myparaphrasing | Official Blog myparaphrasing | Official Blog
This blog post is yet another of the series that covers the most essential/basic components of the major writing styles that are used globally to communicate and disseminate research publications to the worldwide audience that can be fellow researchers, teachers, institutions, and policymakers (to name a few).
In this post, we would cover the basics of the Chicago citation style (Full title: The Chicago Manual of Style).
First, it is to note that the Chicago citation style was recently updated to the 17th edition in October 2017. There are some important updates that you can find here on the officially launched pdf update. Chicago citation has been developed by the University of Chicago and is used by millions of people including publication houses, writers, editors, institutions, and teachers. The style standardizes your writing to pass through an editorial cannon be it research or a standard publication such as a newspaper.
Two versions of the style
There are two versions of the Chicago citation styel: (1) Notes and bibliography, and (2) the Author-date.
Notes and bibliography version is usually widely used in the humanities area: such as arts, literature, and history. This system entails that the sources be cited as endnotes or footnotes that are numbered. These number correspond to a superscripted number in the document above. A separate bibliography is usually used for the sources. This system is preferred over the author-date system more because it can neatly accommodate a good number of sources (unusual ones).
The author-date system is usually widely used in the social sciences and natural sciences. Here, the in-text citation mention the brief version of the sources: author’s last name and publication (Smith, 2018) – just APA! A reference list at the end provides the full bibliographic information.
Basics
- Margins
- spaces
- font
- italics
- other formatting details
Chicago citation style leaves most of these formatting issues to the discretion of the instructor and/or the institution that you’re in. Most every time, the standard with the APA and MLA (standard font, double-spaced, 1″ margin, etc.) are conventionally followed here too.
Please verify with your instructor or the writing help center for this.
For a complete guide as how to cite a book, a journal article, a chapter, a website, social media platform, etc. please visit the official page of the style.
Please click this link for the 17th edition update from the official website of the CMS.
Should you be needing any further assistance in having your manuscript edited and formatted as per the CMS, please do no hesitate to reach us. We will be more than happy to help you with your work.