of a sentence before the period. A page number may be added, following a comma (author date, page number).
  • A References page at the end of the document has full citations in alphabetical order formatted with a hanging indent. 
  • In a References list, if you have multiple sources with exactly the same author(s), use a 3em dash (---) instead of the author's name for the second and subsequent citations.

Every in-text citation must correspond with a full citation on the References page, and vice versa. You can't include a source in your references list if you don't also cite it in your paper.

Sample Reference Entries

Books

Author Last Name, First Name and Second Author First Name Last Name. Publication Year. Book Title: Subtitle. City of Publication: Publisher. URL/DOI.

Brown, Lyle C. and Kyle Miller. 2018. Practicing Texas Politics. Toronto: Cengage Learning. 

Book Chapters

Author Last Name, First Name and Second Author First Name Last Name. Publication Year. “Book Chapter Title.” In Title of Book, edited by Firstname Lastname, page number - page number. City of Publication: Publisher. URL/DOI/Medium.

Samples, John. 2006. “The Origins of Modern Campaign Finance Law.” In The Fallacy of Campaign Finance Reform, edited by Sierra Schuman, 56-63. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Journal Articles

Last Name, First Name. Publication Year. "Article Title." Italicized Journal Title volume number (issue number or month): page numbers. DOI or URL or Name of Database in Title Case. 

Barndt, William T. 2014. "Corporation-based Parties: The Present and Future of Business Politics in Latin America." Latin American Politics and Society 56 (3), 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-2456.2014.00237.x.

Farrell, Grace. 2006. “Beneath the Suffrage Narrative.” Canadian Review of American Studies 36 (1). Project MUSE.

Newspaper or Magazine Articles

Author Last Name, Author First Name. Year. “Title of Article in Title Case.” Title of Newspaper or Magazine in Title Case and Italics, full date of publication. DOI or URL or Name of Database in Title Case.

Ramsey, Ross. 2022. "Analysis: In Texas Elections in 2022, Economic Concerns Loom." Texas Tribune, April 4, 2022. https://www.texastribune.org/2022/04/04/texas-2022-economy/

Websites

Last name, First name or Organization Name. Publication Date/Revision. "Title of Page." Site Name. Access Date. Site URL. 

Center for American Women and Politics. 2022. "Women's Vote Watch." CAWP. Accessed January 3, 2022.  https://cawp.rutgers.edu/facts/voters/womens-vote-watch

Columbia University. n.d. “History.” Accessed May 15, 2017. http://www.columbia.edu/content/history.html.

Examples of In-Text Citations

In-text citations appear at the end of the sentence before the period.

Parenthetical Citations

  • One author: (Brown 2018, 30)
  • Two authors: (Grazer and Fishman 2015, 12)
  • Three or more authors: (Berkman, Bauer, and Nold 2011)
  • Website or corporate author: (Center for American Women and Politics 2022).
  • Two or more citations in a row: (Esarey and Wood 2018; Brown 2018)

Narrative Citations

If the author's name is included in the text, you only include the publication year and the page numbers in parentheses after the author's name. Compare the examples below:

  • Despite observations to the contrary in popular media, many continue to believe that the United States is a nation of political moderates (Brown 2018, 30).
  • According to Brown (2018, 30), despite observations to the contrary in popular media, many continue to believe that the United States is a nation of political moderates.

Direct Quotations

For short quotations of fewer than 100 words, add quotation marks around the words and incorporate the quote into your own text. Include the date and the page number with the parenthetical citation.

  • Frederick M. Dolan (2018, 15) states that "...deconstructionists point to the way in which the allegedly serious, literal discourses of everyday life are in fact permeated with symbolic, fictional constructs and conventional, ritualized meanings" which can be interpreted as...

Resources for Chicago Manual of Style

Political Science

The American Political Science Association (APSA) uses a variation of Chicago AD, with additional support for formats typical to the discipline.

One main difference is the treatment of book chapters in collected editions:

Hermann, Margaret G. 1984. “Personality and Foreign Policy Decision Making: A Study of Fifty-Three Heads of Government.” In Foreign Policy Decision Making, eds. Donald A. Sylvan and Steve Chan, 133–52. New York: Praeger.