book review chicago style

Chicago Citation Guide (17th Edition): Book Reviews

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Book review - in a journal, book review - in a magazine, book review - on a website, books with editors in place of authors.

Some books have an editor or editors in place of an author. For editors, include the abbreviation ed. following the editor's name (or eds. for more than one editor). However, this abbreviation is not included in shortened footnotes.

Henry Findell, ed. 

Findell, Henry, ed. 

Eric Small and Will Rhodes, eds. 

Small, Eric, and Will Rhodes, eds.

1. Reviewer's First Name Last Name, "Title of Review [if any]," review of  Title of Book: Subtitle if Any,  by Book Author/Editor's First Name Last Name, Name of  Journal in which review appears  Volume Number, no. Issue Number (Date of Publication): Page Number of Exact Citation, https://doi.org/DOI Number or Name of Database.

Bibliography Entry:

Reviewer's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Review [if any]." Review of  Title of Book: Subtitle if Any,  by Book Author/Editor's First Name Last Name.  Name of Journal in which review appears  Volume Number, no. Issue Number (Date of Publication): First Page Number of Article-Last Page Number of Article. https://doi.org/DOI Number or Name of Database.

This citation format is for book reviews found in a journal from a library database. For other types of journals (e.g. in print or from a website), begin the citation as shown above, up to and including the book author's name. Then complete the citation starting at  Name of Journal using the appropriate citation format as shown on the Journal Articles section of the Chicago Citation Guide.

1. Reviewer's First Name Last Name, "Title of Review [if any]," review of  Title of Book: Subtitle if Any,  by Book Author/Editor's First Name Last Name, Name of Magazine,  Date of Publication, Page Number of Exact Citation, https://doi.org/DOI Number or Name of Database.

Reviewer's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Review [if any]." Review of  Title of Book: Subtitle if Any,  by Book Author/Editor's First Name Last Name.  Name of Magazine,  Date of Publication. https://doi.org/DOI Number or Name of Database.

This citation format is for book reviews found in a magazine from a library database. For other types of magazines (e.g. in print or from a website), begin the citation as shown above, up to and including the book author's name. Then complete the citation starting at Name of Magazine  using the appropriate citation format as shown on the Magazine Articles section of the Chicago Citation Guide.

1. Reviewer's First Name Last Name, "Title of Review [if any]," review of  Title of Book: Subtitle if Any,  by Book Author/Editor's First Name Last Name, Title of Website, Name of Owner or Sponsor of the Website [if different from Title of Website], Date of copyright or modification or access, URL. 

Reviewer's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Review [if any]." Review of  Title of Book: Subtitle if Any,  by Book Author/Editor's First Name Last Name. Title of Website. Name of Owner or Sponsor of the Website [if different from Title of Website]. Date of copyright or modification or access. URL.

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Book review: the chicago manual of style , 17 th edition.

Permissions : This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please contact [email protected] to use this work in a way not covered by the license.

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The Chicago Manual of Style , 17th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017. https://doi.org/10.7208/cmos17

  The Chicago Manual of Style provides detailed guidance on the popular formatting and citation style known as Chicago style. The first edition, released in 1906, conveyed the typographical rules of its publisher, the University of Chicago Press. [1] Many iterations later, the 17th edition, measuring approximately 1,150 pages, just over 100 more than its predecessor, is a hefty reference on formatting, grammar, usage, and citation styles for publishers, editors, and writers. It is divided into three general sections—Part I: The Publishing Process; Part II: Style and Usage; and Part III: Source Citations and Indexes—each divided into chapters and, further still, sub-sections numbered for easy reference and referred to as paragraphs.

I have long been a follower of this style guide. When I first began working in publishing, I was gifted a copy of the 16th edition, and, throughout my tenure at the press, the volume was always within easy reach. Many pages in the publishing process section became tabbed and well worn from repeated reference. When I decided to return to school, I took my style bible with me, often utilizing the sections on style and citations. I also discovered the online “Citation Quick Guide,” which presents a list of sample citations with limited commentary—a perfect resource for the busy student wishing to have an overview of citation styles without delving into the detailed guidelines and underlying explanations of the original volume.

This “Quick Citation Guide” is just one of the many resources which comprise The Chicago Manual of Style ’s electronic counterpart. Rather than as an eBook—translating the discrete print volume into a discrete electronic file—the University of Chicago Press has chosen to present the electronic version of the manual as a website, of which the text of the current edition is only one section. A number of the website’s components are openly accessible, including the citation guide and a “Style Q&A,” in which the guide’s editors answer users’ questions. Moving inside a paywall, users can access the current edition as well as the previous edition and a community forum, where users of the guide can discuss questions. Thus, the website not only relays the reference’s content but also increases the accessibility of a potentially convoluted and dense manual by creating a community through these additional resources.

The electronic 17th edition takes full advantage of the website format by making each numbered paragraph a distinct webpage. Users accustomed to the print version thus encounter a very different reading experience, with the 52-page “Glossary of Problematic Words and Phrases” (5.250) taking up the same number of virtual pages as the three-lined “Academic Titles and Degrees in Index Entries” (16.40), which shares its two-page spread with seven other paragraphs in the print version. Unlike flipping through the print pages, I found clicking through each electronic paragraph a bit tedious, probably because of those discrete webpages with small amounts of text. This layout also forces a reliance on each chapter’s table of contents to navigate between paragraphs, as opposed to skimming print pages to find the desired content.

The online version, however, does add some helpful finding aids. A search bar allows users to search for keywords, with results directly linking to specific paragraphs, and the index contains hyperlinks to the referenced paragraphs. For readers who already know the number of the paragraph they need, a second search bar asks users to enter that number and then takes them directly to the corresponding webpage, bypassing navigating through multiple tables of contents or flipping through over a thousand print pages to locate the correct page.

Many versions of the print manual, mine included, are sprinkled with multicolored tabs to bypass this fumbling for pages. Fortunately, the online version has a similar bookmarking system, in which users can tag paragraphs for future reference. Although useful for repeat users, these bookmarks highlight the navigation problems of the online version: in the book level table of contents, a bookmark icon is present next to the chapter title, indicating how many paragraphs are bookmarked in that chapter. But the user is forced to navigate to the chapter’s table of contents to see exactly which paragraph is bookmarked and then click on the bookmarked paragraph’s title to be taken to the correct webpage. This tedious navigation could have easily been bypassed with a separate bookmarks list or direct hyperlinks from the book’s table of contents.

The note feature shares these navigational flaws while offering users another way to replicate the mark-ups of their worn print versions. For those users that have penciled notes in the margins of their print manuals, this feature offers a perfect digital alternative. Users can add notes to the entire paragraph or a selected portion of the online text, with notes appearing at the bottom of the webpage and, for the latter, also when hovering over the highlighted text. Users can truly take advantage of the text’s digital format with these notes’ functionalities. First, users have the option to hyperlink to other paragraphs. Do you think a paragraph from chapter 1 and another from chapter 14 are related? Add a hyperlink to both their notes to digitally connect the two pages, especially advantageous because it avoids having to navigate through multiple layers of tables of contents. Second, users can share notes. Have you made a realization specific to a project you are working on? Download that webpage, including the paragraph text and all notes, to your local drive or email a copy to a colleague who would find your thoughts relevant. These functions optimize personalized navigation and sharing in a way that the print object never could.

The veer from the print version continues with the manual’s figures and tables. Although the navigation between paragraphs differs between the print and electronic versions, the general presentation of the content remains consistent. Not so for the figures and tables, which are instead presented separately from the rest of the electronic content, each on their own webpages, which are accessible through the volume’s list of figures and list of tables. When individual paragraphs refer to a specific figure or table, a hyperlink connects the user to that figure or table. Only about half of the figures and tables, however, link back to the relevant paragraphs, further highlighting the website’s murky navigation. I much prefer the print version in which you can peruse the figures alongside the text, but I suppose I may need to adjust to the technology by opening the figures in a new tab. For those who want to have the image for offline reference, each figure and table—as well as the hyphenation guide (7.89)—is available as a downloadable PDF, another distinct advantage of the digital presentation.

Perhaps the most obvious benefit of the digital version is portability. At approximately 1,150 pages, the print version is not light. It commonly sits on a bookshelf for easy reference, but its use outside of the office may be rare as few would want to lug the hefty volume around, no matter how highly they value its contents. Having the entire volume in an easily accessible format, wherever users go, without requiring any local resources besides bandwidth, increases the usability of the manual, especially for the publisher, writer, or editor on-the-go. Be warned, however, that this new convenience can be potentially plagued by the typical electronic woes, such as internet speed or data allowances. I found that sometimes my bookmarks and notes icons would not load or would load slowly. Additionally, bookmarks and notes do not function on mobile devices, as neither the button to add new items nor icons in the tables of contents appear.

For those looking to learn or reference the Chicago formatting and citation styles, The Chicago Manual of Style will always be the go-to resource. Despite each new edition’s growth in length and changes in content, the volume remains the same: the definitive—and only—guide to Chicago style. Given the print volume’s size and weight, the online version, with its additional features—many of which are freely available—is a good alternative for both brief and dedicated users who want portable access to the manual or want to move beyond the content to engage with The Chicago Manual of Style community.

Jessica Kirschner began her career in publishing in the acquisitions department at SUNY Press. She subsequently earned an MLIS from the University of Pittsburgh, where she began exploring scholarly communications, open access, and digital publishing. She now serves as the Digital Publishing Librarian at Texas Tech University, where she is working to develop a digital textbook publishing program. She is a 2017 Society for Scholarly Publishing Fellow.

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Chicago 17th edition notes and bibliography

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Chicago Citation Style, 18th Edition

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Book Review (Section 14.100 )

For a print book review, follow the same guidelines without the use of the DOI.

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

Most scholarly publishers now assign a unique alpha-numeric code called a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) to journal articles, e-books, and other documents. Chicago guidelines for citing electronic resources include this number in the citation whenever possible. The DOI can generally be found on the first page of scholarly journal articles as well as in the database record for that article. DOIs are typically provided within a URL beginning with  https://uleth.idm.oclc.org/login?url=   and ending with the DOI, as seen in this example:  https://login.uleth.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://www.doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt22zmc3w.

If the DOI does not appear on the article or in the database record, it may be found by entering citation information into the free DOI Lookup on CrossRef.org.

To determine DOIs for an entire reference list, copy & paste the entire list here: Cross/Ref Simple Text Query .

A DOI can be searched or verified by entering the DOI number here: Cross/Ref DOI Resolver .

Materials originally published prior to the Internet, but now available online, may not have a DOI. When a DOI is not available, include the URL in its place.

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History: Chicago Style Citations: Chicago Style Citations

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Books: Chicago Style Citations

Most of the books on writing are located in the 800's. Citation guides can be found in the 808 call number range. A few examples are listed below.For more books on Chicago Style, s earch the Libraries catalog .

Software Citation Tools

Word processing programs can help you insert footnotes or endnotes, and manage your references. See online help:

• Creating Footnotes and Endnotes in World
• Word 2016/ 2013 / Office 365 - footnotes and endnotes
• Word 2016 / 2013 / Office 365 - Create a bibliography
• Word 2016 for MAC - footnotes and endnotes
• Google Drive - footnotes

Citing books accessed on ereaders in Chicago style

The Chicago Manual of Style website provides examples of how to cite ebooks on its website under 'Book published electronically'.

In your citation, include the author, title, editor (if there is one), publication information, and the version of the book you consulted. If you used the book online, include the URL. Include an access date only if required by your publisher or discipline. If no fixed pagination is available, include a section title, chapter or other number.

The Manual website offers examples of how to cite ebooks in both the notes and bibliography style and the author-date style. A couple of our own examples are shown below. Consult the Manual's website to see additional examples:

Notes and Bibliography:

 1. Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried (Boston: Mariner Books, 1990), Kindle edition.

O'Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. Boston: Mariner Books, 1990. Kindle edition.

Author-Date:

O'Brien, Tim. 1990. The Things They Carried. Boston: Mariner Books. Kindle edition.

Chicago / Turabian Style​:  Be sure to check your class syllabus, as well as any documents, announcements, or postings from your instructor for specific information about the assignment. If your instructor recommends using Chicago style citations for your essay or research paper, these resources may be helpful:

Online Help with Chicago Style Citations

• Chicago Manual of Style Online: Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide
• Chicago Style (Excelsior College OWL)
• Purdue OWL: Chicago Manual of Style 17th edition Help
• Turabian Quick Guide
• What are Footnotes? from Plagiarism.org

Quick Tips:

• Chicago: Humanities style citations use footnotes or endnotes, not parenthetical references. 
• Write in the 3rd person, not 1st or 2nd. Don't use "I" or "you" or related words in your writing.
• Indent the first line of each note by five spaces.
• Start each note with its corresponding number, a period, and one space.
• For the first footnote or endnote for a source, give the full citation information.
• For subsequent notes, use use the author's name, title, and the page number.
• If you use the same source two or more times in a row, use the abbreviation Ibid., followed by the page number.

To cite books , check the front pages of the book or the record in the library catalog to find the publication information you need to format the citation. Sample Chicago style format for the first footnote or endnote for a print book:

1. Author's Name, Title of Book (Place of Publication: Publisher, Publication Date), Page Numbers.

To cite articles found in our library databases , check the article citation or article information page to find publication information.

Chicago style format 

Sample Chicago style format for the first footnote or endnote for an article from one of our databases:

1. Author's Name, "Title of Article,"  Title of Journal Volume Number, Issue Number (Date of Publication), Page Numbers, Name of Database , Database Vendor ( or persistent/stable URL, accession number or doi).   

The 16th edition does not require the date accessed for articles from library databases. You could generally cite an online database journal article similar to a print journal article, but also add the database information, and an accession number or doi. 

Library databases may allow you export a citation or to save a citation in a particular format. You can then copy and paste the citation text into your footnote or endnote.

For example:

• EBSCO databases, including Academic Search , select the include when saving/sending checkbox and select Chicago/Turabian:Humanities style from drop-down Citation Format list.

Be sure to check with your instructor and follow requirements for your assignment.  Check the formatting and make any necessary corrections. 

Citing Book Reviews

Citing book reviews in Chicago / Turabian:

Sample Chicago style format for the first footnote or endnote for a book review from a journal in one of our library databases using Chicago 15th edition:

1. Reviewer's Name, "Title of Review," Review of Title of Book , by Name of Author, Title of Journal Volume Number, Issue Number (Date of Publication): Page Numbers.  Name of Database , Database vendor . (or persistent URL, accession number or doi). 

Questions: Check with your instructor, the Writing Center, or Ask a Librarian.

• Writing Center
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Citation Guide: Chicago

• Journal Article
• Magazine Article
• Newspaper Article
• Bible or Classical Book
• Bible Commentary
• Multivolume Book
• Encyclopdia or Dictionary
• Thesis or Dissertation

Book Review

• Chapter in Book
• Social Media
• Video or Film
• Review of Video Recording
• Recorded Talk
• Recorded Music
• Musical Score
• Graphic Art
• Oral Presentation
• Personal Communication
• Congressional Document
• Presidential Document
• US Constitution or Treaty
• State or Local Govt Document
• Court Decision
• Author or Editor
• Publisher & Date
• General Format

                               Chicago Manual 14.201-204

 See examples below for:

• Book Review from Print
• Book Review from Article
• Book Review from Internet

    Book Review from Print

Notes-Bibliography Style

       1st Footnote or Endnote            10. William C. Brehm , review of Strike for America: Chicago Teachers        against Austerity , by Micah Uetricht, Comparative Education Review 59,        no. 1 (2015): 177.

       Bibliography        Brehm, William C. Review of Strike for America: Chicago Teachers against            Austerity , by Micah Uetricht. Comparative Education Review 59, no. 1            (2015): 177-79.

Author-Date Style

       1st Parenthetical Note        ( Brehm 2015 , 177 )

       Reference List        Brehm, William C. 2015. Review of Strike for America: Chicago Teachers            against Austerity , by Micah Uetricht. Comparative Education Review 59,            no. 1, 177-79.

    Book Review from Article

       1st Footnote or Endnote            8. Susan Willey and Janice Hume, review of God’s Man for the Gilded        Age: D.L. Moody and the Rise of Modern Mass Evangelicalism , by Bruce J.              Evensen, Journalism History 29, no. 4 (2004): 202.

       Bibliography        Willey, Susan, and Janice Hume. Review of God’s Man for the Gilded Age: D.L.            Moody and the Rise of Modern Mass Evangelicalism , by Bruce J. Evensen.            Journalism History 29, no. 4 (2004): 202.

       1st Parenthetical Note        (Willey and Hume 2004, 202) 

       Reference List        Willey, Susan, and Janice Hume. 2004. Review of God’s Man for the Gilded            Age: D.L. Moody and the Rise of Modern Mass Evangelicalism, by Bruce                         J. Evensen, Journalism History 29 , no. 4.

 Book Review from Internet

       1st Footnote or Endnote            9. Harvey Freedenberg, review of Thomas Murphy: A Novel , by Roger Rosenblatt,        BookPage: America's Book Review , January 2016, https://bookpage.com/reviews        /19280-roger-rosenblatt-thomas-murphy-fiction#.XC4-AckUmUk.

       Bibliography               Freedenberg, Harvey. Review of Thomas Murphy: A Novel , by Roger Rosenblatt,            BookPage: America's Book Review . January 2016. https://bookpage.com            /reviews/19280-roger-rosenblatt-thomas-murphy-fiction#.XC4-AckUmUk.

       1st Parenthetical Note        ( Freedenberg 2016 )

       Reference List        Freedenberg, Harvey. 2016. Review of Thomas Murphy: A Novel , by Roger            Rosenblatt, BookPage: America's Book Review . January. https://bookpage            .com/reviews/19280-roger-rosenblatt-thomas-murphy-fiction#.XC4-AckUmUk.

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Notes and Bibliography: Sample Citations

Go to Author-Date: Sample Citations

The following examples illustrate the notes and bibliography system. Sample notes show full citations followed by shortened citations for the same sources. Sample bibliography entries follow the notes. For more details and many more examples, see chapters 13 and 14 of The Chicago Manual of Style . For examples of the same citations using the author-date system, follow the Author-Date link above.

Note that a place of publication is no longer required in book citations (see CMOS 14.30 ).

1. Charles Yu, Interior Chinatown (Pantheon Books, 2020), 45.

2. Amy J. Binder and Jeffrey L. Kidder, The Channels of Student Activism: How the Left and Right Are Winning (and Losing) in Campus Politics Today (University of Chicago Press, 2022), 117–18.

Shortened notes

3. Yu, Interior Chinatown , 48.

4. Binder and Kidder, Channels of Student Activism , 125.

Bibliography entries (in alphabetical order)

Binder, Amy J., and Jeffrey L. Kidder. The Channels of Student Activism: How the Left and Right Are Winning (and Losing) in Campus Politics Today . University of Chicago Press, 2022.

Yu, Charles. Interior Chinatown . Pantheon Books, 2020.

For more details and examples, see CMOS 13.21–26 and 14.2–62 .

Chapter or other part of an edited book

The page range for a chapter in a book is no longer required in bibliography entries (see CMOS 14.8 ). In a note, cite specific pages as applicable.

1. Kathleen Doyle, “The Queen Mary Psalter,” in The Book by Design: The Remarkable Story of the World’s Greatest Invention , ed. P. J. M. Marks and Stephen Parkin (University of Chicago Press, 2023), 64.

Shortened note

2. Doyle, “Queen Mary Psalter,” 65.

Bibliography entry

Doyle, Kathleen. “The Queen Mary Psalter.” In The Book by Design: The Remarkable Story of the World’s Greatest Invention , edited by P. J. M. Marks and Stephen Parkin. University of Chicago Press, 2023.

In some cases, you may want to cite the collection as a whole instead.

1. P. J. M. Marks and Stephen Parkin, eds., The Book by Design: The Remarkable Story of the World’s Greatest Invention (University of Chicago Press, 2023).

2. Marks and Parkin, Book by Design .

Marks, P. J. M., and Stephen Parkin, eds. The Book by Design: The Remarkable Story of the World’s Greatest Invention . University of Chicago Press, 2023.

For more details and examples, see CMOS 14.8–14 .

Translated book

In the following examples, the author’s name follows Eastern order (family name first) rather than Western order (family name last); the author is therefore referred to as “Liu” in a shortened note, and the name is not inverted in a bibliography entry. See CMOS 13.75 for more details.

1. Liu Xinwu, The Wedding Party , trans. Jeremy Tiang (Amazon Crossing, 2021).

2. Liu, Wedding Party , 279.

Liu Xinwu. The Wedding Party . Translated by Jeremy Tiang. Amazon Crossing, 2021.

For more details and examples, see CMOS 14.5–7 .

Book Consulted in an Electronic Format

To cite a book consulted online, include either a URL or the name of the database. For downloadable ebook formats, name the format; if no fixed page numbers are available, cite a section title or a chapter or other number in the note (or simply omit). For citing a place rather than a publisher for books published before 1900 (as in the Moby-Dick example below), see CMOS 14.31.

1. Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things (Random House, 2008), chap. 6, Kindle.

2. Philip B. Kurland and Ralph Lerner, eds., The Founders’ Constitution (University of Chicago Press, 1987), chap. 10, doc. 19, https://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/.

3. Brooke Borel, The Chicago Guide to Fact-Checking , 2nd ed. (University of Chicago Press, 2023), 92, EBSCOhost.

4. Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale (New York, 1851), 627, https://melville.electroniclibrary.org/moby-dick-side-by-side.

5. Roy, God of Small Things , chap. 7.

6. Kurland and Lerner, Founder s ’ Constitution , chap. 4, doc. 29.

7. Borel, Fact-Checking , 104–5.

8. Melville, Moby-Dick , 722–23.

Borel, Brooke. The Chicago Guide to Fact-Checking . 2nd ed. University of Chicago Press, 2023. EBSCOhost.

Kurland, Philip B., and Ralph Lerner, eds. The Founders’ Constitution . University of Chicago Press, 1987. https://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/.

Melville, Herman. Moby-Dick; or, The Whale . New York, 1851. https://melville.electroniclibrary.org/moby-dick-side-by-side.

Roy, Arundhati. The God of Small Things . Random House, 2008. Kindle.

For more details and examples, see CMOS 14.58–62 .

Journal article

Journal articles are usually cited by volume and issue number. In a note, cite specific page numbers. In the bibliography, include the page range for the whole article. For articles consulted online, include a URL (preferably one based on a DOI; see CMOS 13.7); alternatively, list the name of the database.

1. Hyeyoung Kwon, “Inclusion Work: Children of Immigrants Claiming Membership in Everyday Life,” American Journal of Sociology 127, no. 6 (2022): 1842–43, https://doi.org/10.1086/720277.

2. B. T. Hebert, “The Island of Bolsö: A Study of Norwegian Life,” Sociological Review 17, no. 4 (1925): 310, EBSCOhost.

3. Benjamin Lindquist, “The Art of Text-to-Speech,” Critical Inquiry 50, no. 2 (2023): 230, https://doi.org/10.1086/727651.

4. Emily L. Dittmar and Douglas W. Schemske, “Temporal Variation in Selection Influences Microgeographic Local Adaptation,” American Naturalist 202, no. 4 (2023): 480, https://doi.org/10.1086/725865.

5. Kwon, “Inclusion Work,” 1851.

6. Hebert, “Island of Bolsö,” 311.

7. Lindquist, “Text-to-Speech,” 231–32.

8. Dittmar and Schemske, “Temporal Variation,” 480.

Dittmar, Emily L., and Douglas W. Schemske. “Temporal Variation in Selection Influences Microgeographic Local Adaptation.” American Naturalist 202, no. 4 (2023): 471–85. https://doi.org/10.1086/725865.

Hebert, B. T. “The Island of Bolsö: A Study of Norwegian Life.” Sociological Review 17, no. 4 (1925): 307–13. EBSCOhost.

Kwon, Hyeyoung. “Inclusion Work: Children of Immigrants Claiming Membership in Everyday Life.” American Journal of Sociology 127, no. 6 (2022): 1818–59. https://doi.org/10.1086/720277.

Lindquist, Benjamin. “The Art of Text-to-Speech.” Critical Inquiry 50, no. 2 (2023): 225–51. https://doi.org/10.1086/727651.

Journal articles often list many authors, especially in the sciences. For works by two authors, list both in the bibliography and in a note (as in the Dittmar and Schemske example above). For three or more authors, list up to six in the bibliography; for more than six authors, list the first three, followed by “et al.” (“and others”). In a note, list only the first, followed by “et al.” Note that the bibliography entry for the Dror example below (which credits eighteen authors) includes an article ID in place of a page range; in a note, specific page numbers may be cited as shown (see CMOS 14.71 for details).

7. Amiel A. Dror et al., “Pre-Infection 25-Hydroxyvitamin D3 Levels and Association with Severity of COVID-19 Illness,” PLOS ONE 17, no. 2 (2022): 4–5, e0263069, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0263069.

8. Dror et al., “Pre-Infection,” 7.

Dror, Amiel A., Nicole Morozov, Amani Daoud, et al. “Pre-Infection 25-Hydroxyvitamin D3 Levels and Association with Severity of COVID-19 Illness.” PLOS ONE 17, no. 2 (2022): e0263069. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0263069.

For more details and examples, see CMOS 14.67–86 .

News or magazine article

Articles from newspapers or news sites, magazines, blogs, and the like are cited similarly. Page numbers, if any, can be cited in a note but are omitted from a bibliography entry. For articles consulted online, include a URL or the name of the database.

1. Dani Blum, “Are Flax Seeds All That?,” New York Times , December 13, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/13/well/eat/flax-seeds-benefits.html.

2. Rebecca Mead, “Terms of Aggrievement,” New Yorker , December 18, 2023, 21.

3. Rob Pegoraro, “Apple’s iPhone Is Sleek, Smart and Simple,” Washington Post , July 5, 2007, LexisNexis Academic.

4. Elana Klein, “Meet Flip, the Viral Video App Giving Away Free Stuff,” Wired , December 21, 2023, https://www.wired.com/story/flip-viral-video-app-shopping-free-stuff/.

5. Blum, “Flax Seeds.”

6. Mead, “Terms of Aggrievement,” 23–24.

7. Pegoraro, “Apple’s iPhone.”

8. Klein, “Meet Flip.”

Blum, Dani. “Are Flax Seeds All That?” New York Times , December 13, 2023. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/13/well/eat/flax-seeds-benefits.html.

Klein, Elana. “Meet Flip, the Viral Video App Giving Away Free Stuff.” Wired , December 21, 2023. https://www.wired.com/story/flip-viral-video-app-shopping-free-stuff/.

Mead, Rebecca. “Terms of Aggrievement.” New Yorker , December 18, 2023.

Pegoraro, Rob. “Apple’s iPhone Is Sleek, Smart and Simple.” Washington Post , July 5, 2007. LexisNexis Academic.

Readers’ comments are cited in the text or in a note but omitted from a bibliography.

9. Michelle (Reno), December 15, 2023, comment on Blum, “Flax Seeds.”

For more details and examples, see CMOS 14.87–88 (magazines) and 14.89–98 (newspapers and news sites).

Book review

1. Alexandra Jacobs, “The Muchness of Madonna,” review of Madonna: A Rebel Life , by Mary Gabriel, New York Times , October 8, 2023.

2. Jacobs, “Muchness of Madonna.”

Jacobs, Alexandra. “The Muchness of Madonna.” Review of Madonna: A Rebel Life , by Mary Gabriel. New York Times , October 8, 2023.

Interviews are usually cited under the name of the interviewee rather than the interviewer.

1. Joy Buolamwini, “ ‘If You Have a Face, You Have a Place in the Conversation About AI,’ Expert Says,” interview by Tonya Mosley, Fresh Air , NPR, November 28, 2023, audio, 37:58, https://www.npr.org/2023/11/28/1215529902/unmasking-ai-facial-recognition-technology-joy-buolamwini.

2. Buolamwini, interview.

Buolamwini, Joy. “ ‘If You Have a Face, You Have a Place in the Conversation About AI,’ Expert Says.” Interview by Tonya Mosley. Fresh Air , NPR, November 28, 2023. Audio, 37:58. https://www.npr.org/2023/11/28/1215529902/unmasking-ai-facial-recognition-technology-joy-buolamwini.

For more details and examples, see CMOS 14.108 , 14.109 , and 14.110 .

Thesis or dissertation

1. Yuna Blajer de la Garza, “A House Is Not a Home: Citizenship and Belonging in Contemporary Democracies” (PhD diss., University of Chicago, 2019), 66–67, ProQuest (13865986).

2. Blajer de la Garza, “House,” 93.

Blajer de la Garza, Yuna. “A House Is Not a Home: Citizenship and Belonging in Contemporary Democracies.” PhD diss., University of Chicago, 2019. ProQuest (13865986).

For more details and examples, see CMOS 14.113 .

It is often sufficient simply to describe web pages and other website content in the text (“As of November 15, 2023, Google’s privacy policy stated . . .”). If a more formal citation is needed, it may be styled like the examples below. If a source does not list a date of publication or revision, include an access date. Alternatively, if a publicly available archive of the content has been saved using the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine or similar service, the link for that version may be cited.

1. “Privacy Policy,” Privacy & Terms, Google, effective November 15, https://policies.google.com/privacy.

2. “Wikipedia: Manual of Style,” Wikimedia Foundation, last modified December 19, 2023, 21:54 (UTC), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style.

3. “About Yale: Yale Facts,” Yale University, accessed March 8, 2022, https://www.yale.edu/about-yale/yale-facts.

3. “About Yale: Yale Facts,” Yale University, archived March 8, 2022, at https://web.archive.org/web/20220308143337/https://www.yale.edu/about-yale/yale-facts.

4. Google, “Privacy Policy.”

5. “Wikipedia: Manual of Style.”

6. “Yale Facts.”

In the notes, the title will usually come first (as in the examples above); in a bibliography entry, the source should be listed under the owner or sponsor of the site.

Google. “Privacy Policy.” Privacy & Terms. Effective November 15, 2023. https://policies.google.com/privacy.

Wikimedia Foundation. “Wikipedia: Manual of Style.” Last modified December 19, 2023, at 21:54 (UTC). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style.

Yale University. “About Yale: Yale Facts.” Accessed March 8, 2022. https://www.yale.edu/about-yale/yale-facts.

Yale University. “About Yale: Yale Facts.” Archived March 8, 2022, at https://web.archive.org/web/20220308143337/https://www.yale.edu/about-yale/yale-facts.

For more details and examples, see CMOS 14.104 .

Social media content

Citations of content posted to social media can usually be limited to the text (as in the first example below). A note may be added if a more formal citation is needed. In rare cases, a bibliography entry may also be appropriate. In place of a title, quote up to the first 280 characters of the post. Comments are cited in reference to the original post.

The Instagram post included a photo of the president delivering a eulogy at the National Cathedral and referred to O’Connor as “gracious and principled” (@potus, December 19, 2023).

1. NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb), “👀 Sneak a peek at the deepest & sharpest infrared image of the early universe ever taken—all in a day’s work for the Webb telescope. (Literally, capturing it took less than a day!),” Twitter (now X), July 11, 2022, https://twitter.com/NASAWebb/status/1546621080298835970.

2. Chicago Manual of Style, “Is the world ready for singular they? We thought so back in 1993,” Facebook, April 17, 2015, https://www.facebook.com/ChicagoManual/posts/10152906193679151.

3. NASA Webb Telescope, “👀 Sneak a peek.”

4. Michele Truty, April 17, 2015, 1:09 p.m., comment on Chicago Manual of Style, “singular they.”

Chicago Manual of Style. “Is the world ready for singular they? We thought so back in 1993.” Facebook, April 17, 2015. https://www.facebook.com/ChicagoManual/posts/10152906193679151.

For more details and examples, see CMOS 14.106 .

Video or podcast

1. Vaitea Cowan, “How Green Hydrogen Could End the Fossil Fuel Era,” TED Talk, Vancouver, BC, April 2022, 9 min., 15 sec., https://www .ted .com /talks /vaitea _cowan _how _green _hydrogen _could _end _the _fossil _fuel _era.

2. Eric Oliver, “Why So Many Americans Believe in So Many ‘Crazy’ Things,” moderated by Andrew McCall, virtual lecture, February 23, 2022, posted March 21, 2022, by University of Chicago, YouTube, 1:01:45, https://youtu.be/hfq7AnCF5bg.

3. Lauren Ober, host, The Loudest Girl in the World, season 1, episode 2, “Goodbye, Routine; Hello, Meltdown!,” Pushkin Industries, September 13, 2022, 41 min., 37 sec., https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/loudest-girl-in-the-world.

1. Cowan, “Green Hydrogen,” at 6:09–17.

2. Oliver, “Why.”

3. Ober, “Goodbye, Routine.”

Unless it is clear from context, “video” or the like may be specified in the bibliography.

Cowan, Vaitea. “How Green Hydrogen Could End the Fossil Fuel Era.” TED Talk, Vancouver, BC, April 2022. Video, 9 min., 15 sec. https://www .ted .com /talks /vaitea _cowan _how _green _hydrogen _could _end _the _fossil _fuel _era.

Ober, Lauren, host. The Loudest Girl in the World. Season 1, episode 2, “Goodbye, Routine; Hello, Meltdown!” Pushkin Industries, September 13, 2022. Podcast, 41 min., 37 sec. https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/loudest-girl-in-the-world.

Oliver, Eric. “Why So Many Americans Believe in So Many ‘Crazy’ Things.” Moderated by Andrew McCall. Virtual lecture, February 23, 2022. Posted March 21, 2022, by University of Chicago. YouTube, 1:01:45. https://youtu.be/hfq7AnCF5bg.

For more details and examples, see CMOS 14.167–69 .

Personal communication

Personal communications, including email and text messages and direct messages sent through social media, are usually cited in the text or in a note only; they are rarely included in a bibliography.

1. Sam Gomez, Facebook direct message to author, August 1, 2024.

For more details and examples, see CMOS 14.111 .

• Link to facebook
• Link to linkedin
• Link to twitter
• Link to youtube
• Writing Tips

How to Cite a Review in Chicago Footnote Referencing

• 3-minute read
• 10th July 2020

If you’re writing an academic paper , you may want to refer to reviews of books, films, or artworks to back up your arguments. In this guide, then, we will show you how to cite a review in Chicago footnote referencing.

How to Cite a Review in Chicago Footnotes

In Chicago footnote referencing , to cite a review, give the following information in the first footnote citation:

n. Name of Reviewer, “Title of Review,” review of Title of Reviewed Work by Creator(s), location and date of performance (if applicable), Title of Periodical/Website , date of review, edition/section information, URL (online sources only).

That’s quite a lot to pack in! Not all of it will be relevant for every review, but try to include as much detail as possible. Let’s look at a few examples. Below are footnote citations for reviews of a book, a film, and a play:

1. Deborah Levy, “An American Writer Goes into the Jungle to Commune with a Tiger,” review of All the Way to the Tigers: A Memoir by Mary Morris, The New York Times , June 9, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/09/books/review/all-the-way-to-the-tigers-mary-morris.html.

2. Kambole Campbell, review of Da 5 Bloods , directed by Spike Lee, Empire , June 10, 2020, https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/da-5-bloods/.

3. Arifa Akbar, review of The Seven Streams of the River Ota , written and directed by Robert Lepage, National Theatre, London, March 13, 2020, The Guardian , March 15, 2020, Culture section, https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2020/mar/15/the-seven-streams-of-the-river-ota-review-national-theatre-london.

If the reviewer’s name isn’t available, simply start your footnote with “Unsigned review of” instead. The rest of the citation stays the same.

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Reviews in a Chicago Bibliography

The bibliography entry for a review uses the same information as the footnote citation, but the presentation is a little different:

Reviewer’s Surname, First Name. “Title of Review,” review of Title of Reviewed Work by Creator(s), location and date of performance (if applicable). Title of Periodical/Website , date of review, edition/section information. URL (online sources only).

So, for example, we would list the book review above as follows:

Levy, Deborah. “An American Writer Goes into the Jungle to Commune with a Tiger,” review of All the Way to the Tigers: A Memoir by Mary Morris. The New York Times , June 9, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/09/books/review/all-the-way-to-the-tigers-mary-morris.html.

And if no reviewer is named, give the title of the periodical first:

Classical Concert Monthly. Unsigned review of concert performance by John Smith (ukulele) and Jane Roberts (kazoo), Concert Hall, Birmingham, January 13, 2020. January 14, 2020, Unusual Duets section.

These pointers will help you to cite reviews in Chicago footnote referencing. If you would like an expert editor to check your writing, though, why not upload a paper and try our proofreading services ?

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CMOS Shop Talk

From the chicago manual of style, citing book reviews.

[Editor’s note: This post refers and links to the 17th edition of CMOS.]

Spotlight on CMOS 14.201—4

Chicago-style source citations are designed to be both concise and informative. Ideally, readers should be able to tell what a citation refers to despite its abbreviated nature.

Distinct, predictable citation formats for books and journal articles work in support of this goal. Readers learn to recognize “book” or “article” from format alone, and these citations are easy to create with the help of software.

Reviews, however, are a special case. Whether you use the “Cite” feature for a review published online or rely on a program like Zotero to get that same info, you probably won’t end up with a true Chicago-style citation.

Let’s cite a book review to find out what happens—and how to fix it.

Book Review or Article?

Reviews typically take the form of an article published in a newspaper, magazine, or journal. Some publications devote an entire section exclusively to book reviews. Let’s look at a book review published in Critical Inquiry , a journal from the University of Chicago Press.

In volume 49, issue number 3, published in March 2023, Kirsten Silva Gruesz reviews Planetary Longings , a book by Mary Louise Pratt published in 2022 by Duke University Press.

Here’s how that review would be cited using data acquired by Zotero from the publisher’s page for the review and formatted as a Chicago-style bibliography entry:

Gruesz, Kirsten Silva. “Mary Louise Pratt, Planetary Longings.” Critical Inquiry 49, no. 3 (March 2023): 492–94. https://doi.org/10.1086/723671.

Good, except italics should be applied to the book title within the article title (see CMOS 14.95 ):

Gruesz, Kirsten Silva. “Mary Louise Pratt, Planetary Longings .” Critical Inquiry 49, no. 3 (March 2023): 492–94. https://doi.org/10.1086/723671.

Now the citation looks right and makes sense. But can you tell it’s a book review?

From Article to Review

The key to citing a review in Chicago style is to add the words “review of,” followed by information about the item being reviewed. Here’s how the book review by Gruesz would be cited according to CMOS 14.202 :

Gruesz, Kirsten Silva. Review of Planetary Longings , by Mary Louise Pratt. Critical Inquiry 49, no. 3 (March 2023): 492–94. https://doi.org/10.1086/723671.

Notice that there’s no title for the review. Technically speaking, it doesn’t have one; instead, the journal lists the review under the details for the book being reviewed (more on that below).

If it did have a title—as many reviews do, especially reviews published in newspapers and magazines—that title would be added in quotation marks. Otherwise, the format is the same:

Gruesz, Kirsten Silva. “Title of Review.” Review of . . .

With or without a title, the revised version of the citation tells us (a) that the article is a review and (b) who is reviewing what, and by whom. This requires some manual intervention, but the extra steps make the citation easier to understand.

The Limits of Data

The identifying details for a journal article presented online are stored as metadata—literally, data about data. The metadata for the Gruesz article gives us a good idea of why an automated citation doesn’t end up matching Chicago’s format for citing reviews.

Critical Inquiry offers downloadable citation data in several formats (under Article Tools), including RIS, which stands for Research Information Systems and can be read by Zotero and other reference management programs. Here’s the RIS metadata for the Gruesz review:

TY - JOUR T1 - Mary Louise Pratt, Planetary Longings AU - Gruesz, Kirsten Silva Y1 - 2023/03/01 PY - 2023 DA - 2023/03/01 N1 - doi: 10.1086/723671 DO - 10.1086/723671 T2 - Critical Inquiry JF - Critical Inquiry SP - 492 EP - 494 VL - 49 IS - 3 PB - The University of Chicago Press SN - 0093-1896 M3 - doi: 10.1086/723671 UR - https://doi.org/10.1086/723671 Y2 - 2023/05/21 ER -

Some of the fields are redundant (the journal title, publication date, and DOI each appear more than once), and some aren’t used in Chicago style—which, for example, doesn’t require an access date for journal articles or an ISSN for the journal itself.

But notice that there’s no field for “review,” making it unlikely that any of the citation options offered with the article (all of which use variations of the same metadata) would construct a proper Chicago-style review citation.

Instead, any automated citation will rely on the title in field T1, which consists of the name of the author of the reviewed book followed by the title of that book. This title allows for a standard citation for a journal article, but as we noted earlier, the review doesn’t technically have a title (and isn’t an article in the conventional sense).

Context Is Everything

We humans know it’s a review, even if the RIS metadata doesn’t say so. First, Critical Inquiry puts articles like the one by Gruesz in a section called “The CI Review,” a heading displayed at the top of the review online:

That heading is also used as a running head in the print/PDF version, as this screenshot from the top of page 492 shows (and note that Critical Inquiry ’s running heads are in italics, so “CI” is in roman, or reverse italics):

These headings help us to understand that we’re reading a review. But again, this context isn’t part of the citation metadata and therefore won’t show up in an automated citation—not unless you add it manually.

It’s not the end of the world if you cite a review without adding “review of.” The example at the beginning of this post that cites the Gruesz review as if it were a regular journal article will still lead readers to the intended source. And chances are good that the context requiring the citation in the first place will make its nature clear.

But when an author or editor takes the time to adjust such a citation to specify that it’s a review, the result will be meaningful regardless of context. For more on this subject, see “ Editing Automated Source Citations ,” also at Shop Talk .

Dictionary image by TungCheung  / Adobe Stock .

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

Footnote or endnote (n):, corresponding bibliographical entry (b):, book by one author  , book by multiple authors.

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

Translated work with one author

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.

Chapter from a single-authored book

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

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

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 .

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.  

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:

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.

Generate accurate Chicago citations for free

• Knowledge Base
• Chicago Style
• Creating a Chicago Style Bibliography | Format & Examples

Creating a Chicago Style Bibliography | Format & Examples

Published on September 23, 2019 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on April 9, 2024.

A Chicago style bibliography lists the sources cited in your text. Each bibliography entry begins with the author’s name and the title of the source, followed by relevant publication details. The bibliography is alphabetized by authors’ last names.

A bibliography is not mandatory, but is strongly recommended for all but very short papers. It gives your reader an overview of all your sources in one place. Check with your instructor if you’re not sure whether you need a bibliography.

Always make sure to pay attention to punctuation (e.g., commas , quotation marks , parentheses ) in your citations.

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Table of contents

Chicago style bibliography examples, formatting the bibliography page, author names in the bibliography, bibliography vs reference list, frequently asked questions about the chicago bibliography.

Bibliography entries vary in format depending on the type of source . Templates and examples for the most common source types are shown below.

• Book chapter
• Journal article

• The edition is always abbreviated (e.g. 2nd ed. or rev. ed.).
• Only include the URL for books you consulted online.

• Use this format to cite a chapter in a multi-authored book. If all the chapters in a book were written by the same person, reference the whole book.
• Begin the citation with the author of the chapter. The editor who compiled the book is listed later.

• The page range identifies the location of the article within the journal issue.
• For articles accessed online, include a DOI (digital object identifier) where available, and a URL if not.

• If the author is unknown, list the organization or website name as author, and don’t repeat it later in the citation.
• If no publication date is listed, include an access date instead.
• The website name is not italicized, unless it is an online version of a newspaper or magazine .

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The bibliography appears at the end of your text. The heading Bibliography is bolded and centred at the top of the page.

Unlike the rest of a Chicago format paper, the bibliography is not double-spaced. However, add a single line space between entries.

If a bibliography entry extends onto more than one line, subsequent lines should be indented ( hanging indent ), as seen in the example below. This helps the reader to see at a glance where each new entry begins.

There are further guidelines for formatting a Chicago style annotated bibliography , in which you write a paragraph of summary and source evaluation under each source.

Author names in the bibliography are inverted: The last name comes first, then the first name(s). Sources are alphabetized by author last name.

If a source has no named author, alphabetize by the first word of the title or organization name that starts the entry. Ignore articles (“the,” “a,” and “an”) for the purposes of alphabetization.

Sources with multiple authors

For sources with more than one author, only the first author’s name is inverted; subsequent names are written in the normal order.

For texts with up to 10 authors, all the authors’ names should be listed in the order they appear in the source, separated by commas .

If there are more than 10 authors, list the first seven, followed by “ et al. ”

Multiple sources by the same author

If you include multiple works from the same author, only include the author name in the first entry. In subsequent entries, replace the name with three em dashes , followed by the rest of the citation formatted as normal. List the entries in alphabetical order by title.

A reference list is mandatory in Chicago author-date style , where you cite sources in parentheses in the text. The only differences between a Chicago bibliography and a reference list are the heading and the placement of the date.

The reference list is headed “References.” In reference list entries, the publication date is placed immediately after the author’s name. This allows the reader to easily find a reference on the basis of the corresponding in-text citation.

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In a Chicago style footnote , list up to three authors. If there are more than three, name only the first author, followed by “ et al. “

In the bibliography , list up to 10 authors. If there are more than 10, list the first seven followed by “et al.”

The same rules apply in Chicago author-date style .

To automatically generate accurate Chicago references, you can use Scribbr’s free Chicago reference generator .

In a Chicago footnote citation , when the author of a source is unknown (as is often the case with websites ), start the citation with the title in a full note. In short notes and bibliography entries, list the organization that published it as the author.

In Chicago author-date style , treat the organization as author in your in-text citations and reference list.

When an online source does not list a publication date, replace it with an access date in your Chicago footnotes and your bibliography :

If you are using author-date in-text citations , or if the source was not accessed online, replace the date with “n.d.”

• A reference list is used with Chicago author-date citations .
• A bibliography is used with Chicago footnote citations .

Both present the exact same information; the only difference is the placement of the year in source citations:

• In a reference list entry, the publication year appears directly after the author’s name.
• In a bibliography entry, the year appears near the end of the entry (the exact placement depends on the source type).

There are also other types of bibliography that work as stand-alone texts, such as a Chicago annotated bibliography .

In Chicago author-date style , your text must include a reference list . It appears at the end of your paper and gives full details of every source you cited.

In notes and bibliography style, you use Chicago style footnotes to cite sources; a bibliography is optional but recommended. If you don’t include one, be sure to use a full note for the first citation of each source.

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Caulfield, J. (2024, April 09). Creating a Chicago Style Bibliography | Format & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved September 3, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/chicago-style/bibliography/

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