Chicago Citation
Chicago Citation - a browser-based student tools utility.
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About Chicago Citation
Chicago is two systems rather than one, and picking the wrong one produces a bibliography that is formatted impeccably and still wrong for the assignment. This produces both: notes-bibliography for history and the humanities, author-date for the sciences and social sciences. Free to use, with no sign-in and no subscription. Each note is assembled in the browser from what you enter.
How to use it
- Choose the system your department usesNotes-bibliography uses footnotes and a bibliography; author-date uses parenthetical citations and a reference list. Ask if you are not sure — they are not interchangeable.
- Enter the source detailsAuthor, title, publication and date, with the fields changing to suit a book, a journal article or a web page.
- Copy the forms you needFor notes-bibliography that is three: the full note, the shortened note for subsequent references, and the bibliography entry.
Why the first note differs from the second
The first citation of a source gives the full details; every later citation of the same work is shortened to author, short title and page. Repeating the full note each time is the most common error in a Chicago paper, and it is visible at a glance to anyone marking it.
What it does not do
- Formatted to the current edition. Departments frequently issue house rules on top, and where those disagree the department wins.
- The output is only as good as what you enter. A missing translator or edition number cannot be inferred.
Questions people ask
- Which Chicago system should I use?
- Notes-bibliography for history, literature and the arts; author-date for the sciences and most social sciences. Your department will have chosen one, and the choice is not yours to make.
- What is a shortened note?
- The abbreviated form used for every citation of a work after the first — author surname, a short form of the title, and the page. It replaces the full note rather than sitting alongside it.
Questions about ToolsVerse itself — privacy, cost, what happens to your files — are answered in the frequently asked questions.
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