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Chicago Citation Guide (17th Edition): Books, eBooks, and Dissertations

Books, eBooks, & Dissertations

Extra Tips!

Citing Part of a Book vs a Whole Book

When a book has an edition #

Some books have specific editions listed. Include the edition after the title of the book in both the footnote and the bibliography. You do not have to include the edition if it is the first edition. Shorten the word "edition" to "ed.".

FOOTNOTE Example:

  1. Steven J. Kirsh, Children, Adolescents, and Media Violence: A Critical Look at the Research, 2nd ed. (Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 2006), 22.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Example:

Kirsh, Steven J. Children, Adolescents, and Media Violence: A Critical Look at the Research. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 2006.

Differentiating Creators

Authors/Editors

An author can be a person but can also be an organization, or company. These are called group or corporate authors.

If you are citing a chapter from a book that has an editor, the author of the chapter is listed first, and is the name listed in the in-text citation.

Publishers

You have the option to use the shortened name of the publisher. For example, you can use UP instead of University Press (e.g. Oxford UP instead of the full name Oxford University Press).

You also have the option to remove articles (A, An, The), business abbreviations (e.g. Co., Inc.) and descriptive words (e.g. Books, House, Press, Publishers). 

Print Books (books printed on paper)

FOOTNOTE format and examples:

  1. Author's first name last name, Title of Book in Italics (Place of publication: Publisher, Year of publication), inclusive pages.
  1. Atul Gawande, Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End (London: Profile Books, 2014), 79-80.
  2. Gawande, Being Mortal, 191.

BIBLIOGRAPHY format and example:

Author's last name, first name. Title of Book in Italics. Place of publication: Publisher, Year of publication.

Gawande, Atul. Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End. London: Profile Books, 2014.

FOOTNOTE format and examples:

  1. First author's first name last name and Second author's first name last name, Title of Book in Italics (Place of publication: Publisher, Year of publication), inclusive pages.
  1. Brian Grazer and Charles Fishman, A Curious Mind: The Secret to a Bigger Life (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2015), 12.
  2. Grazer and Fishman, Curious Mind, 190.

BIBLIOGRAPHY format and example:

First author's last name, first name, and Second author's first name last name. Title of Book in Italics. Place of publication: Publisher, Year of publication.

Grazer, Brian, and Charles Fishman. A Curious Mind: The Secret to a Bigger Life. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2015.

FOOTNOTE format and examples:

  1. First author's first name last name, Second author's first name last name, and Third author's first name last name; Title of Book in Italics (Place of publication: Publisher, Year of publication), inclusive pages.
  1. Alexander Berkman, Henry Bauer, and Carl Nold, Prison Blossoms: Anarchist Voices from the American Past (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 2011), 53.
  2. Berkman, Bauer, and Nold, Prison Blossoms, 75.

BIBLIOGRAPHY format and example:

First author's last name, first name, Second author's first name last name, and Third author's first name last name. Title of Book in Italics. Place of publication: Publisher, Year of publication.

Berkman, Alexander, Henry Bauer, and Carl Nold. Prison Blossoms: Anarchist Voices from the American Past. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 2011.

FOOTNOTE format and examples:

  1. First author's first name last name et al., Title of Book in Italics (Place of publication: Publisher, Year of publication), inclusive pages.
  1. George Folsom et al., History of Libraries (Manchester, NH: Shapiro Library Press, 2017), 24.
  2. Folsom et al., History of Libraries, 99.

BIBLIOGRAPHY format and example:

First author's last name, first name, Second author's first name last name, Third author's first name last name, and Fourth author's first name last name. Title of Book in Italics. Place of publication: Publisher, Year of publication.

Folsom, George, Virginia Smith, Thomas Pepe, and Linda Burns. History of Libraries. Manchester, NH: Shapiro Library Press, 2017.

eBooks (digital books accessed on a computer, phone, or tablet)

For books consulted online, include a URL or the name of the database. For other types of e-books, name the format. If no fixed page numbers are available, cite a section title or a chapter or other number in the notes.


FOOTNOTE format and examples:

  1. Author's first name last name, Title of Book in Italics (Place of publication: Publisher, Year of publication), inclusive pages/chapter/section, Database/URL/format.
  1. Brooke Borel, The Chicago Guide to Fact-Checking (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2016), 92, ProQuest Ebrary.
  2. Borel, Fact-Checking, 104–5
  3. Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (New York: Penguin Classics, 2007), chap. 3, Kindle.
  4. Austen, Pride and Prejudice, chap. 14.

BIBLIOGRAPHY format and examples:

Author's last name, first name. Title of Book in Italics. Place of publication: Publisher, Year of publication.

Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. New York: Penguin Classics, 1985. Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/prideprejudice1972aust.

Borel, Brooke. The Chicago Guide to Fact-Checking. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2016. ProQuest Ebrary.

Chapter in an Edited Book

FOOTNOTE format and examples:

  1. Author's first name last name, "Title of Chapter in Quotation Marks," in Title of Book in Italics, ed. Editor's first name last name (Place of publication: Publisher, Year of publication), inclusive pages.
  1. Henry David Thoreau, “Walking,” in The Making of the American Essay, ed. John D’Agata (Minneapolis: Graywolf Press, 2016), 177–78.
  2. Thoreau, "Walking," 182.

BIBLIOGRAPHY format and example:

Author's last name, first name. "Title of Chapter in Quotation Marks." In Title of Book in Italics, edited by Editor's first name last name, inclusive pages. Place of publication: Publisher, Year of publication.

Thoreau, Henry David. “Walking.” In The Making of the American Essay, edited by John D’Agata, 167–95. Minneapolis: Graywolf Press, 2016

Volume in a Multivolume Work

FOOTNOTE format and examples:

  1. Author's first name last name, Title of Book in Italics (Place of publication: Publisher, Year of publication), volume #: inclusive pages.
  1. Muriel St. Clare Byrne, ed., The Lisle Letters (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981), 4:243.
  2. Byrne, Lisle Letters, 4:245.

BIBLIOGRAPHY format and example:

Author's last name, first name. Title of Book in Italics. Vol. #. Place of publication: Publisher, Year of publication.

Byrne, Muriel St. Clare, ed. The Lisle Letters. Vol. 4. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981.

Dissertations/Theses

FOOTNOTE format and examples:

  1. Author's first name last name, "Title of Dissertation or Thesis in Quotation Marks" (PhD diss. or MA thesis, Institution, Year of publication), inclusive pages.
  1. Cynthia Lillian Rutz, “King Lear and Its Folktale Analogues” (PhD diss., University of Chicago, 2013), 99–100.
  2. Rutz, "King Lear, 158.

BIBLIOGRAPHY format and example:

Author's last name, first name. "Title of Dissertation or Thesis in Quotation Marks." PhD diss. or MA thesis, Institution, Year of publication.

Rutz, Cynthia Lillian. “King Lear and Its Folktale Analogues.” PhD diss., University of Chicago, 2013.