by Bailey Bishoff
For the first paper I wrote my freshman year of college, I was asked to use Chicago style. Having never been introduced to this style before, I wrote my paper in MLA format using parenthetical citations instead of footnotes, exactly as I had in high school. That was a mistake! MLA and Chicago are two very different citation styles. For instance, while MLA uses parenthetical citations to cite sources within the paper, Chicago uses footnotes or endnotes. These two citation styles cite different information and in a different order, so make sure you use the citation style guides found under the Principia College library Citation Guides tab to make sure you are formatting your information correctly. Click the Chicago tab.
When writing in Chicago style format, there are three types of footnotes that you will use throughout your paper: full footnotes, short footnotes, and Ibid.
Full footnote: When you are citing a source for the FIRST time and only the FIRST time, you will use the long footnote. This usually includes information like the author, title of the book, edition, publishing company, where it was published, and the page number you are citing.
For example:
- Karen A. Mingst and Ivan M. Arreguín-Toft, Essentials of International Relations, 5th ed. (New York: W.W.Norton & Company, 2011), 35.
Short footnote: This footnote includes less information than the long footnote and is used when you are citing a source again in your paper, after citing other sources in between. The reader no longer needs all of the information you have about the source, and you can shorten your footnote, stating only the author, title of the book, and page number you are citing.
For example:
- Mingst and Arreguín-Toft, Essentials of International Relations, 35.
Ibid.: You use Ibid. when you are citing a source two or more times consecutively. If you have just cited a source and use the same source in the next paragraph and need to cite it again, you no longer need to put the author and title into your footnote. Instead you can write “Ibid., (whatever page number you used).” If you are citing the same source and the same page number, then all you have to write in your footnote is “Ibid.”
For example:
- Karen A. Mingst and Ivan M. Arreguín-Toft, Essentials of International Relations, 5th ed. (New York: W.W.Norton & Company, 2011), 63.
- Ibid., 75.
- Ibid.
Tricky Tabbing and Flip Flopping: Remember that for footnotes, only the first line is indented, whereas in your bibliography everything BUT the first line is indented. And notice that the whereas the author is presented last name first in the bibliography, it’s first, then last in the footnote! Always check the style guide for details.
Footnote:
- Karen A. Mingst and Ivan M. Arreguín-Toft, Essentials of International Relations, 5th ed. (New York: W.W.Norton & Company, 2011), 63.
Bibliography entry:
Mingst, Karen A., and Ivan M. Arreguín-Toft. Essentials of International Relations. 5th ed.
New York: W.W.Norton & Company, 2011.
Happy citing!
Bailey Bischoff is a sophomore majoring in political science and global perspectives.