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Junior History Paper Research: Chicago Style Citations

Chicago Style Basics

The history department at Governor’s Academy uses Chicago Style with Footnotes for citations. There are many other styles (including APA and MLA), but this guide is only for Chicago Style and is only a guide; specific instructions from any teacher should always be followed. 

Chicago Style has two main parts: the in-text note which appears every time you use a source and the Bibliography which is a list of utilized sources at the end of the paper. 

In Text Notes

A note is used whenever an outside resource is quoted, reference, summarized, or used in any way.

  • Notes consist of a superscripted number (¹)  at the end of the sentence to which they refer, and a corresponding bibliographic entry at the bottom of the page.
  • Note numbers should begin with “1” and run consecutively; Google Docs will handle this automatically using the Insert>Footnote command.
  • Note numbers come after any and all punctuation except a dash.
  • Note numbers at the bottom of the page may be superscripted (¹) or full size followed by a period (1.).
  • The first time a source is cited a full note should be used; every subsequent time that source is cited a short note should be used. Short notes typically consist of the author’s last name and a shortened version of the title. Noodletools will show the long and short notes for copying under OPTIONS>FOOTNOTE FORMAT on the Sources page.

Examples:

Basics of Chicago Style Video

Adding a Website to Noodletools

Bibliography

The bibliography is an alphabetical list of all the sources referenced in a paper. It comes at the end of the paper. Noodletools will export a properly formatted bibliography into Google docs using the EXPORT feature from the sources page if a Google account has been linked to Noodletools.

Example Bibliography:

General Formatting

Unless otherwise directed by a teacher, Chicago Style papers:

  • Have a title page
  • Readable font such as Times New Roman
  • 12 point font
  • Double spaced except for block quotes, notes, bibliography, tables, and figures
  • 1-inch margins
  • Numbered pages beginning after title page

Title Page

Citing ChatGPT and Other AI Generated Content

In some instances, AI-generated content can be acknowledged in the text of your writing.

EXAMPLE:

When asked the same question, ChatGPT generated the following response, "Shakespeare utilized humor to appeal to the common man of 16th and 17th century England."

When necessary, AI-generated content can be cited in a footnote or endnote using the following EXAMPLE:

1. Text generated by ChatGPT, Open AI, August 20, 2023, https://chat.openai.com/chat.

OR

1. ChatGPT, response to "Why did Shakespeare use humor in his plays," Open AI, August 20, 2023, https://chat.openai.com/chat.

In both of these examples ChatGPT is being treated as the "author", Open AI as the publisher, the date should be the date the text was generated, and the URL is the Chat GPT site. As of now, chat transcripts can only be accessed by the owner of the login so links to the chat are not helpful.

Do not include AI-generated content in the bibliography.