Chicago B (author-date)

In-text citations are given in brackets and include the author's surname and the publication date.

There is no punctuation between these elements. A page number can be added after the year, separated by a comma.

(Adam 1962)
(Adam 1962, 89)

If you are referring to two or more works in one citation, separate each work with a semicolon.

(Adam 1962; Allport 2009)

Short quotations

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

"Greenwood drew upon a family tradition of political radicalism and active trade unionism" (Constantine 1982, 235).

The citation may look different if the placement allows the date to appear alongside the author's name.

Constantine (1982, 233) points out that 'Hanky Park' "remained a working-class area, inhabited for the most part by families of miners, engineers and textile workers."

Block quotations

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

The reference list:

• 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)

Reference list citations will look different depending on the resource type and how many authors the resource has. Templates for each resource type are available via the left-side navigation menu.

• Citation elements are separated by full stops
• Titles are capitalised 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. articles, chapters, webpages) are placed in double quotation marks and not italicised (e.g. “The World is Not Enough”)
• The first listed author’s surname is inverted to Surname, First Name

View a sample reference list.

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, year, Title.

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

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 reference list
• 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. 2004. Tender are the stairs to heaven. 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.

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, include both author surnames in your in-text citation.

(Hill and Paris 2021, 25)

Both authors are included in the reference list citation. Invert the first author’s name to Surname, First Name.

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

Three to six authors or editors

When citing a resource with three to six authors, include the first author’s surname in your in-text citation, followed by et al. Et al. means 'and others'.

(Sulewski et al. 2012)

All authors are included in the reference list citation. Invert the first author’s name to Surname, First Name.

Sulewski, Jennifer Sullivan, Heike Boeltzig, and Rooshey Hasnain. 2012. “Art and Disability: Intersecting Identities among Young Artists with Disabilities.” Disability Studies Quarterly 32 (6): https://doi.org/10.18061/dsq.v32i1.3034

More than six authors or editors

When citing a resource with more than six authors, include the first author’s surname in your in-text citation, followed by et al.

(Bodkin-Andrew et al. 2017, 229)

List the first three authors in the reference list citation, followed by et al. Invert the first author’s name to Surname, First Name.

Bodkin-Andrew, Gawaian, Alison Whittaker, Neil Harrison et al. 2017. “Exposing the Patterns of Statistical Blindness: Centring Indigenous Standpoints on Student Identity, Motivation, and Future Aspirations.” Australian Journal of Education 61 (3): 225-49. https://doi.org/10.1177/0004944117731360.

No author

If there is no listed author or the author is anonymous, use the title of the resource instead of an author name in your in-text citation.

("The Charge That Binds" 2024)

Your reference list citation should begin with the title of the work.

"The Charge That Binds". 2024. Australian Centre for Contemporary Art. https://acca.melbourne/exhibition/the-charge-that-binds/

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

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 reference list 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.

Page numbers are included in author-date citations 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 reference list, 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”).

See Manual 13.20.

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.

Many standard publication and citation terms can be abbreviated in your reference list. For a full list, see manual 10.48.

This guide is based on the Chicago Manual of Style, 18^th ed. (The University of Chicago Press, 2024). Consult the official manual for more information and for examples not provided here.

The full style manual is available as a library eBook.

Print copies are available from the University of Melbourne Library.