What's the difference between Chicago's two citation systems?

Notes-bibliography uses numbered footnotes or endnotes plus a bibliography, and dominates history, art and literature. Author-date uses (Author Year) in-text citations plus a reference list, and is common in the sciences. Your instructor or publisher specifies which; the generator produces either.

What does a Chicago footnote look like?

First note: 1. Author First Last, Title of Book (City: Publisher, Year), page. Later notes shorten to: 2. Last, Short Title, page. The generator gives you both forms plus the bibliography entry, which reverses the author's name.

Is Chicago the same as Turabian?

Turabian is Chicago adapted for students — same citation logic with minor formatting differences for papers rather than books. Citations from this generator are valid for Turabian-style papers as well.

Is this Chicago citation generator free?

Yes — unlimited citations in both Chicago systems, no sign-up.

Free Chicago Citation Generator

Both Chicago systems, done right: notes-bibliography footnotes for the humanities, or author-date citations for the sciences — from whatever details you have.

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The result will appear here.

Why use this Chicago citation generator?

Both Chicago systems

Notes-bibliography (humanities) and author-date (sciences) — pick the one your field uses.

Full + short footnotes

In notes style you get the bibliography entry, the first full note and the shortened form for later references.

All source types

Books, journal articles, websites, newspapers, archival sources — formatted to current Chicago rules.

Never invents details

Missing information is flagged for you to look up, never fabricated.

How to use the chicago citation generator

Paste the source details
Author, title, publisher, year, journal, URL — whatever you have.
Pick the system
Notes & bibliography for humanities papers, Author-date for sciences.
Copy what you need
Bibliography entry, full footnote, shortened footnote — or reference entry and in-text form.

About this Chicago citation generator

Chicago is really two styles in one manual, and using the wrong one is the classic mistake: the humanities expect numbered footnotes with a bibliography, while the sciences expect (Author Year) references. This free Chicago citation generator produces either system from the same source details — including the full and shortened footnote forms that make notes-bibliography style tedious to do by hand.

It formats the sources history and humanities papers actually use: books and chapters, journal articles, newspapers, websites and archival material, following current Chicago Manual of Style rules. Anything missing from your details is flagged explicitly rather than invented.

Working across styles? The APA citation generator and MLA citation generator share the same paste-anything workflow, and the general citation generator covers Harvard as well.

Frequently asked questions

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