Chicago style offers two citation systems, and how you quote depends on which one your paper uses. Notes-bibliography style cites a quotation with a superscript number and a matching footnote. Author-date style cites it with the author, year, and page in parentheses, like APA. In both, short quotations run inside the text in quotation marks, and long ones are set off as block quotes. Pick the system your instructor or field requires, then apply it consistently.
The two Chicago citation systems
Notes-bibliography (often just “Chicago style”) is used in history and the humanities. You place a superscript number after the quotation, and a footnote at the bottom of the page gives the source. Author-date is used in the sciences and social sciences and works like APA: an in-text parenthetical points to a reference list. The wording of your quotations is identical either way; only the citation apparatus changes.
How to quote in Chicago notes-bibliography style
Put the quotation in quotation marks and add a superscript number right after the closing punctuation. The corresponding footnote gives the full source the first time and a shortened form after. A first footnote looks like: 1. Jane Smith, The History of Memory (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2020), 45. A later reference to the same book shortens to: 2. Smith, History of Memory, 47. The bibliography entry inverts the author’s name and drops the page number.
How to quote in Chicago author-date style
Place the author’s last name, the year, and the page number in parentheses after the quotation: (Smith 2020, 45). Note there is no comma between the name and year, but there is one before the page number. The matching reference-list entry reads: Smith, Jane. 2020. The History of Memory. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. This is the system that most resembles APA and MLA citation.
How to format a block quote in Chicago
Chicago sets off a quotation of roughly five lines or more (or more than about 100 words) as a block quote. Start it on a new line, indent the entire quotation, remove the quotation marks, and single-space it if the rest of the paper is double-spaced. The citation, whether a footnote number or a parenthetical, comes after the block’s final punctuation. This threshold is longer than MLA’s four-line rule, one of the practical differences from block quoting in other styles.
How to change a quotation cleanly
Chicago follows the same conventions as other styles for altering quotes: use an ellipsis for omitted words, square brackets for added or changed words, and “[sic]” to flag an original error you are preserving. Keep the wording exact otherwise. To decide when to quote directly and when to restate in your own words, see how to paraphrase a quote, and for leading into quotations smoothly, how to introduce a quote.
FAQ
What are the two Chicago citation styles?
Notes-bibliography, which uses footnotes and a bibliography, and author-date, which uses parenthetical citations and a reference list. Choose based on your field or instructor.
How do you cite a quote in Chicago footnotes?
Add a superscript number after the quotation and give the source in a footnote: Author, Title (City: Publisher, Year), page. Shorten it in later notes.
How do you cite a quote in Chicago author-date?
Put the author, year, and page in parentheses after the quotation: (Smith 2020, 45). No comma sits between the name and the year.
When does Chicago require a block quote?
For quotations of about five lines or 100 words or more. Indent the whole quote, drop the quotation marks, and place the citation after the final punctuation.
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