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Author-Date: Sample Citations

Go to Notes and Bibliography: Sample Citations

The following examples illustrate the author-date system. Each example of a reference list entry is accompanied by an example of a corresponding in-text citation. For more details and many more examples, see chapters 13 and 14 of The Chicago Manual of Style. For examples of the same citations using the notes and bibliography system, follow the Notes and Bibliography link above.

Book

Reference list entries (in alphabetical order)

Note that a place of publication is no longer required in book citations (see CMOS 14.30).

Binder, Amy J., and Jeffrey L. Kidder. 2022. The Channels of Student Activism: How the Left and Right Are Winning (and Losing) in Campus Politics Today. University of Chicago Press.

Yu, Charles. 2020. Interior Chinatown. Pantheon Books.

In-text citations

(Binder and Kidder 2022, 117–18)

(Yu 2020, 45)

For more details and examples, see CMOS 13.105–10 and 14.2–62.

Chapter or other part of an edited book

The page range for a chapter in a book is no longer required in reference list entries (see CMOS 14.8). In the text, cite specific pages as applicable.

Reference list entry

Doyle, Kathleen. 2023. “The Queen Mary Psalter.” In The Book by Design: The Remarkable Story of the World’s Greatest Invention, edited by P. J. M. Marks and Stephen Parkin. University of Chicago Press.

In-text citation

(Doyle 2023, 64)

In some cases, you may want to cite the collection as a whole instead.

Reference list entry

Marks, P. J. M., and Stephen Parkin, eds. 2023. The Book by Design: The Remarkable Story of the World’s Greatest Invention. University of Chicago Press.

In-text citation

(Marks and Parkin 2023)

For more details and examples, see CMOS 14.8–14. 

Translated book

Reference list entry

In the following example, note the absence of a comma after “Liu” in the author’s name, which follows Eastern order (family name first) rather than Western order (family name last). See CMOS 13.75 for more details.

Liu Xinwu. 2021. The Wedding Party. Translated by Jeremy Tiang. Amazon Crossing.

In-text citation

(Liu 2021, 279)

For more details and examples, see CMOS 14.5–7.

Book Consulted in an Electronic Format

To cite a book consulted online, include either a URL or the name of the database in the reference list entry. For downloadable ebook formats, name the format; if no fixed page numbers are available, cite a section title or a chapter or other number in the text (or simply omit). For citing a place rather than a publisher for books published before 1900 (as in the Moby-Dick example below), see CMOS 14.31.

Reference list entries (in alphabetical order)

Borel, Brooke. 2023. The Chicago Guide to Fact-Checking. 2nd ed. University of Chicago Press. EBSCOhost.

Kurland, Philip B., and Ralph Lerner, eds. 1987. The Founders’ Constitution. University of Chicago Press. https://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/.

Melville, Herman. 1851. Moby-Dick; or, The Whale. New York. https://melville.electroniclibrary.org/moby-dick-side-by-side.

Roy, Arundhati. 2008. The God of Small Things. Random House. Kindle.

In-text citations

(Borel 2023, 92)

(Kurland and Lerner 1987, chap. 10, doc. 19)

(Melville 1851, 627)

(Roy 2008, chap. 6)

For more details and examples, see CMOS 14.58–62.

Journal article

Journal articles are usually cited by volume and issue number. In the reference list, include the page range for the whole article. In the text, cite specific page numbers. For articles consulted online, include a URL (preferably one based on a DOI; see CMOS 13.7) in the reference list entry; alternatively, list the name of the database.

Reference list entries (in alphabetical order)

Dittmar, Emily L., and Douglas W. Schemske. 2023. “Temporal Variation in Selection Influences Microgeographic Local Adaptation.” American Naturalist 202 (4): 471–85. https://doi.org/10.1086/725865.

Hebert, B. T. 1925. “The Island of Bolsö: A Study of Norwegian Life.” Sociological Review 17 (4): 307–13. EBSCOhost.

Kwon, Hyeyoung. 2022. “Inclusion Work: Children of Immigrants Claiming Membership in Everyday Life.” American Journal of Sociology 127 (6): 1818–59. https://doi.org/10.1086/720277.

Lindquist, Benjamin. 2023. “The Art of Text-to-Speech.” Critical Inquiry 50 (2): 225–51. https://doi.org/10.1086/727651.

In-text citations

(Dittmar and Schemske 2023, 480)

(Hebert 1925, 310)

(Kwon 2022, 1842–43)

(Lindquist 2023, 230)

Journal articles often list many authors, especially in the sciences. For works by two authors, list both in the reference list and the text (as in the Dittmar and Schemske example above). For three or more authors, list up to six in the reference list; for more than six authors, list the first three, followed by “et al.” (“and others”). In the text, list only the first, followed by “et al.” Note that the Dror example below (which credits eighteen authors) includes an article ID in place of a page range; see CMOS 14.71 for details.

Reference list entry

Dror, Amiel A., Nicole Morozov, Amani Daoud, et al. 2022. “Pre-Infection 25-Hydroxyvitamin D3 Levels and Association with Severity of COVID-19 Illness.” PLOS ONE 17 (2): e0263069. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0263069.

In-text citation

(Dror et al. 2022, 10–11)

For more details and examples, see CMOS 14.67–86.

News or magazine article

Articles from newspapers or news sites, magazines, blogs, and the like are cited similarly. Page numbers, if any, can be cited in the text but are omitted from a reference list entry. For articles consulted online, include a URL or the name of the database.

Reference list entries (in alphabetical order)

Blum, Dani. 2023. “Are Flax Seeds All That?” New York Times, December 13. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/13/well/eat/flax-seeds-benefits.html.

Klein, Elana. 2023. “Meet Flip, the Viral Video App Giving Away Free Stuff.” Wired, December 21. https://www.wired.com/story/flip-viral-video-app-shopping-free-stuff/.

Mead, Rebecca. 2023. “Terms of Aggrievement.” New Yorker, December 18.

Pegoraro, Rob. 2007. “Apple’s iPhone Is Sleek, Smart and Simple.” Washington Post, July 5, 2007. LexisNexis Academic.

In-text citation

(Blum 2023)

(Klein 2023)

(Mead 2023, 21)

(Pegoraro 2007)

Readers’ comments are cited in the text but omitted from a reference list.

In-text citation

(Michelle [Reno], December 15, 2023, comment on Blum 2023)

For more details and examples, see CMOS 14.87–88 (magazines) and 14.89–98 (newspapers and news sites).

Book review

Reference list entry

Jacobs, Alexandra. 2023. “The Muchness of Madonna.” Review of Madonna: A Rebel Life, by Mary Gabriel. New York Times, October 8.

In-text citation

(Jacobs 2023)

For more details and examples, see CMOS 14.100.

Interview

Interviews are usually cited under the name of the interviewee rather than the interviewer.

Reference list entry

Buolamwini, Joy. 2023. “ ‘If You Have a Face, You Have a Place in the Conversation About AI,’ Expert Says.” Interview by Tonya Mosley. Fresh Air, NPR, November 28. Audio, 37:58. https://www.npr.org/2023/11/28/1215529902/unmasking-ai-facial-recognition-technology-joy-buolamwini.

In-text citation

(Buolamwini 2023)

For more details and examples, see CMOS 14.108, 14.109, and 14.110.

Thesis or dissertation

For dissertations consulted via ProQuest; include the identification number in parenthesis.

Reference list entry

Blajer de la Garza, Yuna. 2019. “A House Is Not a Home: Citizenship and Belonging in Contemporary Democracies.” PhD diss., University of Chicago. ProQuest (13865986).

In-text citation

(Blajer de la Garza 2019, 66–67)

For more details and examples, see CMOS 14.113.

Web page

It is often sufficient simply to describe web pages and other website content in the text (“As of November 15, 2023, Google’s privacy policy stated . . .”). If a more formal citation is needed, it may be styled like the examples below.

Reference list entries (in alphabetical order)

Google. 2023. “Privacy Policy.” Privacy & Terms. Effective November 15. https://policies.google.com/privacy.

Wikimedia Foundation. 2023. “Wikipedia: Manual of Style.” Last modified December 19, at 21:54 (UTC). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style.

In-text citations

(Google 2023)

(Wikimedia Foundation 2022)

If a source does not list a date of publication or revision, use n.d. (for “no date”) in place of the year and include an access date. Alternatively, if a publicly available archive of the content has been saved using the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine or similar service, the link for that version may be cited.

Yale University. n.d. “About Yale: Yale Facts.” Accessed March 8, 2022. https://www.yale.edu/about-yale/yale-facts.

or

Yale University. n.d. “About Yale: Yale Facts.” Archived March 8, 2022, at https://web.archive.org/web/20220308143337/https://www.yale.edu/about-yale/yale-facts.

For more details and examples, see CMOS 14.104.

Social media content

Citations of content posted to social media can usually be limited to the text (as in the first example below). If a more formal citation is needed, a reference list entry may be appropriate. In place of a title, quote up to the first 280 characters of the post. Comments are cited in reference to the original post.

Text

The Instagram post included a photo of the president delivering a eulogy at the National Cathedral and referred to O’Connor as “gracious and principled” (@potus, December 19, 2023).

Reference list entries (in alphabetical order)

Chicago Manual of Style. 2015. “Is the world ready for singular they? We thought so back in 1993.” Facebook, April 17, 2015. https://www.facebook.com/ChicagoManual/posts/10152906193679151.

NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb). 2022. “👀 Sneak a peek at the deepest & sharpest infrared image of the early universe ever taken—all in a day’s work for the Webb telescope. (Literally, capturing it took less than a day!).” Twitter (now X), July 11. https://twitter.com/NASAWebb/status/1546621080298835970.

In-text citations

(Chicago Manual of Style 2015)

(NASA Webb Telescope 2022)

(Michele Truty, April 17, 2015, 1:09 p.m., comment on Chicago Manual of Style 2015)

For more details and examples, see CMOS 14.106.

Video or podcast

Unless it is clear from context, “video” or the like may be specified in the reference list.

Reference list entries (in alphabetical order)

Cowan, Vaitea. 2022. “How Green Hydrogen Could End the Fossil Fuel Era.” TED Talk, Vancouver, BC, April. Video, 9 min., 15 sec. https://www.ted.com/talks/vaitea_cowan_how_green_hydrogen_could_end_the_fossil_fuel_era.

Ober, Lauren, host. 2022. The Loudest Girl in the World. Season 1, episode 2, “Goodbye, Routine; Hello, Meltdown!” Pushkin Industries, September 13. Podcast, 41 min., 37 sec. https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/loudest-girl-in-the-world.

Oliver, Eric. 2022. “Why So Many Americans Believe in So Many ‘Crazy’ Things.” Moderated by Andrew McCall. Virtual lecture, February 23. Posted March 21, 2022, by University of Chicago. YouTube, 1:01:45. https://youtu.be/hfq7AnCF5bg.

In-text citations

(Cowan 2022, at 6:09–17)

(Ober 2022)

(Oliver 2022)

For more details and examples, see CMOS 14.167–69.

Personal communication

Personal communications, including email and text messages and direct messages sent through social media, are usually cited in the text only; they are rarely included in a reference list.

In-text citation

(Sam Gomez, Facebook direct message to author, August 1, 2024)

For more details and examples, see CMOS 14.111.