Chicago Book Citation: 18th Edition Format & Examples

What information do you need to cite a book in Chicago style?

For a typical modern book, collect:

• author or responsible editor;
• full book title and subtitle;
• edition, if it is not the first edition and the edition matters;
• publisher;
• publication year;
• volume information, when relevant;
• translator or other contributor, when relevant;
• URL, database name, or ebook format for electronic books when required;
• specific page, chapter, section, or other locator for the citation occurrence.

You may also have an ISBN, but an ISBN is usually more useful for finding the correct book record than for displaying in a standard Chicago citation.

The Chicago Citation Generator can use an ISBN to look up book metadata. You should still check that the returned record matches the edition you actually used.

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How do you cite a book in Chicago Notes & Bibliography?

Chicago Notes & Bibliography normally uses a note in the text and a bibliography entry at the end of the work.

A full note for a modern book follows this general pattern:

**First Name Last Name, Book Title (Publisher, Year), page.**

A bibliography entry follows:

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

Example

Full note

Charles Yu, Interior Chinatown (Pantheon Books, 2020), 45.

Shortened note

Yu, Interior Chinatown, 48.

Bibliography

Yu, Charles. Interior Chinatown. Pantheon Books, 2020.

The page number belongs to the note because it identifies the passage being cited. It does not become permanent metadata for the whole book.

For note-number placement and repeated citations, see Chicago Footnotes.

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How do you cite a book in Chicago Author-Date?

Chicago Author-Date uses a short author-year citation in the text and a corresponding reference-list entry.

The basic pattern is:

In-text

(Author Year, page)

Reference list

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

Example

In-text

(Yu 2020, 45)

Reference list

Yu, Charles. 2020. Interior Chinatown. Pantheon Books.

The year moves close to the author because Author-Date citations depend on the author-year combination.

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Chicago book citation format at a glance

Output	Basic format
Full note	First Name Last Name, Book Title (Publisher, Year), page.
Shortened note	Last Name, Shortened Title, page.
Bibliography	Last Name, First Name. Book Title. Publisher, Year.
Author-Date in-text	(Last Name Year, page)
Reference list	Last Name, First Name. Year. Book Title. Publisher.

These are basic patterns for a straightforward modern book. Editions, editors, translators, ebooks, multivolume works, and unusual publication details require additional information.

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Do Chicago 18 book citations need the city of publication?

Usually no.

One of the most visible Chicago 18 changes is that a place of publication is no longer normally required for modern books.

Current format:

Yu, Charles. Interior Chinatown. Pantheon Books, 2020.

Older Chicago examples may look like:

Yu, Charles. Interior Chinatown. New York: Pantheon Books, 2020.

Do not add a city automatically just because you see it in a 17th-edition guide or an older citation template.

Books published before 1900 can require different treatment. Chicago’s current electronic-book examples show that a historical book may sometimes be identified by its place of publication rather than a modern publisher.

For a broader list of changes, see Chicago 18th Edition.

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Where does the page number go in a Chicago book citation?

A page number normally belongs to the citation occurrence, not to the permanent book record.

Notes & Bibliography

Yu, Interior Chinatown, 48.

Author-Date

(Yu 2020, 48)

The bibliography or reference-list entry describes the whole book:

Yu, Charles. Interior Chinatown. Pantheon Books, 2020.

If you later cite page 93, you use the same source record but change the locator.

That source-versus-locator distinction is built into the Chicago Citation Generator.

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Do I always need a page number?

No.

Use a page number or another locator when it helps the reader find the specific passage you are citing.

A locator is especially useful for:

• direct quotations;
• close paraphrases;
• discussion of a particular argument;
• a specific example;
• a particular chapter, section, figure, or other location.

If you refer to a book as a whole, a locator may not be necessary.

For an ebook without fixed pages, you may use a chapter, section, or another stable locator when available.

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How do you cite a book with two authors?

Chicago 18 lists both authors when a book has exactly two authors.

The official Chicago examples use Amy J. Binder and Jeffrey L. Kidder’s The Channels of Student Activism.

Notes & Bibliography

Full note

Amy J. Binder and Jeffrey L. Kidder, The Channels of Student Activism: How the Left and Right Are Winning (and Losing) in Campus Politics Today (University of Chicago Press, 2022), 117–18.

Shortened note

Binder and Kidder, Channels of Student Activism, 125.

Bibliography

Binder, Amy J., and Jeffrey L. Kidder. The Channels of Student Activism: How the Left and Right Are Winning (and Losing) in Campus Politics Today. University of Chicago Press, 2022.

Author-Date

In-text

(Binder and Kidder 2022, 117–18)

Reference list

Binder, Amy J., and Jeffrey L. Kidder. 2022. The Channels of Student Activism: How the Left and Right Are Winning (and Losing) in Campus Politics Today. University of Chicago Press.

Only the first Western-order author is inverted in the bibliography or reference list.

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How do you cite a book with three or more authors?

Chicago 18 uses different author thresholds for text citations and end-of-paper lists.

Notes and Author-Date text citations

• one author: list the author;
• two authors: list both;
• three or more: list the first author followed by et al.

Bibliography and reference list

• one to six authors: list all;
• more than six: list the first three followed by et al.

Number of authors	Note	Author-Date in-text	Bibliography / reference list
1	List author	List author	List author
2	List both	List both	List both
3–6	First + et al.	First + et al.	List all
7+	First + et al.	First + et al.	First 3 + et al.

This is an important Chicago 18th-edition change. Older Chicago 17 examples often use different thresholds.

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How do you cite an edited book as a whole?

If the book has editors rather than authors and you are citing the entire collection, the editors can lead the citation.

The official Chicago quick guide uses The Book by Design, edited by P. J. M. Marks and Stephen Parkin.

Notes & Bibliography

Full note

P. J. M. Marks and Stephen Parkin, eds., The Book by Design: The Remarkable Story of the World’s Greatest Invention (University of Chicago Press, 2023).

Shortened note

Marks and Parkin, Book by Design.

Bibliography

Marks, P. J. M., and Stephen Parkin, eds. The Book by Design: The Remarkable Story of the World’s Greatest Invention. University of Chicago Press, 2023.

When you are citing one chapter written by a particular contributor, do not cite the entire edited book as though the editor wrote that chapter. Use the chapter author and follow the Chicago Book Chapter Citation guide.

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How do you cite a translated book?

Include the translator when the translated edition is the work you used.

The official Chicago 18 example uses Liu Xinwu’s The Wedding Party, translated by Jeremy Tiang.

Notes & Bibliography

Full note

Liu Xinwu, The Wedding Party, trans. Jeremy Tiang (Amazon Crossing, 2021).

Shortened note

Liu, Wedding Party, 279.

Bibliography

Liu Xinwu. The Wedding Party. Translated by Jeremy Tiang. Amazon Crossing, 2021.

The author’s name in this example follows Eastern order, so Chicago does not invert it in the bibliography.

Author-Date

The same principle applies in Author-Date: the publication year follows the author, and the translator is included with the book information.

Do not treat the translator as the author when the original author is known.

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How do you cite a specific edition of a book?

Include the edition when you used an edition other than the first or when distinguishing editions is important.

The edition usually appears immediately after the title.

Notes & Bibliography pattern

Full note

First Name Last Name, Book Title, 2nd ed. (Publisher, Year), page.

Bibliography

Last Name, First Name. Book Title. 2nd ed. Publisher, Year.

Author-Date pattern

Last Name, First Name. Year. Book Title. 2nd ed. Publisher.

Chicago’s current guidance confirms that the edition number belongs immediately after the title in a reference-list entry for the book as a whole.

Do not treat “2nd ed.” or “rev. ed.” as part of the italicized title unless it is genuinely part of the title itself.

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What if I cite two different editions of the same book?

Make the edition clear enough that the reader can tell which version you mean.

In the full citation, include the relevant edition information.

If later shortened notes would otherwise become ambiguous, Chicago advises adding enough edition information to distinguish the versions.

For example, a shortened citation may include:

3rd ed.

or:

3rd ed. (1987)

when that information is necessary to identify the cited version.

Do not let an aggressively shortened note make two editions indistinguishable.

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Does Chicago use the original publication date of a reprinted book?

Sometimes a later edition, reprint, translation, or modern reproduction needs information about both the version you used and its relationship to an earlier publication.

There is no single universal pattern for every reprint or historical edition.

The important practical rule is:

cite the edition you actually consulted and include additional original-publication information when it is relevant to identifying or discussing the work.

Do not automatically replace the date of the edition you used with the book’s first-ever publication year.

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How do you cite an ebook in Chicago style?

Chicago distinguishes among books:

• read through an online URL;
• accessed through a database;
• downloaded in an ebook format.

For a book consulted online, include a URL or database name as appropriate.

For a downloadable ebook, identify the format when useful.

Kindle example

The official Chicago quick guide uses Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things.

Full note

Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things (Random House, 2008), chap. 6, Kindle.

Shortened note

Roy, God of Small Things, chap. 7.

Bibliography

Roy, Arundhati. The God of Small Things. Random House, 2008. Kindle.

Author-Date

In-text

(Roy 2008, chap. 6)

Reference list

Roy, Arundhati. 2008. The God of Small Things. Random House. Kindle.

If an ebook has no fixed page numbers, cite a chapter, section title, section number, or another stable locator when appropriate, or omit the locator if no useful one exists.

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How do you cite a book accessed in a database?

If you consulted the book through a database and a database name is the appropriate access information, Chicago allows the database name to appear in the citation.

The official Chicago guide gives this example for Brooke Borel’s The Chicago Guide to Fact-Checking:

Bibliography

Borel, Brooke. The Chicago Guide to Fact-Checking. 2nd ed. University of Chicago Press, 2023. EBSCOhost.

Author-Date reference list

Borel, Brooke. 2023. The Chicago Guide to Fact-Checking. 2nd ed. University of Chicago Press. EBSCOhost.

A general library-search URL is not necessarily more useful than the database name. Use the access information that Chicago recommends for the way you actually consulted the book.

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How do you cite a book read online?

For a book consulted online, include a stable URL when appropriate.

The official Chicago examples include The Founders’ Constitution:

Bibliography

Kurland, Philip B., and Ralph Lerner, eds. The Founders’ Constitution. University of Chicago Press, 1987. https://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/.

Author-Date reference list

Kurland, Philip B., and Ralph Lerner, eds. 1987. The Founders’ Constitution. University of Chicago Press. https://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/.

Specific chapters or documents can then be identified in the note or in-text citation.

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Do I include an ISBN in a Chicago book citation?

Usually not in a standard citation.

An ISBN identifies a particular book edition and is useful for:

• searching for the correct book;
• distinguishing editions;
• library and publishing workflows.

Chicago’s current Q&A notes that an ISBN may be added when needed, but it is optional rather than a standard element in every bibliography entry.

For ChicagoReferenceGenerator.com, the important distinction is:

ISBN can be an input used to find the source without necessarily appearing in the formatted citation.

If you search by ISBN, verify that the result matches the exact edition you used.

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What if a book has no author?

Before assuming that the book is anonymous, check whether another contributor should lead the citation.

Depending on the book, that may be:

• editor;
• compiler;
• translator;
• organization;
• other responsible creator.

Chicago’s official book examples show editors leading the citation when an edited collection is cited as a whole.

If no author or responsible contributor is available, the title may become the leading element.

Do not invent an author from the publisher, seller, library, or website where you found the book.

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What if an organization is the author of a book?

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

Possible organizational authors include:

• government agencies;
• universities;
• professional associations;
• research institutes;
• companies;
• nonprofit organizations.

The organization then occupies the author position in the citation.

Do not duplicate the same organization unnecessarily as both author and publisher when Chicago’s source-specific rules make that repetition redundant.

Review the title page and publication information rather than relying only on a bookstore listing.

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How do you cite a book with no publication year?

A missing publication year requires careful source review.

First check:

• title page;
• copyright page;
• edition information;
• library catalog record;
• reliable publisher information;
• digitized edition details.

Do not assume a book is undated merely because an automatic metadata lookup failed.

If a source genuinely has no publication date, Chicago has conventions for indicating missing dates, but unusual or historical books may need source-specific treatment.

For Author-Date especially, n.d. is used for “no date” when appropriate.

If the book is central to your research and publication facts remain uncertain, verify the physical or digitized edition before submitting the citation.

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How do you cite an old book published before 1900?

Older books can require different publication details from modern books.

Chicago’s current electronic-book examples note that place rather than publisher can sometimes be used for books published before 1900.

The official quick guide gives this bibliography example:

Melville, Herman. Moby-Dick; or, The Whale. New York, 1851. https://melville.electroniclibrary.org/moby-dick-side-by-side.

Do not apply the modern “publisher + year” template mechanically to every historical book.

For older editions, facsimiles, archives, and digitized copies, cite the version you actually consulted and include the details needed to identify it.

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How do you cite a multivolume book?

Multivolume works can be cited in different ways depending on whether you use:

• the whole set;
• one specific volume;
• a work in which individual volumes have their own titles or dates.

Include the volume information needed to identify what you actually consulted.

A citation to a specific page in one volume may need both:

• the volume number;
• the page number.

For example, a locator might conceptually identify:

vol. 2, 145

rather than simply page 145.

Because multivolume works vary widely, do not force all of them into a single generic template.

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How do you cite a book chapter instead of the whole book?

If you are using a chapter written by a particular author inside an edited collection, cite the chapter as the source rather than the entire book.

That citation has two levels:

1. chapter author and chapter title;
2. edited book title and editor information.

Chicago 18 also changed the treatment of chapter page ranges: the full chapter range is no longer required in the standard bibliography/reference-list entry.

Use the dedicated Chicago Book Chapter Citation guide for chapter examples.

Do not cite a chapter as a whole book merely because you found the chapter through Google Books or a library database.

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Is a book title italicized in Chicago style?

Yes. The title of a book is normally italicized.

For example:

Interior Chinatown

A subtitle remains part of the italicized book title.

In citations, Chicago generally uses headline-style capitalization for English-language book titles.

Do not put an ordinary book title in quotation marks. Quotation marks are used for shorter works such as many articles and chapters.

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How do you shorten a book title in a Chicago note?

A shortened note does not need to repeat a long subtitle when the main title identifies the work clearly.

For example:

Full title

The Channels of Student Activism: How the Left and Right Are Winning (and Losing) in Campus Politics Today

Shortened note

Binder and Kidder, Channels of Student Activism, 125.

Keep enough of the title to distinguish the source from other works by the same author.

If two works would otherwise have identical shortened forms, add information rather than creating an ambiguous citation.

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What changed for book citations in Chicago 18?

Several Chicago 18 changes matter directly for books.

Place of publication is usually gone

Modern book citations no longer normally require a publication city.

Author thresholds changed

Notes and Author-Date text citations list up to two authors; three or more use first author + et al.

Bibliography and reference-list entries list up to six authors; more than six use first three + et al.

Repeated authors are written again

Chicago 18 prefers repeating author names in bibliographies and reference lists instead of replacing them with a 3-em dash.

Chapter page ranges changed

When you cite a chapter or another contribution to an edited book, its complete page range is no longer required in the standard bibliography/reference-list entry.

Shortened citations were clarified

Chicago identifies author-title as its regular shortened form and also recognizes author-only and title-only forms when context allows.

For a complete edition-focused explanation, read Chicago 18th Edition: What Changed.

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What are the most common Chicago book citation mistakes?

Adding a city to every modern book citation

That is a common 17th-edition habit. Chicago 18 no longer normally requires a place of publication for modern books.

Citing the page you quoted in the bibliography

For a whole book, the specific page belongs to the note or Author-Date text citation, not the permanent book entry.

Using the wrong edition

An ISBN search can return a different edition, format, or reprint from the one you actually used. Check the edition and year.

Leaving out the edition number

If you used a second, third, revised, or other meaningful edition, identify it.

Treating an editor as the book’s author

If an edited collection has no author, the editor may lead the citation with the editorial role identified.

Treating a chapter author as the author of the whole book

A chapter inside an edited collection should normally be cited as a chapter when that chapter is the source you used.

Listing every author in a three-author note

Chicago 18 uses first author + et al. in notes and Author-Date text citations for three or more authors.

Using old 17th-edition bibliography author thresholds

Chicago 18 lists up to six authors in bibliography/reference-list entries.

Adding an ISBN automatically to every citation

ISBNs are useful identifiers, but they are not normally required in standard Chicago book citations.

Using a generic webpage URL for an ebook without checking the source

Identify whether you used a database, stable online edition, downloadable ebook, or ordinary print edition.

Inventing page numbers for an ebook

Use a chapter, section, or another real locator if fixed pages are unavailable.

Trusting book metadata without reviewing it

Google Books, library databases, publisher feeds, and ISBN records can refer to different editions. Check the title, contributors, publisher, year, edition, and identifiers before using the result.

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Chicago book citation: Notes & Bibliography vs Author-Date

Feature	Notes & Bibliography	Author-Date
Text signal	Superscript note number	Parenthetical author-year
First citation	Full note	(Author Year, page)
Later citation	Shortened note	Repeat author-year form
End-of-paper entry	Bibliography	Reference list
Year position	Later in entry	Immediately after author
Specific cited page	In note	In-text citation
Whole-book entry	No quoted-page locator	No quoted-page locator

If you are unsure which system your paper requires, see the Chicago Style Guide.

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How to generate a Chicago book citation

Use the Chicago Citation Generator when you have the book’s ISBN, title, URL, or other identifying information.

1. Search for the book

For books, ISBN is particularly useful because it can identify a specific edition.

You can also use:

• title or keywords;
• URL;
• manual entry;
• supported imports.

2. Review the book metadata

Check:

• author or editor;
• title and subtitle;
• edition;
• publisher;
• publication year;
• ISBN;
• URL or database information;
• translator or other contributor when applicable.

Do not assume the first search result is the edition you used.

3. Choose the Chicago system

Select:

• Notes & Bibliography, or
• Author-Date.

4. Add the cited location

Enter the page, page range, chapter, section, volume, or another useful locator for that citation occurrence.

5. Copy or save the output

Depending on the selected system, the generator can produce:

Notes & Bibliography

• Full Note
• Shortened Note
• Bibliography Entry

Author-Date

• In-Text Citation
• Reference List Entry

The same reviewed source record can be switched between the two Chicago systems without searching for the book again.

For the technical lookup, metadata-normalization, CSL, source-management, and duplicate-detection process, see How the Chicago Citation Generator Works.

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Need to cite a different source type?

Use the source guide that matches what you actually used:

• Chicago Journal Article Citation
• Chicago Website Citation
• Chicago Book Chapter Citation

For side-by-side examples across multiple source types, browse Chicago Citation Examples.

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Frequently asked questions

What is the Chicago 18 format for a book?

For a basic modern book in Notes & Bibliography:

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

A full note uses the author’s normal name order and can include a specific page.

In Author-Date, the year moves immediately after the author.

Does Chicago 18 require the city of publication?

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

Where does the page number go?

Put the specific cited page in the note or Author-Date text citation. Do not normally add a quoted page to the bibliography/reference-list entry for the whole book.

How do I cite a book with two authors?

List both authors in the note, Author-Date text citation, bibliography, and reference list.

How do I cite a book with three authors?

In a note or Author-Date text citation, use the first author followed by et al. Under Chicago 18, a bibliography/reference list lists all three.

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

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

How do I cite an edited book?

If the book is an edited collection cited as a whole, the editor or editors can lead the citation with ed. or eds. identified as appropriate.

How do I cite a translated book?

Cite the original author and include the translator. Do not replace the author with the translator.

Where does the edition number go?

The edition normally follows the book title, for example 2nd ed.

Do I include an ISBN?

Usually not in a standard Chicago citation. An ISBN is mainly useful for identifying and locating the correct edition, though Chicago allows it as optional information when genuinely needed.

How do I cite a Kindle book without page numbers?

Use a chapter, section, or another stable locator if available. Chicago’s official examples use chapter numbers for ebooks without fixed pages.

How do I cite a book from a database?

Include the database name when that is the appropriate way to identify the electronic version you consulted.

How do I cite a chapter from an edited book?

Use the chapter author and chapter title, followed by information about the edited book. See the Chicago Book Chapter Citation guide.

Can I use the citation generator with an ISBN?

Yes. The generator supports ISBN lookup. Review the returned book record carefully because different ISBNs can represent different editions and formats.

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Official Chicago sources

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

• Notes and Bibliography: Sample Citations
• Author-Date: Sample Citations
• What’s New in the 18th Edition
• Chicago Q&A: Edition Number Placement

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.

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Continue with the guide you need

• Generate a Chicago Citation
• Chicago Style Guide
• Chicago Notes & Bibliography
• Chicago Author-Date
• Chicago Footnotes
• Chicago Bibliography
• Chicago Citation Examples
• Chicago 18th Edition
• Chicago Journal Article Citation
• Chicago Website Citation
• Chicago Book Chapter Citation