Chicago A (footnote)

A footnote or endnote lists the author, title, and facts of publication in that order. Notes are usually numbered and correspond to superscript note reference numbers in the text (E.g. ¹).

Footnotes are located at the bottom of each page where you have cited a resource. Endnotes are located in their own section of a document, following the text. This guide focuses on footnotes.

The details included in a footnote will depend on what type of resource is being cited. Each resource type page of this guide includes a footnote template. Generally:

• Authors’ names are presented in standard order (e.g. Kristin Otto)
• Titles are capitalised in headline-style (e.g. Yarra: A Diverting History)
• Titles of larger works (e.g. books and journals) are italicised
• Titles of smaller works (e.g. chapters, articles, webpages) are enclosed in quotation marks and not italicised (e.g. “The World is Not Enough”)

Full details are included in a footnote the first time you mention a resource:

1. Kristin Otto, Yarra: A Diverting History (Text Publishing, 2009), 12.

An Shortened footnote is provided for subsequent mentions of a resource:

2. Otto, Yarra, 23.

The Chicago Manual advises that superscript numbers¹ should be used in text, and footnote numbers in the footer should be full size with a period, e.g. 1. However, your word processor and Zotero will automatically use superscript to number your footnotes. This template cannot be effectively changed in Word or Google Docs, but it is possible to manually resize footnote numbers in Word by highlighting and removing superscript if important for editorial purposes. The library advises aiming for consistency within your own work.

The use of ibid is no longer recommended. Shortened citations are now acceptable for subsequent footnotes (Section 13.37 Shortened citations versus “ibid”).

See also: 13.32 - When to use shortened citations'.
13.33 - Basic structure of the short form.
13.34 - Cross-reference to full citation within the manual.

Insert a footnote number

In Microsoft Word

Place your cursor where you would like your footnote number to appear.

Select the References tab in the navigation ribbon, then ‘insert footnote’. Word will automatically place your footnote in the footer of the page.

Footnotes will be automatically ordered and reordered as you write and edit your text.

In Google Docs

Place your cursor where you would like your footnote number to appear.

Select the Insert tab, and then ‘Footnote’. Google Docs will automatically place your footnote in the footer of the page.

Footnotes will be automatically ordered and reordered as you write and edit your text.

Where do I place the footnote number?

The footnote number (or superscript) always goes after punctuation.

• This is correct.¹
• "This is correct."¹
• This is incorrect¹.
• "This is incorrect.¹"

Citations will look different depending on the number of authors a resource has. The following guidance for citing a resource with multiple authors applies to all resource types. See Manual 13.78.

Two authors or editors

When citing a resource with two authors or editors, include both of their names in your footnote entry.

1. Leslie Hill and Helen Paris, Devising Theatre and Performance: Curious Methods (Intellect Books, 2021), 102.

2. Hill and Paris, Devising Theatre and Performance, 140-1.

Include both authors’ names in the bibliography entry. Invert the first listed author’s name to Surname, First Name.

Hill, Leslie, and Helen Paris. Devising Theatre and Performance: Curious Methods. Intellect Books, 2021.

Three to six authors or editors

When citing a resource with three to six authors, list only the first author’s name in your footnote, followed by et al. Et al. means 'and others'.

This footnote example is from a resource without page numbers, so a section heading is used instead.

1. Jennifer Sullivan Sulewski et al., “Art and Disability: Intersecting Identities Among Young Artists with Disabilities,” Disability Studies Quarterly 32, no. 1 (2012), under “The Role of Disability Arts,”  https://doi.org/10.18061/dsq.v32i1.3034.

2. Sulewski et al., “Art and Disability,” under “The Role of Disability Arts.”

Include all authors’ names in the bibliography entry. Invert the first listed author’s name to Surname, First Name.

Sulewski, Jennifer Sullivan, Heike Boeltzig, and Rooshey Hasnain. “Art and Disability: Intersecting Identities among Young Artists with Disabilities.” Disability Studies Quarterly 32, no. 1 (2012): https://doi.org/10.18061/dsq.v32i1.3034.

More than six authors or editors

When citing a resource with more than six authors or editors, list only the first author in your footnote, followed by et al.

1. Gawaian Bodkin-Andrews et al., “Exposing the Patterns of Statistical Blindness: Centring Indigenous Standpoints on Student Identity, Motivation, and Future Aspirations,” Australian Journal of Education 61, no. 3 (2017): 225, https://doi.org/10.1177/0004944117731360.

2. Bodkin-Andrews et al., “Exposing the Patterns of Statistical Blindness”, 226-7.

List only the first three authors in the bibliography entry, followed by "et al." Invert the first author’s name to Surname, First Name.

Bodkin-Andrew, Gawaian, Alison Whittaker, Neil Harrison et al. “Exposing the Patterns of Statistical Blindness: Centring Indigenous Standpoints on Student Identity, Motivation, and Future Aspirations.” Australian Journal of Education 61, no. 3 (2017): 225-49. https://doi.org/10.1177/0004944117731360.

No author

If there is no listed author or the author is anonymous, the footnote and bibliography entires should begin instead with the title of the resource.

If the title of the work begins with "The" or "A", use the next word to alphabetise the entry in your bibliography.

See Manual 13.81.

Organisation as author

If a resource published by an organisation has no individual author, the organisation is credited as the author in footnote and bibliography citations. This may mean that the name of the organisation is listed twice in a citation: once as the author, and once as the publisher.

See Manual 13.86.

The bibliography:

• Lists each of your resources in alphabetical order by author surname
• Begins on its own page at the end of your writing
• Is formatted with a hanging indent, with each item beginning on a new line
• Can be divided into sections (e.g. primary and secondary sources)

Bibliography entries are different to footnotes. Elements are separated by full stops instead of commas, and publishing details are not enclosed in parentheses.

Authors names are inverted to Surname, First Name. When there are multiple authors, only the first author's name is inverted.

Otto, Kristin. Yarra: A Diverting History. Text Publishing, 2009.

View the sample bibliography.

Image captions

Provide a caption for each image and figure included in your work.

Image captions follow the same basic format:

Figure number. Artist/Creator, Title, year.

Fig. 1. Yayoi Kusama, Tender are the stairs to heaven, 2004.

Additional comments and details can be added at the end of a caption.

The titles of artworks should be capitalised as presented by the artist.

In your writing, introduce the image and figure number.

In Yayoi Kusama's sculptural installation, Tender are the stairs to heaven (Figure 1), a fibre-optic ladder ascends into mirrored infinity.

The list of figures:

• Is only necessary if you are including images or figures in your work
• Lists the citation details of each image in order of appearance in your work
• Usually appears before your essay on its own page, but can also appear as a section of a bibliography
• Is formatted with a hanging indent

Each list of figures entry will look different depending on the source of your image. Templates for image captions and list of figures entries can be found under including images in your work.

Example list of figures entry:

Fig.1. Kusama, Yayoi. Tender are the stairs to heaven. 2004. Synthetic polymer resin mirror, plywood, painted plywood, fibre optic cable, transformer, metal chain, aluminium, 420.4 × 119.8 cm diameter (installation). National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/83910/.

View the sample list of figures.

Page numbers are included in footnotes to direct your reader to the specific section of the resource that you are referring to. If you are referring to multiple pages, use for example:

• 431–32 for consecutive pages
• 431, 441 for separate pages

In the bibliography, no page numbers are given for books. For journal articles, the page range of the article is given (e.g. 456-470). Do not use ‘p’ or ‘pp’ before the page numbers.

See Manual 13.20, 14.49, 14.71.

When there are no page numbers

Some resources won’t have page numbers. Instead, you can choose to include a chapter number (e.g. chap. 10), paragraph number (para. 4), or section heading (under “Section Heading”).

Example footnotes with section headings instead of page numbers:

1. Jennifer Sullivan Sulewski et al., “Art and Disability: Intersecting Identities Among Young Artists with Disabilities,” Disability Studies Quarterly 12, no. 1 (2012), under “The Role of Disability Arts,”  https://doi.org/10.18061/dsq.v32i1.3034.

2. Sulewski et al., “Art and Disability,” under “The Role of Disability Arts.”

Short quotations

When directly quoting a resource, place the footnote number directly after the final punctuation of the quote, and include a page number in your footnote.

"Greenwood drew upon a family tradition of political radicalism and active trade unionism."¹

Block quotations

Instead of using quotation marks, direct quotations that are longer should be indented from your own text in a block. The footnote number is placed at the end of the block, after the final punctuation of the quote.

For example:

See Manual 12.31.

The Chicago Manual advises against citing from a secondary source (e.g. “quoted in...”). It is expected that you examine sources in their original context.

If an original source is unavailable, both the original and the secondary source must be listed in your bibliography.

See Manual 14.160.

If you are referring to more than one resource at a time, use one footnote number and separate the resources with a semicolon.

This is correct:

Here is a sentence that cites three resources at the same time.¹

1. Elizabeth Grosz, Architecture from the Outside: Essays on Virtual and Real Space (MASS: MIT Press, 2001), 50; Thomas Keenan and Hito Steyerl, “What Is a Document? An Exchange Between Thomas Keenan and Hito Steyerl,” Aperture, 214, 3 (2014): 58; Frank Ching, Architecture: Form, Space, & Order (Wiley, 2014), 50.

This is incorrect:

Here is a sentence that cites two resources at the same time.^{1, 2}

1. Elizabeth Grosz, Architecture from the Outside: Essays on Virtual and Real Space (MASS: MIT Press, 2001), 50.
2. Thomas Keenan and Hito Steyerl, “What Is a Document? An Exchange Between Thomas Keenan and Hito Steyerl,” Aperture, 214, 3 (2014): 58.

Acceptable abbreviations in the bibliography for parts of books and other publications include: