Citation & Reference Guide

For every source you cite in the text of your paper (see the Footnotes & Quotations page), there must be a corresponding reference in your bibliography. Footnotes and complete references share, for the most part, the same information. But there are some stylistic differences. 

This page shows you how to format your bibliography. For full information on bibliographies, consult sections 14.61-14.71 (pp. 776-784) in the Chicago Manual of Style, 17th Edition, 2017.

Formatting the Bibliography 

Here are some general guidelines to help you format your bibliography. To find out how to represent specific types of works, consult the Chicago Citations and References page. 

• Put your bibliography at the end of your paper, on a separate page. Include the title Bibliography at the top center of the page.
• Each reference is presented with a hanging indent, which means that all lines after the first line of the entry must be indented by 1/2 inch (five spaces) from the left margin of the page.
• Bibliography entries are double-spaced, but single-spacing is used within each entry. 

Authors

• Arrange bibliography entries alphabetically by the author's last name.
• Use "and" not "&" for multiple author entries. 

Titles

• Use quotation marks or italics for titles depending on the type of work it is. 

Publication Date & Publisher

• If no publication date is listed on a work, write n.d. (for no date) in parentheses where the publication date would normally be indicated in the bibliography entry. 
• If no publisher is listed on a work, write n.p. (for no publisher) without parentheses where the publisher would normally be indicated in the bibliography entry. 
• Write out the publisher's name in full. 

Web Address and Digital Object Identifiers

• Whenever possible, include a URL or DOI in your reference. 
• Always add a period after your URLs and DOIs. 

To find out what a bibliography done in the Chicago Citation Style look like, consult the following link:

Certain words may be abbreviated in your bibliography.

Here is a list of commonly used abbreviations that are accepted in the Chicago Style. For full information on abbreviations, consult chapter 10 of the The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th Edition, 2017.

Here are guidelines for writing place names in your bibliography. A place name is normally found before the name of a publisher to indicate where a specific work was published. The guidelines for place names can be found in sections 8.44-8.59 (pp. 478-485) of The Chicago Manual of Style:

If the city of publication of a work is not well known or may be confused with another city of the same name, include the abbreviation for the state, province, or country in which that city is located. Use the two-letter postal codes for Canadian provinces and territories, and American states. The capital of the United States, Washington, is always followed by the abbreviation "DC". For example:

If the city of publication is well known, an abbreviation for the state, province, or country is not required. For example:

A digital object identifier, or DOI, is a unique alphanumeric code assigned to an online article. This code helps you quickly identify and locate that article on the web. Some electronic books can also have DOIs.

A DOI is typically found on the first page of an article/book or in the article/book's record in a database. If you are unable to find it, use the free DOI lookup by crossref.org. Please note that not all online articles and e-books are assigned a DOI.

If a DOI is listed with an electronic article or an e-book, make sure to include it in your reference. This piece of information will make it easier for readers of your research paper to find that article/book.

Here is an example of a DOI:

     doi:10.1037/0278-6133.24.2.225

If you have a DOI number and want to find the article or book that it is associated with, simply enter it in the search box on crossref.org.