Chicago style format - quick formatting and citation guide

You’ve only just wrapped your head around APA and MLA when suddenly a professor throws the Chicago style format into the mix. If you’ve never dealt with this citation style, it can be a bit tricky. So we prepared these quick and easy guidelines you can follow.

What is Chicago style format?

The Chicago style is a popular set of formatting guidelines for research papers and student assignments. It’s most commonly used in soft sciences, including Art and Literature, as well as Business classes.

You can find the full list of current requirements in the Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS).

Basic Chicago style format guidelines

While we recommend you check the manual online or in your school library, we’re happy to share the basics to help you format your paper correctly. And remember that your professor’s requirements always trump Chicago style formatting. Follow their instructions first before using CMOS.

General formatting

After you’ve written, edited, and proofread your paper, format the bulk of the text following these requirements:

Title page

Generally, it’s enough to include the title of your paper at the top of the first page, but if your professor asks for a title page, here’s an accepted order:

• Title and subtitle of the paper
• Your name
• Your student code
• Course name
• Course code
• Professor’s name
• Due date

Add the title and subtitle approximately ⅓ of the way down the title page, and the rest of the information around ⅔ down the page. Include this page in the total count, but don’t add the page number. Beyond the title page, follow the standard research paper format.

Headings

The Chicago style format allows up to three levels of heading hierarchy, but there are no hard formatting requirements aside from the use of title case. Beyond that, you should ensure your headings have parallel structure and consistent formatting. For example, all Level 1 headings can be centered and in bold, while Level 2 headings can be left-aligned and in bold, while Level 3 headings are left-aligned and in italic.

Block quotes

If you want to include a long quote (more than 5 lines or 100 words or a piece of poetry), use a block quote following these guidelines:

• Introduce a quote and add a colon
• Leave a blank line between the text and the quote
• Add a 0.5 indent for all lines of the block quote, without an additional indent for the first line
• Use single line spacing for the block quote
• Don’t use quotation marks

Use block quotes only when you really need them, or it might look like you’re trying to add filler to reach the word count.

Tables and figures

Tables and figures should appear directly after the text where they are first mentioned. For figures, include a caption directly below each one with a brief explanation of the figure. Include source information in parentheses after the image caption or the table if you used reference data. And remember to include these sources in your bibliography or reference list.

Reference list

A bibliography or reference list for a CMOS-style paper should include a Level 1 heading and an alphabetized list of all sources used. Every entry should:

• Start on a new line
• Have a 0.5-inch hanging indent (second and following lines should be indented)
• Include a blank line between entries
• Use single line spacing

If you choose the Author-Date citation style, the following samples should help you

For the Notes and Bibliography Chicago format, you can rely on these formatting samples:

Chicago style format checklist (Quick guide)

Here’s your quick reminder of how to use the Chicago format if you don’t want to go into detail:

• Use a page setup with 1-inch margins and double-spacing
• Choose a legible 12 pt font, such as Times New Roman
• Use single-line spacing for block quotes and reference list
• Set a standard 0.5-inch first-line indent and heading format
• Choose Author-Date or Notes and Bibliography citation style
• Include captions and sources for every figure or table
• Alphabetize the reference list or bibliography

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