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Chicago Bibliography: 18th Edition Format & Examples

A Chicago bibliography is the alphabetized source list normally used with the Notes & Bibliography citation system. Bibliography entries give the full details needed to identify each source and use a different name order, punctuation pattern, and locator treatment from Chicago footnotes.

Written and reviewed by Muzammal Amin · Checked against Chicago 18th-edition guidance

SHORT ANSWER

A basic modern-book entry looks like this: **Bennett, Maya. Cities at Dusk. Northfield Press, 2025. The first author’s name is normally inverted for alphabetization, major elements are separated by periods, and the entry is formatted with a hanging indent when it wraps onto additional lines. Need to build the bibliography rather than format every entry manually? Use the Chicago Citation Generator in Notes & Bibliography** mode to generate bibliography entries, save sources, detect duplicates, and build an alphabetized bibliography from reviewed source records.

ON THIS PAGE

What is a Chicago bibliography?
How do you format a Chicago bibliography?
What is a hanging indent in a Chicago bibliography?
How are Chicago bibliography entries alphabetized?
How do I alphabetize a source with no author?
How are author names written in a Chicago bibliography?
How many authors do I list in a Chicago 18 bibliography?

What is a Chicago bibliography?

A Chicago bibliography is an end-of-document list of sources associated with the Notes & Bibliography system.

The bibliography gives readers a convenient place to identify and locate the works used in your research. It usually appears after the main text and notes, subject to the requirements of the paper, thesis, book, journal, or institution.

A bibliography entry describes the source as a whole.

A footnote, by contrast, identifies a particular citation occurrence and can include the exact page, chapter, section, paragraph, or other locator relevant to that statement.

For example:

Footnote

Maya Bennett, Cities at Dusk (Northfield Press, 2025), 73.

Bibliography

Bennett, Maya. Cities at Dusk. Northfield Press, 2025.

The page number 73 belongs to that particular note. It does not become part of the bibliography entry for the whole book.

For detailed note mechanics, see Chicago Footnotes.

How do you format a Chicago bibliography?

A Chicago bibliography should be easy to scan and alphabetize.

The core formatting principles are:

place the bibliography on a separate section or page when required by your document format;
use the heading Bibliography unless your instructor or publisher specifies another heading;
arrange entries alphabetically by the appropriate author or other leading element;
invert the first Western-order personal author’s name;
use a hanging indent for entries that continue onto additional lines;
keep title styling, punctuation, capitalization, and publication details consistent with Chicago;
repeat author names in successive entries rather than replacing them with a 3-em dash under Chicago 18.

Exact page setup, line spacing, blank lines, font, and other manuscript-layout details can vary by instructor, university, dissertation office, journal, or publisher. Follow those requirements when they are more specific.

What is a hanging indent in a Chicago bibliography?

A hanging indent keeps the first line of an entry flush with the left margin and indents the following lines.

Conceptually:

Bennett, Maya. Cities at Dusk. Northfield Press,
     2025.

The actual title would be italicized in the formatted bibliography.

Chicago’s 18th-edition index specifically identifies hanging, or “flush-and-hang,” indentation as the standard treatment used for bibliographies.

A common academic implementation uses a 0.5-inch hanging indent, but your institution’s document-format instructions should take priority if they specify something different.

Do not create hanging indents by pressing the space bar or Tab repeatedly. Use the paragraph-formatting controls in Word, Google Docs, or your writing software so wrapped lines remain aligned correctly.

How are Chicago bibliography entries alphabetized?

Bibliography entries are normally arranged alphabetically by the first author’s surname or by the appropriate leading element of the citation.

For example:

Bennett, Maya. ...
Cho, Daniel. ...
Ruiz, Elena. ...
Yu, Charles. ...

Do not alphabetize a multi-author work by the second or third author. The order of authors within an individual source follows the source itself; the bibliography as a whole is organized by the first-listed author.

When the leading author is an organization, alphabetize the entry under the organization’s name.

When there is genuinely no author or responsible organization, the title can become the leading element.

How do I alphabetize a source with no author?

First check whether the source has a responsible organization that should be treated as the author.

If there is no personal or organizational author, begin the bibliography entry with the title and alphabetize it by title.

For alphabetization, initial English articles such as:

A
An
The

are generally ignored when determining where the title belongs.

For example, a title beginning with The History of… would normally be alphabetized under H, not T.

Do not remove the article from the actual title merely because it is ignored for alphabetization.

Source-specific no-author treatment can vary, so use the relevant guide when available:

How are author names written in a Chicago bibliography?

For a Western-order personal name, the first-listed author is normally inverted:

Last Name, First Name

For example:

Bennett, Maya.

In a two-author bibliography entry, only the first author is normally inverted:

Bennett, Maya, and Daniel Cho.

The authors remain in the order credited by the source. Do not rearrange a coauthored work alphabetically by the authors’ surnames.

Eastern-order names

Chicago 18 clarifies that names that naturally follow Eastern order, with the family name first, are not normally inverted merely to imitate Western-order names.

Preserve culturally appropriate name order rather than forcing every personal name into the same pattern.

How many authors do I list in a Chicago 18 bibliography?

Chicago 18 changed the author thresholds.

One to six authors

List all authors.

More than six authors

List the first three authors followed by “et al.”

Number of authors	Chicago 18 bibliography
1	List the author
2	List both
3–6	List all authors
7+	List first 3 + et al.

This differs from the note rule.

In a Chicago 18 note, list up to two authors; for three or more, use the first author followed by et al.

That distinction matters because older 17th-edition handouts and citation tools may use different thresholds.

For the broader edition changes, see Chicago 18th Edition.

Do I still use a 3-em dash for repeated authors in Chicago 18?

No. Chicago 18 now prefers repeating the author’s name in successive bibliography entries instead of replacing repeated names with a 3-em dash.

This is an important change from older Chicago guidance.

Chicago 18 approach

Bennett, Maya. Cities at Dusk. ...
Bennett, Maya. Mapping the Quiet City. ...

Do not automatically use:

Bennett, Maya. Cities at Dusk. ...
———. Mapping the Quiet City. ...

when you are following current Chicago 18 conventions.

Many older websites, handouts, and even some pages labeled “Chicago 18” still repeat the 3-em-dash rule, so check the edition behind any example you copy.

How do I order several works by the same author?

When several bibliography entries begin with the same author or authors, Chicago organizes the group according to its bibliography-ordering rules.

For works by the same author, title becomes important for ordering. Chicago 18 specifically clarifies that an initial English A, An, or The is ignored when alphabetizing successive works by title.

The author’s name should still be repeated in each entry under current Chicago 18 style.

If the author configuration changes, for example from a single-author work to a coauthored work, do not assume it belongs in exactly the same sub-order without checking the relevant Chicago ordering rule.

For a normal student bibliography, using a citation processor to sort the complete list can reduce these ordering mistakes.

Is a Chicago bibliography the same as a reference list?

No.

A bibliography belongs to Chicago Notes & Bibliography.

A reference list belongs to Chicago Author-Date.

The entries contain many of the same source details, but they arrange them differently.

Notes & Bibliography

Bennett, Maya. Cities at Dusk. Northfield Press, 2025.

Author-Date

Bennett, Maya. 2025. Cities at Dusk. Northfield Press.

The most obvious difference is the year:

bibliography: the year normally appears later in the entry;
Author-Date reference list: the year follows the author near the beginning.

If your paper uses parenthetical citations such as (Bennett 2025, 73), see the Chicago Author-Date guide.

Does every footnote need a bibliography entry?

Not necessarily.

Chicago Notes & Bibliography can accommodate sources that are documented in notes but do not belong in the bibliography.

Examples may include certain:

personal communications;
reader comments;
informal or ephemeral materials;
sources that cannot reasonably be consulted by the reader;
materials your instructor or publisher directs you to document only in notes.

The scope of a bibliography can also depend on the assignment or publication. Some contexts expect a list of cited sources; others allow or request a broader research bibliography.

For student work, follow the specific instructions you have been given. If your instructor says that every cited source must appear in the bibliography, follow that requirement.

Do bibliography entries include page numbers?

It depends on what the page numbers represent.

Whole book

Do not normally include the particular page you quoted from in the bibliography entry for the whole book.

The cited page belongs in the footnote.

Journal article

A bibliography entry normally includes the full page range of the article when the journal article has page numbers.

The footnote then gives the specific page or pages you cited.

Chapter in an edited book

Chicago 18 changed this rule: the full page range of the chapter is no longer required in a standard bibliography entry.

A specific page remains useful in the note when you are citing a particular passage.

This is why page information should not be treated as one generic field for every source type.

What is the basic Chicago bibliography format for a book?

For a modern book, the basic pattern is:

**Last Name, First Name. Book Title. Publisher, Year.**

Fictional example

Bennett, Maya. Cities at Dusk. Northfield Press, 2025.

Chicago 18 no longer normally requires a place of publication for modern book citations.

Older examples may show:

City: Publisher, Year.

Do not add a city automatically when following current Chicago 18 conventions.

For editions, edited books, translations, ebooks, organizations, and multiple authors, see the Chicago Book Citation guide.

What is the basic Chicago bibliography format for a journal article?

A journal article bibliography entry normally includes:

author;
article title;
journal title;
volume;
issue;
publication year;
full article page range or article identifier;
DOI-based URL or other appropriate online location when relevant.

Fictional example

Cho, Daniel, and Elena Ruiz. “Memory and Public Space.” Journal of Urban History 51, no. 2 (2025): 201–24. https://doi.org/10.0000/example-doi.

The DOI above is fictional and is included only to demonstrate structure.

The bibliography gives the full article page range, while a footnote gives the specific page being cited.

For DOI rules, article locators, volume/issue information, online-first articles, and multiple authors, see the Chicago Journal Article Citation guide.

What is the basic Chicago bibliography format for a website?

Webpage bibliography entries depend on the metadata available.

Useful elements may include:

author or organization;
page title;
website or site owner;
publication, revision, effective, or last-modified date;
access date when needed;
URL;
archived URL where appropriate.

Fictional example

Northfield Historical Society. “Industrial Maps of the Riverside District.” Last modified February 12, 2026. https://example.org/riverside-maps.

The organization, title, date, and URL above are fictional and are included only to demonstrate structure.

Not every webpage requires exactly the same elements.

If the page has no usable publication or revision date, an access date may become important.

See Chicago Website Citation for dated pages, undated pages, organization authors, access dates, archived content, and URLs.

What is the basic Chicago bibliography format for a book chapter?

A chapter with its own author inside an edited book normally begins with the chapter author and identifies the larger book and its editor or editors.

The core elements may include:

chapter author;
chapter title;
book title;
editor or editors;
publisher;
year.

Chicago 18 no longer requires the full chapter page range in the standard bibliography entry.

A fictional structure might look like:

Ruiz, Elena. “Reading the Industrial City.” In Urban Memory and Place, edited by Maya Bennett and Daniel Cho. Northfield Press, 2025.

For complete note, shortened-note, and bibliography examples, see Chicago Book Chapter Citation.

How are titles formatted in a Chicago bibliography?

Title styling depends on the type of work.

As a general pattern:

Italics

Use italics for titles of larger or standalone works such as:

books;
journals;
many reports;
films and other standalone works where Chicago treats the title as a whole work.

Quotation marks

Use quotation marks for titles of smaller works contained within larger works, such as:

journal articles;
book chapters;
many webpages;
essays;
short works.

Do not decide the formatting only by the length of the title. The important question is the source’s relationship to the larger work.

For verified source-specific structures, use Chicago Citation Examples or the relevant source guide.

What punctuation does a Chicago bibliography use?

A bibliography entry is structured more like a series of bibliographic units than a sentence-length footnote.

Major elements are commonly separated with periods.

For example:

Bennett, Maya. Cities at Dusk. Northfield Press, 2025.

By contrast, notes use more commas and may place publication details in parentheses:

Maya Bennett, Cities at Dusk (Northfield Press, 2025), 73.

Do not paste a full footnote into the bibliography and merely remove the page number.

The author order, punctuation, and sometimes the order of publication information need to change.

Should bibliography entries be numbered?

A standard Chicago Notes & Bibliography bibliography is normally alphabetized rather than numbered.

Do not number the entries 1, 2, 3 simply because the footnotes are numbered.

Footnote numbers identify citation occurrences in the text.

The bibliography is an alphabetical source list.

If a publisher or institution requires a different list format, follow its instructions.

What heading should I use for a Chicago bibliography?

The normal heading is:

Bibliography

The heading is typically centered in student-paper examples and bibliography layouts, but your institution’s formatting requirements should control details such as:

font;
bolding;
vertical spacing;
page numbering;
blank lines;
line spacing.

Do not confuse the bibliography heading with References, which is normally associated with Author-Date.

Where does the bibliography go in a Chicago paper?

The bibliography normally appears toward the end of the document.

If the paper includes endnotes, the bibliography commonly follows the notes section.

However, the exact order of:

notes;
bibliography;
appendixes;
supplementary material;
indexes;

depends on the type of document and the instructions governing it.

For student assignments, use the order specified by your instructor, program, thesis office, or university template.

This page focuses on the citation-list format, not on imposing one universal manuscript layout.

How should multiple authors be punctuated?

Chicago bibliography entries use the word and before the final author rather than an ampersand in normal English-language citation formatting.

For two authors:

Bennett, Maya, and Daniel Cho.

For three authors:

Bennett, Maya, Daniel Cho, and Elena Ruiz.

Only the first Western-order author is normally inverted.

For seven or more authors under Chicago 18, list the first three and then et al. rather than writing every author.

What if the source uses an editor instead of an author?

If a book has no author but has an editor, translator, compiler, or another creator who appropriately takes the leading role, that contributor can become the leading element of the entry with the role identified.

The exact wording depends on the source and contributor role.

Do not automatically label an editor as an author simply because a metadata service puts the name in the first available creator field.

This is one reason imported metadata should be reviewed before a citation is used.

The Chicago Book Citation guide covers edited and translated books in more detail.

What if the author is an organization?

An organization can be the author when it is responsible for the work.

Examples might include:

government agencies;
universities;
research organizations;
companies;
professional associations;
museums;
nonprofit organizations.

If the organization is genuinely the author, begin the bibliography entry with its name and alphabetize accordingly.

Do not automatically repeat the website name as an organization author if the page credits an individual author.

For web sources, see Chicago Website Citation.

How do DOIs and URLs appear in a Chicago bibliography?

For online scholarly articles, a DOI-based URL is generally preferred when a DOI is available.

The modern form is:

https://doi.org/...

For example:

https://doi.org/10.1086/725865

For other online sources, use the appropriate URL, database name, ebook format, or other access information required by the source type.

Do not mechanically include:

DOI;
database;
URL;
access date;

all at once when the citation does not need all of them.

The goal is to provide a useful, stable path to the source without redundant clutter.

Do webpages in a Chicago bibliography need an access date?

Not every webpage needs an access date.

An access date is especially relevant when:

the page has no publication or revision date;
the content is designed to change;
an instructor or publisher requires access dates;
an archived or time-sensitive web version matters.

If a reliable publication, revision, or effective date exists, use the date appropriate to the content rather than adding an access date automatically.

The Chicago Website Citation guide explains these cases in detail.

What changed in Chicago 18 bibliography rules?

Chicago 18 introduced several changes that matter directly when building a bibliography.

Up to six authors are now listed

Bibliography entries list up to six authors.

For more than six, list the first three followed by et al.

Repeated author names are written again

Chicago now prefers repeating the author or authors instead of replacing repeated names with a 3-em dash.

Modern books normally omit place of publication

A modern book usually needs the publisher and year without a city.

Chapter page ranges are no longer required

The full page range for a chapter in an edited book can be omitted from the standard bibliography entry.

Journal month or season can usually be omitted

A month or season is no longer routinely required in journal citations.

Eastern-order names are not normally inverted

Names that naturally place the family name first should not automatically be reversed.

Alphabetization of successive works was clarified

For works by the same author, an initial English A, An, or The is ignored when alphabetizing by title.

These rules make current Chicago 18 bibliographies visibly different from some older 17th-edition examples.

See the dedicated Chicago 18th Edition guide for a fuller comparison.

What are the most common Chicago bibliography mistakes?

Using the old 3-em dash for repeated authors

Chicago 18 prefers repeating the author’s name.

Using 17th-edition author thresholds

Current bibliography entries list up to six authors; for more than six, list the first three followed by et al.

Adding a publication city to every modern book

Chicago 18 no longer normally requires place of publication.

Copying a footnote into the bibliography unchanged

Bibliography entries use different name order, punctuation, and locator treatment.

Putting a quoted book page in the bibliography

The specific cited page belongs in the note for a whole book.

Removing the page range from a journal article

Chicago 18 dropped chapter page ranges from standard bibliography entries, but journal article page ranges are still normally required when the article has page numbers.

Keeping the chapter page range because an old example shows it

Chicago 18 no longer requires the full chapter range in a standard bibliography entry.

Sorting by first name

Alphabetize a Western-order personal author under the surname after inversion.

Sorting a coauthored work by the second author

Bibliography order is based on the first-listed author, while the author order inside the source remains the credited order.

Automatically alphabetizing “The” under T

Initial English articles such as A, An, and The are ignored in relevant title alphabetization.

Numbering bibliography entries like footnotes

A normal Chicago bibliography is alphabetical rather than numbered.

Using spaces instead of a real hanging indent

Use paragraph formatting so wrapped lines remain aligned.

Trusting imported metadata without reviewing it

A correct citation processor cannot fix an incorrect author, wrong edition, incomplete title, missing journal details, or misidentified publication date unless the metadata is corrected first.

Bibliography vs footnotes: what changes?

The same source looks different because notes and bibliography entries perform different jobs.

Feature	Footnote	Bibliography
Purpose	Documents a citation occurrence	Identifies source in end list
First author	Normal order	Usually inverted
Punctuation	More commas	More periods
Specific book page	Often included	Normally omitted
Journal article page range	Specific cited page	Full article range
Numbering	Numbered note	Alphabetical entry
Repeated use	Shortened note possible	One source entry
Hanging indent	Not the bibliography convention	Yes

For detailed note formatting, see Chicago Footnotes.

For the whole citation system, see Chicago Notes & Bibliography.

Chicago bibliography vs Author-Date reference list

A bibliography and an Author-Date reference list are both end-of-document source lists, but they are not interchangeable.

Feature	Notes & Bibliography bibliography	Author-Date reference list
Paired with	Footnotes/endnotes	Parenthetical citations
Year position	Usually later in entry	Immediately after author
Citation in text	Superscript note number	Author + year
End-list name	Bibliography	Reference list
Main Chicago system	Notes & Bibliography	Author-Date

If the paper uses:

(Bennett 2025, 73)

then you need an Author-Date reference list, not a Notes & Bibliography bibliography.

See Chicago Author-Date for the correct reference-list structure.

How to build a Chicago bibliography with the generator

The Chicago Citation Generator can turn reviewed source records into bibliography entries and manage multiple sources locally in your browser.

1. Find or enter each source

Use supported inputs such as:

DOI;
URL;
ISBN;
title or keywords;
PMID or PubMed URL;
BibTeX;
RIS;
supported PDF DOI detection;
manual entry.

2. Review the metadata

Check fields such as:

author names;
title;
editor or contributor information when available;
publisher;
year;
journal;
volume;
issue;
DOI;
URL;
ISBN;
page information relevant to the source type.

3. Select Notes & Bibliography

The generator can create:

Full Note
Shortened Note
Bibliography Entry

from the same source record.

4. Add the source to the bibliography

Save the reviewed source to the local source library.

The project can identify duplicate records and organize bibliography entries alphabetically.

5. Review the finished list

Before submitting it, check that:

every source is the intended edition or version;
names are parsed correctly;
capitalization and titles match the source;
journal details are complete;
DOI or URL information is appropriate;
duplicate sources have not been added;
your instructor’s bibliography scope requirements are met.

For the technical lookup, normalization, CSL formatting, storage, and duplicate-handling process, see How the Chicago Citation Generator Works.

Chicago bibliography examples by source type

Use these guides for complete Notes & Bibliography and Author-Date examples:

For a reference library of side-by-side examples, use Chicago Citation Examples.

Frequently asked questions

What is a Chicago bibliography?

A Chicago bibliography is an alphabetized source list normally used with Notes & Bibliography. It gives the full identifying details for the sources included in the bibliography.

Does a Chicago bibliography use a hanging indent?

Yes. Bibliography entries use hanging, or flush-and-hang, indentation: the first line remains flush left and subsequent lines are indented.

How much is a Chicago bibliography hanging indent?

A half-inch hanging indent is a common academic implementation. If your instructor, university, thesis office, or publisher specifies another document format, follow that requirement.

Is a Chicago bibliography alphabetical?

Yes. Entries are normally alphabetized by the first author’s surname or the appropriate leading element when there is no personal author.

What if there is no author?

Check first for an organization that should be treated as the author. If there is genuinely no author, begin with the title and alphabetize by title, ignoring an initial English A, An, or The for ordering.

Do I number Chicago bibliography entries?

Normally no. Footnotes are numbered; bibliography entries are alphabetized.

Do I include the page I quoted in the bibliography?

Not for a whole book. Put the specific cited page in the footnote. A journal article bibliography entry normally includes the article’s full page range.

Does a book chapter need its full page range in a Chicago 18 bibliography?

No. Chicago 18 no longer requires the full page range of a chapter in a standard bibliography entry.

How many authors do I list in Chicago 18?

List up to six authors in a bibliography. For more than six, list the first three followed by et al.

Do I use a 3-em dash for repeated authors?

Not under current Chicago 18 preference. Repeat the author’s name in each successive bibliography entry.

Does Chicago 18 require the city of publication for a book?

No. A place of publication is no longer normally required for modern book citations.

Is a Chicago bibliography the same as a reference list?

No. A bibliography belongs to Notes & Bibliography; a reference list belongs to Author-Date.

Should every footnote appear in the bibliography?

Not necessarily. Bibliography scope can vary, and some source types are appropriately documented only in notes. Follow your assignment or publication requirements.

Can the citation generator alphabetize my bibliography?

The generator’s source manager can render and organize bibliography entries using the Chicago citation processor. You should still review the finished list and the underlying metadata before submission.

Official and supporting sources

This guide was researched against current Chicago 18th-edition material, including:

ChicagoReferenceGenerator.com is an independent citation resource and is not affiliated with or endorsed by The University of Chicago or The University of Chicago Press.