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Chicago Citation Guide (17th Edition): Missing Info

What to do when information is missing...

If no author or creator is provided, start the citation with the title of the work you are citing instead.

Note! An author/creator won't necessarily be a person's name. It may be an organization or corporation, for example The Massachusetts Association For Community Action, Inc. (MASSCAP) or a username on a site such as YouTube.

Citations with no author must still be in correct alphabetical order in your Bibliography. When putting works in alphabetical order, ignore initial articles such as "the", "a", or "an". For example the title The Best of Canada would be alphabetized as if it started with the word Best instead of the word The.

If the title begins with a number, alphabetize it as if the number was spelled out. For example the title 5 Ways to Succeed in Business would be alphabetized under F as if it had started with the word Five .

Print Materials: if no publication date is provided, use the initials n.d. where you would normally put the date.

Online materials: if no copyright or modification date is provided, use the date that you accessed the material (e.g. accessed June 12, 2020).

Some sources, such as online materials, won't have page numbers provided. If this is the case, leave the page numbers out of the citation.

Note! If there are no page, chapter, paragraph, or section numbers in the original text, then don't include any.

If there is no place of publication given, use the initials n.p. where you would normally put the place of publication.