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General Model for Citing Books in the Chicago Notes and Bibliography System

Footnote or endnote (N):

1. First name Last name, Title of Book (Place of publication: Publisher, Year of publication), page number.

Corresponding bibliographical entry (B):

Last name, First name. Title of Book. Place of publication: Publisher, Year of publication.

Book by one author 

N:

1.  Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums (New York: Viking Press, 1958), 128.  

B:

Kerouac, Jack. The Dharma Bums. New York: Viking Press, 1958.

Book by multiple authors

Two or more authors should be listed in the order they appear as authors, and not necessarily alphabetically.

N:

2. Scott Lash and John Urry, Economies of Signs & Space (London: Sage Publications, 1994), 241-51.

B:

Lash, Scott, and John Urry. Economies of Signs & Space. London: Sage Publications, 1994.

Translated work with one author

N:

3. Julio Cortázar, Hopscotch, trans. Gregory Rabassa (New York: Pantheon Books, 1966), 165.

B:

Cortázar, Julio. Hopscotch. Translated by Gregory Rabassa. New York: Pantheon Books, 1966.

Book with author and editor

In notes, CMOS prefers the abbreviation of “editor(s)” as “ed.” or “eds.,” and translator(s) as “trans.” In bibliographic entries, these abbreviations are not used. Instead, titles are spelled out in full. This information appears in The Chicago Manual of Style, section 14.103.

N:

4. Edward B. Tylor, Researches into the Early Development of Mankind and the Development of Civilization, ed. Paul Bohannan (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1964), 194.

B:

Tylor, Edward B. Researches into the Early Development of Mankind and the Development of Civilization. Edited by Paul Bohannan. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1964.

Chapter from a single-authored book

CMOS supplies two correct forms for bibliographic entries. Both are noted here.

N:

5. Gloria Anzaldúa, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” in Borderlands: The New Mestiza – La Frontera (San Francisco: Aunt Lute Book Company, 1987), 53.  

B:

Anzaldúa, Gloria. “How to Tame a Wild Tongue.” In Borderlands: The New Mestiza – La Frontera, 53–64. San Francisco: Aunt Lute Book Company, 1987. 

Or, in some cases, you may want to emphasize the entire collection in the bibliographic entry.

Anzaldúa, Gloria. Borderlands: The New Mestiza – La Frontera. San Francisco: Aunt Lute Book Company, 1987. See esp. chap. 5, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue.”

Contributions from an edited collection with various authored chapters

When citing work by a single author that appears in a book with multiple authors, the contributing author’s name is cited first, followed by the title of their contribution, the word 'in' and the title of the book, along with the name(s) of the editors, and other standard information.

N:

6. Muriel Harris, “Talk to Me: Engaging Reluctant Writers,” in A Tutor's Guide: Helping Writers One to One, ed. Ben Rafoth (New Hampshire: Heinemann, 2000), 24-34.    

B:

Harris, Muriel. “Talk to Me: Engaging Reluctant Writers.” In A Tutor’s Guide: Helping Writers One to One, edited by Ben Rafoth, 24-34. New Hampshire: Heinemann, 2000.

Introduction, Preface, or Afterword in a Book

Unlike other citations for books, bibliographic entries of this kind include the page number range for the part cited. 

N:

7. Steven Pinker, introduction to What is Your Dangerous Idea?, ed. John Brockman (New York: Harper Perennial, 2007), xxv.

B:

Pinker, Steven. Introduction to What is Your Dangerous Idea?, xxiii-xxxiii. Edited by John Brockman. New York: Harper Perennial, 2007.

Anonymous works--Unknown authorship

Sources that have no known author or editor should be cited by title. Follow the basic format for "Footnote or Endnote" and "Corresponding Bibliographical Entry" that are exemplified above, omitting author and/or editor names and beginning respective entries with the title of the source.

Citing indirect sources

Because authors are generally expected to be intimately familiar with the sources they are citing, Chicago discourages the use of a source that was cited within another (secondary) source. In the case that an original source is utterly unavailable, however, Chicago requires the use of "quoted in" for the note:

N:

8. Ian Hacking, The Social Construction of What? (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999), 103, quoted in Manuel DeLanda, A New Philosophy of Society (New York: Continuum, 2006), 2.

Self-published or Privately Published Books 

Books published by the author should be cited according to information available on the title page or copyright page. In place of publisher, include language such as “self-published” (abbreviated as “self-pub” in notes, but not a bibliography) or “printed by the author” is usually appropriate. For self-published e-books, add the name of the application or device required to read the book or the name of the file format, or both.

N:

9. Kathleen Long, Chasing Rainbows: A Novel (self-pub., CreateSpace, 2011).

B:

Long, Kathleen. Chasing Rainbows: A Novel. Self-published, CreateSpace, 2011.